Recently we have had to put up with stories in both electronic and the print media that are meant to empower us, as citizens, to stand up against the "crisis of leadership". Most commentators, analysts and even leading politicians agree that there is a crisis facing our country - a crisis of poverty, unemployment and rising levels of inequality.
However there is a huge divergence among the role players when it comes to the true root causes of this crisis. What the press, commentators and others have told us is that the lack of leadership (political) in South Africa is responsible for this triple crisis we face.
We have no problem facing up to the agenda that these role players are agitating for. They have never believed in the leadership capabilities of the current ANC collective in any case and consequently they are not being honest in their evaluation. Our responsibility is to organize our people so that they can see this agenda for what it is: another attempt to stop the election of a particular candidate we are all told incessantly not to like, not to trust and that he cant lead, period.
This time around however the attempt is more sophisticated. It plays to people's emotions and seeks to focus on the very real issues and problems on which we are all agreed are a challenge that requires to be tackled. While we are all agreed that things are tough, it is incorrect to blame a particular leader for the systemic challenges in the South African economy and society at large. Framed in such emotional terms this flawed narrative can appeal to ordinary folk who find themselves stranded in poverty.
But what concerns us here is the use of the downgrading of South Africa's credit ratings by several ratings agencies, including Moody's. This sub-narrative is being used to corroborate the main storyline about the crisis of leadership.
Let us recall that the same agency also downgraded South Africa in the run up to the 52nd ANC Conference in Polokwane. At that time the downgrade was used to tell the nation, and ANC members going to Polokwane, not to vote for a particular candidate. Same line, same agency, same papers, same ANC delegates. Why must they listen to it this time around?
The reason why this view will not gain traction among ANC delegates is because the news and comment feed we've been given has not been completely candid about the exact root cause of the problems confronting society. It has framed the news in such a way that the leadership of the ANC is seen as the scapegoat and not the actual system of Capitalism, which is undergoing one of its deepest and most prolonged crisis. Worldwide the result of the crisis has meant that more and more people are out of work, more and more people are getting poor while a tiny minority remains filthy rich. The structural deficiencies of our economy have not been properly elaborated on for people to understand the need for a radical structural shift in economic policy.
In narrowing the argument, mainly driven by an elitist irritation with the president the press has also failed to look at the credibility of rating agencies such as Moody's, the very same agency which gave triple A ratings to the large American Banks who, by their reckless trading, were in fact at the root of the current financial crises faced by the capitalist economies of advanced countries. For example Moody's gave Lehman Brothers a triple-A rating only a few months before the mortgage company collapsed.
The question of who is actually behind Moody's has never been critically engaged with in our country or by the media generally. Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, Fidelity, State Street, Blackrock and Morgan Stanley Investment are just a few of Moody's shareholders. These are indeed the world's biggest fund managers that are using Moody's to influence the market so as to increase their share value and profits. Their perceptions and views about South Africa are not class neutral or politically disinterested.
In reality they represent the crudest form of capital trying to use its muscle and its institutions that are so tightly linked to the system of global governance to dictate terms to liberation movements and government all in an effort to shape and influence respective economic policy adopted in countries such as SA.
So why should we now be persuaded to trust Moody's? And why is there a complete blackout of the investigations in the US and in Europe into the role of rating agencies in plunging those economies into the abyss they find themselves in today? Rating agencies are nothing but the creation of a capitalist system that needed to concoct confidence in its financialisation project and fictitious growth of economies.
It is this inability to be critical when telling the South African story that should always lead us to reading the pessimistic messages with caution. It is this blindness to the reality of who and what Moody's serves that shows the class leaning of our own media.
Our determination to radically transform the systemic features of the South African economy will never receive any positive feedback from Moody's or other rating agencies. So let's not lose focus!
Let us focus on mobilizing the working class and our people to focus on our five priorities and the struggle to transform the growth path that sharks like Moody's have been profiting from.
Malesela Maleka is a member of the NC and NWC of the Young Communist League and SACP Spokesperson. This article first appeared in Umsebenzi Online, the online journal of the SACP.
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
