By Nco Dube
It is a sad myth that the Middle Class has the power to influence political discourse and political fortunes simply because they are educated. This is especially so in the South African context where the Middle Class’ composition is abnormal due to centuries of colonial rule and decades of apartheid. In South Africa, the Middle Class is racially constituted.
The Middle Class seems to have a strong belief that they are at the top of the class echelon and that they actually can dictate to other classes especially the working class on how they should behave, how they should choose their leaders and so on.
Let us start by looking at the existing classes and how they relate to each other. For society to function according to certain rules, whether democratic or not, there needs to be an interdependent set of groups to feed off each other. They are usually constituted to protect and further the aims of the Capital Elite who usually also are the Ruling Elite.
At the highest echelon is the capital Class. The owners of industry and capital. They do not necessarily live in the country they profit from. This is usually a closed circle and very few, if any, get admitted into the club.
In South Africa the Ruling Elite is totally separate from the Capital Elite because of the historical colonialism and apartheid. The Ruling Elite controls the levers of government with the support and approval of the Capital Class.
Then there is the Middle Class which does the bidding of both the Capital and the Ruling Classes. The Middle Class is beholden to both the Capital and Ruling Elites because they survive only on jobs and credit dished out and regulated by the two classes.
At the bottom rung (or so it seems) is the Working Class. They keep the country going through their supply of labour.
The Classes usually relate to each other according to these established rules and are all kept in check by the accepted norms of do’s and don’t’s. The Middle Class is given relative freedom to be vocal to a point where they think they are the most important.
This couldn’t be further from the truth, in fact, the most invulnerable of all is the Working Class. Their strongest weapon is that neither of the Classes want to be pushed down to their level. The Marikana events demonstrated (albeit horribly) how powerful the working class can be and how much power they hold when they disregard the rules designed to keep them in check.
You see, anyone can be co-opted from the working class to the middle class and from the middle class into either the ruling or the capital elite but no one wants to from the classes to the working class. Hence lies the power.
The classes in many societies seem to have had a way to strike a balance according to their needs. Every now and then events like Marikana will come along and disturb the equilibrium but this is quickly dealt with by the joining of forces of the other classes to pull the dissenting one back into line.
The most duped of the classes is the Middle Class. They are made to believe they are a powerful Class when they are not. They are even made to believe they own assets they don’t own. The mortgaged houses, the financed vehicles and the unsecure jobs.
They live and do the bidding of the Ruling and Capital Elites in the hope that they will be co-opted into one or both of these classes, but alas, only the chosen few get that lucky. The Motsepes, the Sexwales, the Ramaphosas and the Mzi Khumalos did not get to where they are by accident.
The Middle Class believe that because they run media houses and banks on behalf of the Capitalist or Ruling Elites they then hold sway of the public opinion. They have this twisted idea that what they flood the social networks with is the societal standard and everyone subscribe to it. What a farce!
Some even go as far as suggesting that the Working Class needs to be educated on how to vote for the Ruling Elite forgetting that all vote according to their needs.
The Working Class votes for bread and butter delivery, they vote with the hope of survival for housing, jobs etc. the Middle Class on the other hand already have a roof over their heads, have a car, medical aid etc and can start thinking about ‘protection of the constitution’ and other more visionary and long term issues. Capital Class will only vote for someone that they believe will not rock the boat with their wealth and privilege position.
The trick here is to strike a balance and understand each of the Classes’ needs and allow each Class a bit of freedom to assert and express themselves.
This is in no way a perfect system, it is exploitative and enslaving both mentally and physically, but then nothing is perfect in this world.