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African National Congress
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The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected as President of South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent national president, has served as president of the ANC since 18 December 2017.[15]

Key Information

Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress, the organisation was formed to advocate for the rights of black South Africans. When the National Party government came to power in 1948, the ANC's central purpose became to oppose the new government's policy of institutionalised apartheid. To this end, its methods and means of organisation shifted; its adoption of the techniques of mass politics, and the swelling of its membership, culminated in the Defiance Campaign of civil disobedience in 1952–53. The ANC was banned by the South African government between April 1960 – shortly after the Sharpeville massacre – and February 1990. During this period, despite periodic attempts to revive its domestic political underground, the ANC was forced into exile by increasing state repression, which saw many of its leaders imprisoned on Robben Island. Headquartered in Lusaka, Zambia, the exiled ANC dedicated much of its attention to a campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare against the apartheid state, carried out under its military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe, which was founded in 1961 in partnership with the South African Communist Party (SACP). The ANC was condemned as a terrorist organisation by the governments of South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom. However, it positioned itself as a key player in the negotiations to end apartheid, which began in earnest after the ban was repealed in 1990. For much of that time, the ANC leadership, along with many of its most active members, operated from abroad. After the Soweto Uprising of 1976, the ANC remained committed to achieving its objectives through armed struggle. These circumstances significantly shaped the ANC during its years in exile.[15]

In the post-apartheid era, the ANC continues to identify itself foremost as a liberation movement, although it is also a registered political party. Partly due to its Tripartite Alliance with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), it had retained a comfortable electoral majority at the national level and in most provinces, and has provided each of South Africa's five presidents since 1994. South Africa is considered a dominant-party state. However, the ANC's electoral majority has declined consistently since 2004, and in the 2021 local elections, its share of the national vote dropped below 50% for the first time ever.[16] Over the last decade, the party has been embroiled in a number of controversies, particularly relating to widespread allegations of political corruption among its members.

Following the 2024 general election, the ANC lost its majority in parliament for the first time in South Africa's democratic history. However, it still remained the largest party, with just over 40% of the vote.[17] The party also lost its majority in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Gauteng and Northern Cape. Despite these setbacks, the ANC retained power at the national level through a grand coalition referred to as the Government of National Unity, including parties which together have 72% of the seats in Parliament.[18]

History

[edit]

Origins

[edit]
A South African Native National Congress delegation to England, June 1914. L–R: Thomas Mtobi Mapikela, Walter Rubusana, John Langalibalele Dube, Saul Msane, and Sol Plaatje.

A successor of the Cape Colony's Imbumba Yamanyama organisation, the ANC was founded as the South African Native National Congress in Bloemfontein on 8 January 1912, and was renamed the African National Congress in 1923. Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Sol Plaatje, John Langalibalele Dube, and Walter Rubusana founded the organisation, who, like much of the ANC's early membership, were from the conservative, educated, and religious professional classes of black South African society.[19][20] Although they would not take part, Xhosa chiefs would show huge support for the organisation; as a result, King Jongilizwe donated 50 cows to it during its founding.[citation needed] Around 1920, in a partial shift away from its early focus on the "politics of petitioning",[21] the ANC developed a programme of passive resistance directed primarily at the expansion and entrenchment of pass laws.[20][22] When Josiah Gumede took over as ANC president in 1927, he advocated for a strategy of mass mobilisation and cooperation with the Communist Party, but was voted out of office in 1930 and replaced with the traditionalist Seme, whose leadership saw the ANC's influence wane.[19][21]

Wesleyan Waaihoek church, where the ANC was founded in Bloemfontein. Now a World Heritage Site (2025)

In the 1940s, Alfred Bitini Xuma revived some of Gumede's programmes, assisted by a surge in trade union activity and by the formation in 1944 of the left-wing ANC Youth League under a new generation of activists, among them Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, and Oliver Tambo.[19][20] After the National Party was elected into government in 1948 on a platform of apartheid, entailing the further institutionalisation of racial segregation, this new generation pushed for a Programme of Action which explicitly advocated African nationalism and led the ANC, for the first time, to the sustained use of mass mobilisation techniques like strikes, stay-aways, and boycotts.[20][23] This culminated in the 1952–53 Defiance Campaign, a campaign of mass civil disobedience organised by the ANC, the Indian Congress, and the coloured Franchise Action Council in protest of six apartheid laws.[24] The ANC's membership swelled.[21] In June 1955, it was one of the groups represented at the multi-racial Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto, which ratified the Freedom Charter, from then onwards a fundamental document in the anti-apartheid struggle.[21] The Charter was the basis of the enduring Congress Alliance, but was also used as a pretext to prosecute hundreds of activists, among them most of the ANC's leadership, in the Treason Trial.[25] Before the trial was concluded, the Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960. In the aftermath, the ANC was banned by the South African government. It was not unbanned until February 1990, almost three decades later.

