South Africa: Between the second transition and a second term-A second sharpeville

The article focuses on the period and conditions in South Africa between the second transition and a second term. Like Ghana, then Tanzania and Mozambique before, South Africa became the source of possibility for the Left to envisage a new beginning that could escape the squeeze of global capitalism, and, in the process, also avoid the stereotype of Third World kleptocracy. The line-up of the team to achieve this was the same as previous confrontations on the continent: national liberation, the party, the trade union movement as partner, the people rallying behind the party, and the much heralded reconstruction and development goals to be led by the state. The organized working class, that old shibboleth of the Left, has to contend with a vocal black middle class, a huge, young unemployed mass, and the creation of jobs that are casualized and outside formalized bargaining forums.