Busi Mavuso is a representative of an undemocratic sector of our society. It is a disturbing reminder of where power is truly located that she can leverage the power of capital to threaten the government.

Democracy, through its institutions and processes, can be understood as an expression of the will of the people. So what are the political structures that seek to smother and stifle the voices of the people, which our government is mandated to represent? Fingers of accusation and blame are often pointed at corrupt politicians, self-serving bureaucrats, or the resurgent and reactionary right wing. But seated at the peak of economic power within South Africa’s political landscape is a sector of society that is intrinsically opposed to the will and power of people: the private sector. 

In a News24 interview published just a day before the 2024 general elections, Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), sent a stern warning to the ANC: if it were to enter into a coalition which “touted policies of mass economic destruction”, the business sector would withdraw from its recently established partnership with government. According to Mavuso, these policies of economic destruction would include attempts to nationalise industry or to introduce a new tax regime. This would be a departure from a ‘reform agenda’ which seeks to boost business confidence and attract investment to grow the economy. 

These comments by the BLSA leader reflected the private sector’s fear of an ANC-EFF coalition being born following the elections. The partnership she was referring to was established in 2023, with more than 130 of South Africa’s CEOs pledging their support in a business-led effort. Businesses would collaborate with the government to implement reforms to fix the country’s crises in energy, logistics, security, organised crime and corruption. Key reforms supported and advanced by this business partnership include the ‘liberalisation’ of the energy sector, through Eskom’s unbundling, towards creating a ‘competitive’ electricity market; designing a roadmap to save freight and logistics through inviting private sector participation; and bolstering National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) capacity to enforce the law and combat corruption. 

Busisiwe Mavuso’s comments are valuable to those of us who are trying to imagine and realise a new South Africa in which its people are freed from the terror and brutality of poverty, unemployment and record-breaking inequality. Her explicit privatisation agenda reveals the long-term material interests of capital. 

A question of democracy

South Africa is a democratic state in which the government’s legitimacy and authority are derived from the will of the people. This takes place through numerous institutions and processes. Our democracy is flawed and, at times, far from ideal, but the right of citizens to be involved in political decision-making is indispensable. The well-being and best interests of the country’s majority should be the guiding star of government policy and legislation. 

Who do CEOs and big businesses represent besides the interests of shareholders and profit-chasing investors? By definition, capitalist enterprise is undemocratic. It derives its authority through private ownership of economic production. And it uses this leverage over society to enforce its legitimacy by locking people into exploitative dependence in the hopes of receiving a wage. 

Mavuso is a representative of an undemocratic sector of our society. It is a disturbing reminder of where power is truly located that she can leverage the power of capital to threaten the government. And her purpose is to persuade government to circumvent its constitutional obligation to first serve the South African people. 

The power of ideology

She also shows us a potent ideological tactic wielded by capitalists; it’s a tactic of mystification designed to make the interests of the powerful few appear harmonious with the interests of the destitute many. 

It is a tactic long beloved by South Africa’s post-apartheid ruling class.  It is advanced by corporate-backed media, conservative economists, mainstream political ‘thought leaders’, policy consultants within government, and politicians committed to neoliberal policy-making. 

Marxist scholar Louis Althusser said that ideology “represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence”. It shapes the way people perceive their lives. Years of private sector propaganda have swept many South Africans into believing that what is best for domestic big business and foreign investors is what is best for the working class, poor and unemployed majority. 

Responding to the criticism that business was propping up an ANC-led government, Mavuso claims, “It’s got absolutely nothing to do with the ANC. It’s bigger than the ANC. This is about 62 million South Africans”. Here is the mystification at work. She would have us believe that the benevolence of the private sector will be the country’s salvation. Such mystification is not conducted out of malice or in an attempt to deceive the public. Since the dawn of capitalism, capitalists have believed that their ownership, industry and enterprise entitle them to rule societies through influencing or directly shaping political decision-making within government. 

Real class interests

Although the needs and interests of the working class, unemployed and poor at times converge with those of the private sector, most often, they are at odds. Right now, millions are unable to access quality healthcare, education or social services. Yet the National Treasury has for several years implemented a series of austerity measures in an effort to appease creditors, reduce the size of the public sector and gradually create a pathway towards privatising vital functions of the state. 

As millions suffer unemployment, the government has been historically discouraged from direct intervention in the economy—whether in the form of expanding financial and social support or using public investment to stimulate economic activity and localised industrialisation. The government and the private sector correctly highlight the issue of the country’s shrinking streams of tax revenue. But the private sector describes a meaningful increase in the Corporate Income Tax rate, or the introduction of a wealth tax, as impossibilities. Instead, the wealth of the rich is left largely untouched, and the effective tax rate on high-income individuals has decreased since 1994. Meanwhile, increases in Value Added Tax suffocate the poor and jobless.

Public vs private: the Just Energy Transition

The most recent evidence of the divergence between the public good and private sector interests is the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). Following COP26, South Africa entered into a high-level political agreement with France, Germany, the EU and the USA (known as the International Partners Group). These states agreed to provide South Africa with $8.5 billion towards financing the country’s transition away from fossil fuels (primarily coal) and initiating a comprehensive decarbonisation process. The majority of this financing consists of loans. It is provided on the basis that South Africa produces a plan to decarbonise that will make confronting climate change and transitioning to renewable forms of energy profitable enterprises. In practice, the state must introduce structural reforms to create a regulatory and policy framework that will be friendly to profit-making from renewable energy technologies and infrastructure. 

Numerous civil society organisations, social movements, energy sector trade unions and radical climate activists have questioned if the JETP is truly in the best interests of citizens. It pushes the state further into debt and will encourage the implementation of harsher cuts to public expenditure on basic services and public goods.

Numerous civil society organisations, social movements, energy sector trade unions and radical climate activists have questioned if the JETP is truly in the best interests of citizens. It pushes the state further into debt and will encourage the implementation of harsher cuts to public expenditure on basic services and public goods. Energy sector trade unions have expressed profound worries about what the deal will mean for workers, and they are correct to do so. Both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank advocate for weakening labour protections in the energy sector. In 2022 they said that “bold reforms of labour market institutions in the areas of collective bargaining, employment protection legislation, and minimum wage-setting would give firms greater workforce management ability and boost employment opportunities for the inexperienced and the young”. 

Most tellingly, in 2023, the World Bank provided a $1 billion ‘Development Policy Loan’ towards restructuring Eskom. This ‘restructuring’ means the unbundling of the utility, turning its now separate entities into capitalist enterprises and opening power generation to independent power producers. This extensive reform entails the loss of South Africa’s energy sovereignty at a time when comprehensive and strategic planning is needed to implement a truly just energy transition. Moreover, as numerous progressive energy scholars have noted, the liberalisation of the electricity sector will entail passing production costs onto consumers to ensure returns on investment. And this will likely deepen the crisis of energy poverty in the country. 

There is a central issue with the private sector playing such a massive role in setting the agenda for policy-making and legislative reform beyond the corruption of democracy. Capitalists operate on a logic of staying competitive, reducing investment risk, minimising costs and maximising profits. What is best for the working class, poor and unemployed is not always profitable. The private sector would have us believe that capitalism is not just our only option but that it is a mutually beneficial arrangement. All evidence points to the opposite. So long as there is an inequality of power—between the propertied few and the exploited, precarious many—the radical potential of democratic governance will be stifled. 

Andile Zulu is a political writer and Energy Democracy Officer at the AIDC.