Exile in Lusaka

[edit]

After its banning in April 1960, the ANC was driven underground, a process hastened by a barrage of government banning orders, an escalation of state repression, and the imprisonment of senior ANC leaders pursuant to the Rivonia trial and Little Rivonia trial.[26] From around 1963, the ANC effectively abandoned much of even its underground presence inside South Africa and operated almost entirely from its external mission, with headquarters first in Morogoro, Tanzania, and later in Lusaka, Zambia.[27] For the entirety of its time in exile, the ANC was led by Tambo – first de facto, with president Albert Luthuli under house arrest in Zululand; then in an acting capacity, after Luthuli's death in 1967; and, finally, officially, after a leadership vote in 1985.[28] During the period there was an extremely close relationship between the ANC and the reconstituted South African Communist Party (SACP), which was also in exile.[28]

uMkhonto weSizwe

[edit]

In 1961, partly in response to the Sharpeville massacre, leaders of the SACP and the ANC formed a military body, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK, Spear of the Nation), as a vehicle for armed struggle against the apartheid state. Initially, MK was not an official ANC body, nor had it been directly established by the ANC National Executive; it was considered an autonomous organisation until the ANC formally recognised it as its armed wing in October 1962.[29][26]

In the first half of the 1960s, MK was preoccupied with a campaign of sabotage attacks, especially bombings of unoccupied government installations.[29] As the ANC reduced its presence inside South Africa, however, MK cadres were increasingly confined to training camps in Tanzania and neighbouring countries – with such exceptions as the Wankie Campaign, a momentous military failure.[30] In 1969, Tambo was compelled to call the landmark Morogoro Conference to address the grievances of the rank-and-file, articulated by Chris Hani in a memorandum which depicted MK's leadership as corrupt and complacent.[31] Although MK's malaise persisted into the 1970s, conditions for armed struggle soon improved considerably, especially after the Soweto uprising of 1976 in South Africa saw thousands of students – inspired by Black Consciousness ideas – cross the borders to seek military training.[32] MK guerrilla activity inside South Africa increased steadily over this period, with one estimate recording an increase from 23 incidents in 1977 to 136 incidents in 1985.[33] In the latter half of the 1980s, a number of South African civilians were killed in these attacks, a reversal of the ANC's earlier reluctance to incur civilian casualties.[34][33] Fatal attacks included the 1983 Church Street bombing, the 1985 Amanzimtoti bombing, the 1986 Magoo's Bar bombing, and the 1987 Johannesburg Magistrate's Court bombing. Partly in retaliation, the South African Defence Force increasingly crossed the border to target ANC members and ANC bases, as in the 1981 raid on Maputo, 1983 raid on Maputo, and 1985 raid on Gaborone.[28]

Oliver Tambo, ANC president in exile from 1967 to 1991.

During this period, MK activities led the governments of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to condemn the ANC as a terrorist organisation.[35][36] In fact, neither the ANC nor Mandela were removed from the U.S. terror watch list until 2008.[37] The animosity of Western regimes was partly explained by the Cold War context, and by the considerable amount of support – both financial and technical – that the ANC received from the Soviet Union.[38][28]

Negotiations to end apartheid

[edit]

From the mid-1980s, as international and internal opposition to apartheid mounted, elements of the ANC began to test the prospects for a negotiated settlement with the South African government, although the prudence of abandoning armed struggle was an extremely controversial topic within the organisation.[28] Following preliminary contact between the ANC and representatives of the state, business community, and civil society,[33][39] President F. W. de Klerk announced in February 1990 that the government would unban the ANC and other banned political organisations, and that Mandela would be released from prison.[40] Some ANC leaders returned to South Africa from exile for so-called "talks about talks", which led in 1990 and 1991 to a series of bilateral accords with the government establishing a mutual commitment to negotiations. Importantly, the Pretoria Minute of August 1990 included a commitment by the ANC to unilaterally suspend its armed struggle.[41] This made possible the multi-party Convention for a Democratic South Africa and later the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum, in which the ANC was regarded as the main representative of the interests of the anti-apartheid movement.

However, ongoing political violence, which the ANC attributed to a state-sponsored third force, led to recurrent tensions. Most dramatically, after the Boipatong massacre of June 1992, the ANC announced that it was withdrawing from negotiations indefinitely.[42] It faced further casualties in the Bisho massacre, the Shell House massacre, and in other clashes with state forces and supporters of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).[43] However, once negotiations resumed, they resulted in November 1993 in an interim Constitution, which governed South Africa's first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. In the elections, the ANC won an overwhelming 62.65% majority of the vote.[44] Mandela was elected president and formed a coalition Government of National Unity, which, under the provisions of the interim Constitution, also included the National Party and IFP.[45] The ANC has controlled the national government since then.

Breakaways

[edit]

In the post-apartheid era, several significant breakaway groups have been formed by former ANC members. The first is the Congress of the People, founded by Mosiuoa Lekota in 2008 in the aftermath of the Polokwane elective conference, when the ANC declined to re-elect Thabo Mbeki as its president and instead compelled his resignation from the national presidency. The second breakaway is the Economic Freedom Fighters, founded in 2013 after youth leader Julius Malema was expelled from the ANC. Before these, the most important split in the ANC's history occurred in 1959, when Robert Sobukwe led a splinter faction of African nationalists to the new Pan Africanist Congress.

uMkhonto weSizwe rose to prominence in December 2023, when former president Jacob Zuma announced that, while planning to remain a lifelong member of the ANC, he would not be campaigning for the ANC in the 2024 South African general election, and would instead be voting for MK.[46] In July 2024, Jacob Zuma was expelled from the ANC, because of campaigning for a rival party (MK party) in the 29 May general election.[47]

Current structure and composition

[edit]
Cyril Ramaphosa was elected ANC president at the 2017 conference.

