Countdown to Socialism

With growth stalling, joblessness at crisis levels, and governance unravelling, most South Africans cannot fathom why the ANC does not embark on meaningful reform. The answer lies in what is seldom raised: the ruling party's unwavering determination to take the country by incremental steps from capitalism to socialism. This transformation is being implemented via a Moscow-inspired 'national democratic revolution' (NDR) dating back many decades. Despite the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, the ANC/SACP alliance still sees the NDR as offering the 'most direct route' to socialism in South Africa - and hence as its bedrock strategy. The NDR has been implemented in many different spheres since 1994. By way of example, NDR interventions have already made millions of people unemployable and the mining sector largely 'uninvestable'. They now aim at land expropriation without compensation (EWC) and the effective nationalisation of private healthcare and pensions. The NDR is the key to understanding ANC rule over some 30 years - yet most South Africans have been kept in the dark on it. This book aims to fill that gap. Written in clear and simple language, it provides an indispensable primer on the NDR and its role in the countdown to socialism in South Africa.

ANTHEA JEFFERY is the Head of Policy Research at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) and has authored 11 books, including BEE: Helping or Hurting? and People's War: New Light on the Struggle for South Africa.