1. The South African “Rule of Law”: A Bourgeois Framework in a Postcolonial Context
After 1994, South Africa adopted one of the world’s so called most progressive constitutions premised on human rights, equality before the law, and the rule of law.
However, if we apply a Marxist-Leninist lens, this legal order, though democratic still rests on capitalist property relations inherited from apartheid.
> The “rule of law” in South Africa, much like in bourgeois societies Marx described, is structured to protect existing economic power rather than to dismantle it.
For example:
The Constitution guarantees property rights (Section 25), which effectively entrenches the ownership patterns established during colonial and apartheid rule.
While the Constitution promotes equality, the material base of inequality for who owns land, capital, and productive assets remains unchanged.
Thus, from a Marxist view, South Africa’s “rule of law” becomes a superstructural tool maintaining economic relations of inequality, rather than transforming them.
Marx would say:
> “The legal system cannot be more just than the economic base it rests upon.”
2. Lenin’s Perspective: The State as an Instrument of Class Power
Lenin would interpret South Africa’s constitutional state as a bourgeois-democratic state. one that presents itself as a “neutral arbiter” but in fact serves the dominant class (the capitalist elite, global financial interests, and domestic oligarchs).
He would argue that:
The police, courts, and regulatory agencies act to stabilize capitalism, not to end exploitation. Even anti-corruption laws or judicial activism cannot transform the class nature of the state.
True transformation requires the capture of the means of production by the working class, not merely political control through elections.
Lenin would see the post-apartheid compromise, the “miracle of 1994” as a class settlement, not a revolution. It transferred political power to the black majority, but economic power remained in the hands of the capitalist class.
3. Marxism and the South African Contradiction
South Africa today faces a paradox Marx foresaw:
The rule of law promises equality, but the economy reproduces inequality. Democracy offers political rights, but economic life remains undemocratic.
Examples of this contradiction:
Land reform: The courts often interpret “just and equitable” compensation in ways that protect existing owners showing how law reflects class interests.
Labour relations:
Labour laws protect workers procedurally but not economically; capital still owns production.
State capture:
The looting of public resources is not an aberration but a symptom of a capitalist state where political elites compete for control over accumulation.
Thus, the rule of law operates as a mask for class struggle. It provides stability and legitimacy to a deeply unequal system, much as Marx described the bourgeois state in Europe during the 19th century.
4. The ANC, the Rule of Law, and Revolutionary Legitimacy
The ANC, particularly under its Freedom Charter tradition, declared that “the people shall govern” and that “the land shall be shared among those who work it.”
However, in practice:
The ANC has upheld the constitutional rule of law over revolutionary transformation. This has led to a political legitimacy crisis among the poor who see the law protecting the wealthy and foreign investors rather than them.
From a Leninist standpoint, the ANC’s approach represents a democratic revolution that stopped halfway, it changed the political superstructure but left the economic base intact. Hence, the state apparatus, including the judiciary, continues to function as an instrument of the ruling class.
5. Towards a People’s Rule of Law
A Marxist-Leninist alternative would not reject law outright but call for a new legal order based on social ownership and class emancipation.
Such a system would:
– Prioritize the right to work, to land, to housing, to dignity over the right to private property.
– Redefine justice as redistributive, not merely procedural.
– Place the masses at the center of governance, not elites and technocrats.
In essence, this would be a revolutionary legality, law as an instrument of social transformation, not class preservation.
6. Conclusion
Dimension Current South African “Rule of Law” Marxist-Leninist Alternative
Class Function,Protects property and capital , Abolishes private property, empowers workers.
Character of State Bourgeois-democratic Proletarian-democratic Purpose of Law-Maintain order and legitimacy-Transform material conditions, Outcome Formal equality-material inequality Substantive equality-social justice
In Summary:
Marx saw the rule of law as a reflection of the ruling class’s dominance over the working class. Lenin argued that only by overthrowing bourgeois rule could law become an instrument of liberation.
In South Africa, the rule of law protects the 1994 compromise, not revolutionary transformation, it stabilizes capitalism under the illusion of equality.
True justice, from a Marxist-Leninist perspective, will come not through “rule of law,” but through rule of the people, where the economy and the state serve collective, not private, interests.
- Khulu Radebe is an independent thinker and a community activist.