Leadership

[edit]

Under the ANC constitution, every member of the ANC belongs to a local branch, and branch members select the organisation's policies and leaders.[48][49] They do so primarily by electing delegates to the National Conference, which is currently convened every five years. Between conferences, the organisation is led by its 86-member National Executive Committee, which is elected at each conference. The most senior members of the National Executive Committee are the so-called Top Six officials, the ANC president primary among them. A symmetrical process occurs at the subnational levels: each of the nine provincial executive committees and regional executive committees are elected at provincial and regional elective conferences respectively, also attended by branch delegates; and branch officials are elected at branch general meetings.[48]

Leagues

[edit]

The ANC has three leagues: the Women's League, the Youth League and the Veterans' League. Under the ANC constitution, the leagues are autonomous bodies with the scope to devise their own constitutions and policies; for the purpose of national conferences, they are treated somewhat like provinces, with voting delegates and the power to nominate leadership candidates.[48]

Tripartite Alliance

[edit]

The ANC is recognised as the leader of a three-way alliance, known as the Tripartite Alliance, with the SACP and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The alliance was formalised in mid-1990, after the ANC was unbanned, but has deeper historical roots: the SACP had worked closely with the ANC in exile, and COSATU had aligned itself with the Freedom Charter and Congress Alliance in 1987.[50] The membership and leadership of the three organisations has traditionally overlapped significantly.[51] The alliance constitutes a de facto electoral coalition: the SACP and COSATU do not contest in government elections, but field candidates through the ANC, hold senior positions in the ANC, and influence party policy. However, the SACP, in particular, has frequently threatened to field its own candidates,[52] and in 2017 it did so for the first time, running against the ANC in by-elections in the Metsimaholo municipality, Free State.[53][54]

The logo of the ANC in 1990, since updated.

Electoral candidates

[edit]

Under South Africa's closed-list proportional representation electoral system, parties have immense power in selecting candidates for legislative bodies. The ANC's internal candidate selection process is overseen by so-called "list committees" and tends to involve a degree of broad democratic participation, especially at the local level, where ANC branches vote to nominate candidates for the local government elections.[55][56] Between 2003 and 2008, the ANC also gained a significant number of members through the controversial floor crossing process, which occurred especially at the local level.[57][58]

The leaders of the executive in each sphere of government – the president, the provincial premiers, and the mayors – are indirectly elected after each election. In practice, the selection of ANC candidates for these positions is highly centralised, with the ANC caucus voting together to elect a pre-decided candidate. Although the ANC does not always announce whom its caucuses intend to elect,[59] the National Assembly has thus far always elected the ANC president as the national president.

Cadre deployment

[edit]

The ANC has adhered to a formal policy of cadre deployment since 1985.[60] In the post-apartheid era, the policy includes but is not exhausted by selection of candidates for elections and government positions: it also entails that the central organisation "deploys" ANC members to various other strategic positions in the party, state, and economy.[61][62]

Ideology and policies

[edit]
As ANC president (1991–97), Nelson Mandela saw the ANC expand and informally absorb other anti-apartheid groups.

The ANC prides itself on being a broad church,[63] and, like many dominant parties, resembles a catch-all party, accommodating a range of ideological tendencies.[64][65][66] As Mandela told The Washington Post in 1990:

The ANC has never been a political party. It was formed as a parliament of the African people. Right from the start, up to now, the ANC is a coalition, if you want, of people of various political affiliations. Some will support free enterprise, others socialism. Some are conservatives, others are liberals. We are united solely by our determination to oppose racial oppression. That is the only thing that unites us. There is no question of ideology as far as the odyssey of the ANC is concerned, because any question approaching ideology would split the organization from top to bottom. Because we have no connection whatsoever except at this one, of our determination to dismantle apartheid.[67]

The post-apartheid ANC continues to identify itself foremost as a liberation movement, pursuing "the complete liberation of the country from all forms of discrimination and national oppression".[48] It also continues to claim the Freedom Charter of 1955 as "the basic policy document of the ANC".[68][48] However, as NEC member Jeremy Cronin noted in 2007, the various broad principles of the Freedom Charter have been given different interpretations, and emphasised to differing extents, by different groups within the organisation.[66][69] Nonetheless, some basic commonalities are visible in the policy and ideological preferences of the organisation's mainstream.

Non-racialism

[edit]

The ANC is committed to the ideal of non-racialism and to opposing "any form of racial, tribalistic or ethnic exclusivism or chauvinism".[48][65][70]

National Democratic Revolution

[edit]

The 1969 Morogoro Conference committed the ANC to a "national democratic revolution [which] – destroying the existing social and economic relationship – will bring with it a correction of the historical injustices perpetrated against the indigenous majority and thus lay the basis for a new – and deeper internationalist – approach".[71] For the movement's intellectuals, the concept of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) was a means of reconciling the anti-apartheid and anti-colonial project with a second goal, that of establishing domestic and international socialism – the ANC is a member of the Socialist International,[14] and its close partner the SACP traditionally conceives itself as a vanguard party.[65] Specifically, and as implied by the 1969 document, NDR doctrine entails that the transformation of the domestic political system (national struggle, in Joe Slovo's phrase) is a precondition for a socialist revolution (class struggle).[65][72] The concept remained important to ANC intellectuals and strategists after the end of apartheid.[73][74] Indeed, the pursuit of the NDR is one of the primary objectives of the ANC as set out in its constitution.[48] As with the Freedom Charter, the ambiguity of the NDR has allowed it to bear varying interpretations. For example, whereas SACP theorists tend to emphasise the anti-capitalist character of the NDR, some ANC policymakers have construed it as implying the empowerment of the black majority even within a market-capitalist scheme.[65]

Economic interventionism

[edit]

We must develop the capacity of government for strategic intervention in social and economic development. We must increase the capacity of the public sector to deliver improved and extended public services to all the people of South Africa.

