NEVILLE NAIDOO is secretary of the ANC Youth League, responsible for youth policy, development and the Youth League's input to the government's Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). He was interviewed in Sydney for Green Left Weekly by MICHAEL TARDIF.
The ANC Youth League played a crucial role in mobilising sectors of the community in the lead-up to the elections. What role do you see for it in the post-election period?
There are specific problems facing young people that haven't disappeared with the election. Those problems include unemployment: about 60% of the 7-9 million people in South Africa between the ages of 16 and 30. There are big problems with drugs and alcohol abuse, and many others to do with lack of skills and education.
Our responsibility is firstly to ensure that the government is sensitive to the problems of young people. Secondly, that the ANC Youth League actually plays a central role in coordinating the efforts of youth organisations to address particular problems.
There is what we call a national youth service program in place, which means giving youth the necessary skills and training in a range of areas. We are talking about a generation of young people who have lost out, in terms of education and jobs. The idea is to give them a second chance.
We've been very good in destroying apartheid. We've been very good in resisting the previous government. We are now going to be called upon to come up with alternatives and solutions to deal with these problems.
What expectations do young people hold in the RDP and the government of national unity? The media in Australia portrayed impatience among youth prior to the elections.
I don't think that there is an impatience among youth now. There is elation and satisfaction that we have achieved certain things. But there is also the reality where young people felt that their problems haven't been addressed. They are not impatient about wanting these to be addressed; they are giving the government the opportunity to do so.
They haven't been able to address the problems because the period was too short, but the government has made a start on some of the RDP.
The real crux will come after a year or a year and a half, when they would have had enough time to start things. Our [role] is trying to ensure that the government gets the necessary input from organisations outside of government and secondly to ensure that the government does not fail in the promises it made.
It has been our impression in Australia that there has been intensified discussion and debate among the left in South Africa over the direction and orientation of the RDP. What has the discussion in the ANC Youth League been?
The ANC Youth League, as part of an overall alliance within the ANC with the Communist Party and COSATU, have been involved in the drafting of the RDP and its conceptualisation and orientation. Our conception is that the RDP must first address the actual needs of people, the problems such as housing, electricity, education and other specific issues.
The second focus of the RDP is redistributing the wealth of the country away from a small, white minority to a much more equitable distribution. That is why we talk about affirmative action.
Local government elections are coming up for the middle of next year. The idea is to involve communities and community organisations directly in local government affairs. So a service association will be able to campaign for the elections alongside political parties.
We are confident that the government will be sensitive. There is often the risk of what they call macro-economic discipline: controlling inflation and trying to balance all the different types of priorities. We understand those things. All we are saying is that this must not mean that the needs of the people become secondary.
Students, particularly high school students, have played an important role in the struggle. What is the role now for the South African student movement?
In South Africa there is a very clear distinction between youth organisations and student organisations which you don't have in Australia. Student organisations are very issue-based: bursaries, conditions of the campus, hostels and things like that. There has been a big problem with student organisations being fairly weak.
There are student representative councils (SRCs), bodies elected on campuses from class representatives, faculties and societies, on campuses as well as on high schools. On a national level they have constituted a federation of SRCs.
There is now a bigger emphasis of student organisations on educational issues. They want more money, more bursaries and better schooling. They are actually involved in the policies being developed by government.
What is your opinion of the strikes that have been taking place after the elections? How has the ANC oriented to those?
The elections did not resolve the contradictions that existed between employers and workers. There was a kind of standstill on the contradictions for the purpose of the elections. When national wage negotiations came up in most of industries, those contradictions surfaced again.
The government could have intervened sooner in getting the two of them to resolve their disputes. A lot of the strikes centre on
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The ANC, being a liberation organisation could have intervened to get the two sides together sooner. The government is trying to play a role of making sure that they resolve it themselves.
Further than that, the government through the RDP is arguing for what is called a social contract between the employers, the government and the trade union movement to have a role for each sector in the RDP and the priorities for the country. That is going to take a while.
From reports after the strikes started we heard of strikers being shot at and large numbers of injuries. How do you think the restructuring of the police and defence force impacts on the ability of the government to carry out its program?
In the Pick 'n' Pay strike, there was a problem and the police overreacted. It was very soon after the elections; the structures to control the police and the army weren't in place yet. Some of the policemen are still aggressive and racist. However, does not mean the union or the workers on that particular day did not have some blame. They stoned cars and stormed shops. The police have been dealt with, there hasn't been a recurrence.
The bulk of the police are black. The control of the police is in white hands. You are going to have to train the ordinary police so they become the brigadiers and the generals. A lot of police from the ANC's previous army have now gone for training.
The question of strikes and the demands of the RDP raises a question of how far it is possible to achieve some of the more fundamental social changes within the framework of the old South African state.
There are going to be particular challenges and problems. One of them is that the old bureaucracy and civil servants have been guaranteed their jobs in a negotiated deal. This means that we can't fire them. If you want to change the character and reflection of the civil service you have to either retrain the white civil servants or bring in more civil servants who happen to be non-white. But then you are going to have a bloated bureaucracy.
The other thing is the kind of forum that is going to be responsible for the implementation of the government program. It's going to include non-governmental organisations like the ANC Youth League and the trade unions. They are not going to be in government, but they are going to be in bodies that interface with government and advise government on the kind of policies that it must adopt.
I think there is going to be a contest all the time, between those who want total transformation and those who don't want total transformation. Some of them are within the government of national unity.