S. African bosses change tactics to extend contro

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The capitalist-apartheid state of South Africa has recently produced a series of governmental moves, of which there was another spattering last week, warmly welcomed by the bourgeois press abroad and by 'progressive' sections of capital and their mouthpieces at home.

These reforms promised, amongst other things, the abolition of statutory job reservation (affecting only a tiny percentage of jobs reserved for whites, the rest being the subject of agreements between employers and white unions as well as a plethora of other repressive controls over black workers).

Limited residential and ownership rights in white urt an areas for a sector of blacks were also planned.

And the Wiehahn parliamenSouth African state forces at work tary Commission recomm lended allowing black trade uni ons to be registered-subject to stringent conditions and limitations.

Tactic

Socialist Press has shown that these moves are, in fact, a tactic to defend the capitalist apartheid state ayainst the challenges posed to it by the black working class.

Generally, they are a part of a rigidly controiled and limited programme of reforms through which the ruling class aims to co-opt a larger layer of black allies, drawn from the small but politically significant black petty bourgeoisie and an upper layer of skilled black workers and union bureaucrats.

Workforce

In a world system of decaying capitalism and a crisis of profits, South African capitalists have been led to turn to increased mechanisation.

The formation of a large and cheap skilled and semi-skilled workforce is thus increasingly necessary.

Together with its political implications, the government's programme of reforms has this aim too.

In the case of the registration of black industrial organisations, what appeared to bourgeois commentators to be the extension of trade union rights was rather designed as an extension of control over the Botha organisation of black workers.

Fanie Botha, Minister of Manpower Utilisation, announced last week that these ambiguous 'rights' are now to cover all black workers, including migrants (though not those from foreign countries).

Legislation

When legislation was published in June on the basis of the Wiehahn report, only those black workers permanently resident in the urban areas were affected-contrary to Wiehahn's recommendations.

However, this latest amendment-possibly made easier now by the absence over the past months of any really meaningful and strong right-wing threat to the government's reforms from the privileged white workers who have formed such an essential part of its social base-is merely a development of the same project.

Stringent

By imposing extremely stringent conditions for registration, any legislation on labour control will aim to destroy those few black unions, now unregistered, through which some workers have sought to build an independent trade union movement.

The Draconian rules will most likely outlaw all but the most docile and firmly controlled black unions. Alternatively black workers will be forced into unions totally controlled by whites.

Last week also heard Prime Minister Botha stating his readiness to consider changes in the laws which prohibit sex and marriage across racial lines.

About 10,000 people have been prosecuted under the Immorality Act in its 30 year While Botha also said that mixed marriages were always 'undesirable' , it is certain that the government is very willing to modify legislation as part of its reform programme-as long as such modifications further the threatened stability of the ruling class, and improve the political and economic conditions for capital's extraction of profits from black proletarian labour.

Restaurants

Another announcement last week concerned the opening of all South African restaurants to blacks.

While black businessmen will now dine (to the admiring glances of white liberals) and while the government's programme of reforms is carried through, the repression, control and exploitation of the mass of workers is extended and even more oppressively enforced.

The only real defence of the black working class against that is the building of the organisations and the development of the political programme which embody their. independent interests.