Since 1994, consecutive ANC governments have held a strong preference for a significant degree of state intervention in the economy. The ANC's first comprehensive articulation of its post-apartheid economic policy framework was set out in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) document of 1994, which became its electoral manifesto and also, under the same name, the flagship policy of Nelson Mandela's government. The RDP aimed both to redress the socioeconomic inequalities created by colonialism and apartheid, and to promote economic growth and development; state intervention was judged a necessary step towards both goals.[75] Specifically, the state was to intervene in the economy through three primary channels: a land reform programme; a degree of economic planning, through industrial and trade policy; and state investments in infrastructure and the provision of basic services, including health and education.[75][76] Although the RDP was abandoned in 1996, these three channels of state economic intervention have remained mainstays of subsequent ANC policy frameworks.

Neoliberal turn

[edit]

In 1996, Mandela's government replaced the RDP with the Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) programme, which was maintained under President Thabo Mbeki, Mandela's successor. GEAR has been characterised as a neoliberal policy,[77][78] and it was disowned by both COSATU and the SACP.[79][80] While some analysts viewed Mbeki's economic policy as undertaking the uncomfortable macroeconomic adjustments necessary for long-term growth,[65] others – notably Patrick Bond – viewed it as a reflection of the ANC's failure to implement genuinely radical transformation after 1994.[81] Debate about ANC commitment to redistribution on a socialist scale has continued: in 2013, the country's largest trade union, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, withdrew its support for the ANC on the basis that "the working class cannot any longer see the ANC or the SACP as its class allies in any meaningful sense".[82] It is evident, however, that the ANC never embraced free-market capitalism, and continued to favour a mixed economy: even as the debate over GEAR raged, the ANC declared itself (in 2004) a social-democratic party,[83] and it was at that time presiding over phenomenal expansions of its black economic empowerment programme and the system of social grants.[84][85]

Developmental state

[edit]

As its name suggests, the RDP emphasised state-led development – that is, a developmental state – which the ANC has typically been cautious, at least in its rhetoric, to distinguish from the neighbouring concept of a welfare state.[86][85][76] In the mid-2000s, during Mbeki's second term, the notion of a developmental state was revived in South African political discourse when the national economy worsened;[76] and the 2007 National Conference whole-heartedly endorsed developmentalism in its policy resolutions, calling for a state "at the centre of a mixed economy... which leads and guides that economy and which intervenes in the interest of the people as a whole".[86] The proposed developmental state was also central to the ANC's campaign in the 2009 elections,[76] and it remains a central pillar of the policy of the current government, which seeks to build a "capable and developmental" state.[87][88] In this regard, ANC politicians often cite China as an aspirational example.[63][89] A discussion document ahead of the ANC's 2015 National General Council proposed that:

China['s] economic development trajectory remains a leading example of the triumph of humanity over adversity. The exemplary role of the collective leadership of the Communist Party of China in this regard should be a guiding lodestar of our own struggle.[90]

Radical economic transformation

[edit]

Towards the end of Jacob Zuma's presidency, an ANC faction aligned to Zuma pioneered a new policy platform referred to as radical economic transformation (RET). Zuma announced the new focus on RET during his February 2017 State of the Nation address,[91] and later that year, explaining that it had been adopted as ANC policy and therefore as government policy, defined it as entailing "fundamental change in the structures, systems, institutions and patterns of ownership and control of the economy, in favour of all South Africans, especially the poor".[92] Arguments for RET were closely associated with the rhetorical concept of white monopoly capital.[93][94] At the 54th National Conference in 2017, the ANC endorsed a number of policy principles advocated by RET supporters, including their proposal to pursue land expropriation without compensation as a matter of national policy.[95][96][97]

Foreign policy and relations

[edit]

The ANC has long had close ties with China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with the CCP having supported ANC's struggle of apartheid since 1961.[98] In 2008, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding to train ANC members in China.[99]

President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC have not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and have faced criticism from opposition parties,[100][101][102] public commentators,[103][104] academics,[105][106] civil society organisations,[107][108][109] and former ANC members[110] due to this. The ANC youth wing has meanwhile condemned sanctions against Russia and denounced NATO's eastward expansion as "fascistic".[111][112] Officials representing the ANC Youth League acted as international observers for Russia's staged referendum to annex Ukrainian territory claimed during the war.[113] In February 2024 ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula attend a "forum on combating Western neocolonialism"[114] hosted by Russia, thereby drawing further criticism for the party's perceived support for Russia's invasion.[114][115]

The ANC had received large donations from the Putin linked Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, whilst the party's investment arm, Chancellor House, has a joint investment with Vekselberg in a South African manganese mine.[116][117]

Symbols and media

[edit]
The tricolour flag of the ANC.
[edit]

The logo of the ANC incorporates a spear and shield – symbolising the historical and ongoing struggle, armed and otherwise, against colonialism and racial oppression – and a wheel, which is borrowed from the 1955 Congress of the People campaign and therefore symbolises a united and non-racial movement for freedom and equality.[118] The logo uses the same colours as the ANC flag, which comprises three horizontal stripes of equal width in black, green and gold. The black symbolises the native people of South Africa; the green represents the land of South Africa; and the gold represents the country's mineral and other natural wealth.[118] The black, green and gold tricolour also appeared on the flag of the KwaZulu bantustan and appears on the flag of the ANC's rival, the IFP; and all three colours appear in the post-apartheid South African national flag.

Publications

[edit]

Since 1996, the ANC Department of Political Education has published the quarterly Umrabulo political discussion journal; and ANC Today, a weekly online newsletter, was launched in 2001 to offset the alleged bias of the press.[119] In addition, since 1972, it has been traditional for the ANC president to publish annually a so-called January 8 Statement: a reflective letter sent to members on 8 January, the anniversary of the organisation's founding.[120] In earlier years, the ANC published a range of periodicals, the most important of which was the monthly journal Sechaba (1967–1990), printed in the German Democratic Republic and banned by the apartheid government.[121][122] The ANC's Radio Freedom also gained a wide audience during apartheid.[123]

Amandla

[edit]

"Amandla ngawethu", or the Sotho variant "Matla ke arona", is a common rallying call at ANC meetings, roughly meaning "power to the people".[118] It is also common for meetings to sing so-called struggle songs, which were sung during anti-apartheid meetings and in MK camps. In the case of at least two of these songs – Dubula ibhunu and Umshini wami – this has caused controversy in recent years.[124]

Criticism and controversy

[edit]

The ANC has received criticism from both internal and external sources. Internally Mandela publicly criticized the party, following the conclusion of his presidency, for ignoring instances of corruption and mismanagement, whilst allowing for the growth of a culture of racial and ideological intolerance.[125][126]

Corruption controversies

[edit]

The most prominent corruption case involving the ANC relates to a series of bribes paid to companies involved in the ongoing R55 billion Arms Deal saga, which resulted in a long term jail sentence to then Deputy President Jacob Zuma's legal adviser Schabir Shaik. Zuma, the former South African President, was charged with fraud, bribery and corruption in the Arms Deal, but the charges were subsequently withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa due to their delay in prosecution.[127] The ANC has also been criticised for its subsequent abolition of the Scorpions, the multidisciplinary agency that investigated and prosecuted organised crime and corruption, and was heavily involved in the investigation into Zuma and Shaik. Tony Yengeni, in his position as chief whip of the ANC and head of the Parliaments defence committee has recently been named as being involved in bribing the German company ThyssenKrupp over the purchase of four corvettes for the SANDF.[citation needed]

Other corruption issues in the 2000s included the sexual misconduct and criminal charges of Beaufort West municipal manager Truman Prince,[128] and the Oilgate scandal, in which millions of Rand in funds from a state-owned company were funnelled into ANC coffers.[129]

The ANC has also been accused of using government and civil society to fight its political battles against opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance. The result has been a number of complaints and allegations that none of the political parties truly represent the interests of the poor.[130][131] This has resulted in the "No Land! No House! No Vote!" Campaign which became very prominent during elections.[132][133] In 2018, The New York Times reported on the killings of ANC corruption whistleblowers.[134]

During an address on 28 October 2021, former president Thabo Mbeki commented on the history of corruption within the ANC. He reflected that Mandela had already warned in 1997 that the ANC was attracting individuals who viewed the party as "a route to power and self-enrichment." He added that the ANC leadership "did not know how to deal with this problem."[135] During a lecture on 10 December, Mbeki reiterated concerns about "careerists" within the party, and stressed the need to "purge itself of such members".[136]

In May 2024, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in association with amaBhungane showed in documents that R200 million in the ANC's election fund was siphoned off to the church of controversial archbishop Bheki Lukhele in Eswatini; the Chief Financial Officer of the ANC, Bongani Mahlalela along with the Ambassador of Eswatini to Belgium, Sibusisiwe Mngomezulu, were implicated in the scheme.[137][138][139]

Condemnation over Secrecy Bill

[edit]

In late 2011, the ANC was heavily criticised over the passage of the Protection of State Information Bill, which opponents claimed would improperly restrict the freedom of the press.[140] Opposition to the bill included otherwise ANC-aligned groups such as COSATU. Notably, Nelson Mandela and other Nobel laureates Nadine Gordimer, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and F. W. de Klerk have expressed disappointment with the bill for not meeting standards of constitutionality and aspirations for freedom of information and expression.[141]

Role in the Marikana killings

[edit]

The ANC have been criticised for its role in failing to prevent 16 August 2012 massacre of Lonmin miners at Marikana in the Northwest. Some[who?] allege that Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa gave the go ahead for the police action against the miners on that day.[142]

Commissioner Phiyega of the ANC came under further criticism as being insensitive and uncaring when she was caught smiling and laughing during the Farlam Commission's video playback of the massacre.[143]

In 2014, Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced that he could no longer bring himself to vote for the ANC, as it was no longer the party that he and Nelson Mandela fought for. He stated that the party had lost its way, and was in danger of becoming a corrupt entity in power.[144]

Financial mismanagement

[edit]

Since at least 2017, the ANC has encountered significant problems related to financial mismanagement. According to a report filed by the former treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize in December 2017, the ANC was technically insolvent as its liabilities exceeded its assets.[145] These problems continued into the second half of 2021. By September 2021, the ANC had reportedly amassed a debt exceeding R200-million, including over R100-million owed to the South African Revenue Service.[146]

Beginning in May 2021, the ANC failed to pay monthly staff salaries on time. Having gone without pay for three consecutive months, workers planned a strike in late August 2021.[147] In response, the ANC initiated a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for staff salaries.[148] By November 2021, its Cape Town staff was approaching their fourth month without salaries, while medical aid and provident fund contributions had been suspended in various provinces.[149] The party has countered that the Political Party Funding Act, which prohibits anonymous contributions, has dissuaded some donors who previously injected money for salaries.[150]African National Congress failed to pay Ezulweni investments R150 million rand historic debt.[151]

State capture

[edit]

In January 2018, then-President Jacob Zuma established the Zondo Commission to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption, and fraud in the public sector.[152] Over the following four years, the Commission heard testimony from over 250 witnesses and collected more than 150,000 pages of evidence.[153] After several extensions, the first part of the final three-part report was published on 4 January 2022.[154][155]

The report found that the ANC, including Zuma and his political allies, had benefited from the extensive corruption of state enterprises, including the South African Revenue Service.[156] It also found that the ANC "simply did not care that state entities were in decline during state capture or they slept on the job – or they simply didn't know what to do."[157]

Election results

[edit]
Proportion of votes cast for the ANC in the 2014 election, by ward.
  0–20%
  20–40%
  40–60%
  60–80%
  80–100%
The ANC's performance by region in the 2024 South African general election.

National Assembly elections

[edit]
Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Result
1994 Nelson Mandela 12,237,655 62.65%
252 / 400
Increase 252 Increase 1st ANC–NPIFP coalition
1999 Thabo Mbeki 10,601,330 66.35%
266 / 400
Increase 14 Steady 1st ANC–IFP coalition
2004 10,880,915 69.69%
279 / 400
Increase 13 Steady 1st Majority
2009 Jacob Zuma 11,650,748 65.90%
264 / 400
Decrease 15 Steady 1st Majority
2014 11,436,921 62.15%
249 / 400
Decrease 15 Steady 1st Majority
2019 Cyril Ramaphosa 10,026,475 57.50%
230 / 400
Decrease 19 Steady 1st Majority
2024 6,459,683 40.18%[a]
159 / 400
Decrease 71 Steady 1st National Unity coalition
  1. ^ From 2024, seats in the National Assembly are determined by a combination of the national ballot, and the nine regional ballots. Only the national ballot figures are shown here.

National Council of Provinces elections

[edit]
Election Party leader Seats +/– Position Result
1994 Nelson Mandela
60 / 90
Increase 60 Increase 1st ANC–NPIFP coalition
1999 Thabo Mbeki
63 / 90
Increase 3 Steady 1st ANC–IFP coalition
2004
65 / 90
Increase 2 Steady 1st Majority
2009 Jacob Zuma
62 / 90
Decrease 3 Steady 1st Majority
2014
60 / 90
Decrease 2 Steady 1st Majority
2019 Cyril Ramaphosa
54 / 90
Decrease 6 Steady 1st Majority
2024
43 / 90
Decrease 11 Steady 1st National Unity coalition

Provincial legislatures

[edit]
Election[158] Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North-West Northern Cape Western Cape
% Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats
1994 84.35 48/56 76.65 24/30 57.60 50/86 32.23 26/81 91.63 38/40 80.69 25/30 83.33 26/30 49.74 15/30 33.01 14/42
1999 73.80 47/63 80.79 25/30 67.87 50/73 39.38 32/80 88.29 44/49 84.83 26/30 78.97 27/33 64.32 20/30 42.07 18/42
2004 79.27 51/63 81.78 25/30 68.40 51/73 46.98 38/80 89.18 45/49 86.30 27/30 80.71 27/33 68.83 21/30 45.25 19/42
2009 68.82 44/63 71.10 22/30 64.04 47/73 62.95 51/80 84.88 43/49 85.55 27/30 72.89 25/33 60.75 19/30 31.55 14/42
2014 70.09 45/63 69.85 22/30 53.59 40/73 64.52 52/80 78.60 39/49 78.23 24/30 67.39 23/33 64.40 20/30 32.89 14/42
2019 68.74 44/63 61.14 19/30 50.19 37/73 54.22 44/80 75.49 38/49 70.58 22/30 61.87 21/33 57.54 18/30 28.63 12/42
2024[159] 62.16 45/73 51.87 16/30 34.76 28/80 16.99 14/80 73.30 48/64 51.31 27/51 57.73 21/38 49.34 15/30 19.55 8/42

Municipal elections

[edit]
Election Votes % Change
1995–96 5,033,855 58%
2000 None released 59.4% Increase 1.4%
2006 17,466,948 66.3% Increase 6.9%
2011 16,548,826 61.9% Decrease 4.4%
2016[160] 21,450,332 55.7% Decrease 6.2%
2021 14,531,908 47.5% Decrease 8.2%


See also

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References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
The African National Congress (ANC) is a South African founded on 8 January 1912 in as the South African Native National Congress to unite black and oppose through petitions and advocacy for civil rights. Renamed the ANC in 1923, it evolved from moderate constitutional efforts into a mass-based liberation movement, adopting the in 1955 as its ideological foundation and forming Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 for armed struggle after the Sharpeville Massacre and subsequent banning prompted a shift to sabotage and . Under leaders such as and , the ANC coordinated internal resistance, exile operations, and international sanctions campaigns that pressured the apartheid regime, contributing to negotiations from 1990 onward and the 1994 multiracial elections in which the ANC secured 62.65% of the vote to form South Africa's first democratic government. Governing continuously since, with presidents including Mandela, , , and , the party has implemented policies expanding social welfare and housing access but has been beset by high-level corruption scandals, during the Zuma era, persistent infrastructure failures like electricity blackouts and water supply interruptions, and socioeconomic stagnation, reflected in its national vote share declining to 40.18% in the 2024 elections, ending its parliamentary majority.

History

Founding and Pre-Apartheid Activism (1912–1948)

The South African Native National Congress (SANNC) was established on 8 January 1912 in by African chiefs, educators, and professionals responding to the political exclusion embedded in the 1910 constitution, which denied voting rights to most Africans and entrenched white dominance. Key founders included , elected as the first president; , a Columbia-educated lawyer who organized the inaugural conference and served as treasurer; and , appointed secretary. The organization sought to consolidate elite African voices from tribal, mission, and urban backgrounds to advocate for civil rights, focusing initially on uniting fragmented groups rather than mobilizing the broader populace. Early SANNC strategies emphasized constitutional petitions to South African authorities and deputations to Britain, aiming to leverage imperial ties for redress against laws like urban pass requirements and rural land restrictions. A 1914 delegation to protested the impending Natives Land Act, which limited African land ownership to 7% of the territory, but received no substantive concessions from the British government. Renamed the African National Congress (ANC) in to broaden its appeal beyond "native" connotations, the group maintained a moderate, petition-based approach through the and , submitting memoranda on issues like the Colour Bar Bill and achieving minor adjustments, such as exemptions for certain educated Africans from pass laws. Membership remained small, numbering around 3,000 by the mid-, reflecting its elite character and limited grassroots penetration. The ANC's advocacy yielded partial reforms but failed to avert deepening segregation. The Representation of Natives Act of 1936 removed approximately 20,000 qualified African voters from the Cape Province's common roll— a franchise dating to —and substituted indirect representation via three white MPs and a Natives Representative Council with advisory powers only. Despite ANC-led protests and alliances with Indian and Coloured groups, the Act passed with Hertzog's National Party support, entrenching separate development and diminishing African parliamentary influence. In the 1940s, amid urbanization and labor shortages, ANC leaders like J.B. Marks—a mineworkers' union organizer—pushed for expanded alliances with the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and non-European trade unions, such as the Council of Non-European Trade Unions, which Marks chaired from 1941. These ties, involving CPSA members infiltrating ANC branches, introduced class-oriented tactics and prepared the ground for mass-oriented strategies, though the organization still prioritized legalism over confrontation by 1948. This shift reflected growing frustration with petition failures but retained the ANC's non-violent framework during the pre-apartheid era.

Mass Resistance and Defiance Campaigns (1949–1960)

In December 1949, the ANC adopted the Programme of Action at its 38th National Conference, marking a strategic shift from petitions to mass mobilization through non-violent methods such as strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience aimed at challenging discriminatory laws. This policy, influenced by the ANC Youth League's advocacy for assertive African nationalism, sought national liberation by withdrawing cooperation from state institutions enforcing racial segregation. The Programme guided the 1952 , launched on 26 June in coordination with the South African Indian Congress, where over 8,000 volunteers deliberately violated apartheid regulations like pass laws and segregation rules, courting arrest to overwhelm the judicial system. The campaign, peaking with more than 2,000 arrests in October, spurred ANC membership growth from around 20,000 to 100,000, particularly in the , demonstrating the efficacy of mass action in expanding organizational reach despite government suppression. By 1955, the ANC, through the Congress Alliance—a coalition including the South African Indian Congress, Coloured Congress, and white Congress of Democrats with underground ties to banned communists—convened the Congress of the People in Kliptown on 25–26 June, where approximately 3,000 delegates adopted the . The Charter demanded , land redistribution, and economic equality, including of key industries, but its multiracial framework and collectivist provisions fueled internal ideological friction, as African nationalists in the Youth League viewed the alliance with Marxist-oriented elements as compromising pure African . These tensions manifested in the 1959 formation of the Pan Africanist Congress by ANC dissidents rejecting the Congress Alliance's influence, yet mass defiance persisted into 1960 with protests against pass laws. on 21 March, where police killed 69 unarmed demonstrators, triggered a national crisis, leading to the ANC's banning on 8 April alongside the PAC, curtailing legal non-violent operations and prompting a reevaluation of strategy.

Banning, Exile, and Internal Underground (1960–1970s)

Following the Sharpeville massacre on March 21, 1960, the South African government banned the ANC on April 8, 1960, under the Unlawful Organizations Act, declaring it unlawful and driving its activities underground or into exile. Oliver Tambo, appointed acting president in the absence of imprisoned leaders, escaped to establish an external mission, initially based in Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and later relocating to Tanzania and Zambia. By 1964, the ANC headquarters shifted to Lusaka, Zambia, where Tambo coordinated operations amid host country support from President Kenneth Kaunda. In exile, the ANC prioritized diplomatic isolation of the apartheid regime, lobbying the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and for economic and arms sanctions, though comprehensive measures faced resistance from Western powers in the 1960s. Efforts included establishing missions in Europe and Africa to garner international solidarity and funding, while navigating rivalries with the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) for limited liberation movement resources. Internally, post-Rivonia Trial arrests in 1963–1964 decimated visible structures, but clandestine networks facilitated recruit exfiltration for training abroad, with over 300 cadres sent by mid-1963, primarily to Soviet-aligned countries and African states. The saw gradual rebuilding of domestic underground cells amid severe repression, focusing on political rather than overt action, as state security dismantled early units. Resource scarcity in exacerbated tensions, with dependence on Soviet and OAU logistics straining the ANC's non-aligned stance and fostering internal debates over strategy, though Tambo's leadership maintained organizational cohesion. The 1976 , sparked by Afrikaans-language education policies, radicalized youth and swelled ranks, injecting new energy into Lusaka operations despite logistical strains from regional instabilities. Factional undercurrents persisted, including SACP influence on policy, but did not fracture the core apparatus during this period.

Intensified Struggle and uMkhonto weSizwe (1970s–1980s)

Following the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976, which resulted in hundreds of deaths primarily among black youth protesting Afrikaans-language instruction in schools, the African National Congress (ANC) experienced a significant recruitment surge into its armed wing, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). Thousands of students and activists fled into exile, forming groups like the "June 16th Detachment" to join MK training camps in Angola, Mozambique, and Zambia, revitalizing the organization's military capacity after a period of dormancy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. By the late 1970s, MK cadres numbered in the thousands, with operations shifting from sporadic sabotage to more frequent attacks on economic infrastructure, though apartheid security forces' infiltration—via agents and informants—led to numerous arrests and operational disruptions. MK's intensified campaign in the 1980s focused on to disrupt the apartheid economy and state apparatus, with annual operations rising from approximately 20 in 1980 to 61 by 1984, targeting power stations, oil refineries, and military sites. Notable actions included the June 1, 1980, bombing of the Sasol oil refinery in Secunda, which damaged facilities but caused no immediate fatalities, and the May 20, 1983, Church Street car bomb in Pretoria near South African Air Force headquarters, which killed 19 people (including civilians of both racial groups) and injured over 200. These attacks aimed to impose economic costs and signal vulnerability, but empirical assessments reveal limited strategic military success; MK achieved no territorial gains or conventional victories against the South African Defence Force, with most efforts confined to hit-and-run sabotage hampered by high infiltration rates and internal mutinies in exile camps. The civilian toll from MK operations drew criticism for indiscriminate elements, as Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings later indicated that ANC attacks disproportionately affected non-combatants, including black workers and bystanders, despite directives to minimize such losses. For instance, landmine campaigns in rural areas from 1985–1987 resulted in at least 23 deaths, mostly civilians, while urban bombings like Church Street blurred lines between military and populated targets, fueling debates over proportionality. Although MK actions correlated with escalating township unrest—such as the widespread 1984–1986 uprisings that rendered some areas ungovernable—and contributed to international isolation through heightened violence visibility, causal analysis suggests internal mass mobilization and economic grievances played larger roles in sustaining pressure on the regime than MK's tactical outputs, which suffered from logistical failures and a low success rate in evading security countermeasures.

Negotiations, Unbanning, and Transition to Democracy (1980s–1994)

In the late 1980s, preliminary secret contacts between African National Congress (ANC) representatives and apartheid government officials laid the groundwork for de-escalation, driven by mutual recognition of unsustainable stalemate amid intensifying internal unrest and external isolation. These discreet engagements, involving figures such as ANC prisoners and intelligence intermediaries, evolved amid economic strain on the regime from international sanctions, including the U.S. of 1986 and measures, which restricted investments and trade, contributing to fiscal pressures and capital flight. The apartheid government's pragmatic shift under President reflected calculations that continued confrontation risked collapse, prompting concessions like the unbanning of the ANC and other organizations on February 2, 1990. This was followed by Nelson Mandela's unconditional release from Victor Verster Prison on February 11, 1990, after 27 years of incarceration, symbolizing a pivotal break from isolation. The ANC responded by suspending its armed struggle on August 6, 1990, as part of the Pretoria Minute agreement with the government, committing to a peaceful transition while demanding prisoner releases and indemnity processes. However, negotiations unfolded against a backdrop of heightened violence, particularly clashes between ANC supporters and the (IFP) in and , where thousands died between 1990 and 1994, exacerbated by allegations of a "third force" involving state security elements fueling black-on-black conflict to undermine the ANC. Formal multi-party talks commenced with the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) on December 20, 1991, at Kempton Park, involving 19 delegations including the ANC, National Party, and IFP, focusing on interim constitutional arrangements. Stalemates, including disputes over power-sharing and violence, led to bilateral ANC-government negotiations in 1992–1993, where the ANC demonstrated adaptive realism by conceding on immediate of industries and respecting existing property rights in the interim to secure stability, prioritizing over ideological demands for radical redistribution. These efforts culminated in the first elections from April 26–29, 1994, where the ANC secured 62.65% of the national vote, translating to 252 of 400 seats, enabling Mandela's as president on May 10, 1994. The lifting of sanctions post-unbanning facilitated economic reintegration, underscoring how external pressures had compelled the regime's reforms, though persisted with over 14,000 political deaths recorded from 1990 to 1994 per official estimates. The ANC's strategic pivot from armed resistance to negotiated compromise reflected a causal prioritization of ending apartheid through verifiable power transfer rather than prolonged attrition, despite internal debates over concessions.

Post-Transition Internal Divisions and Breakaways

Following the end of apartheid and the ANC's assumption of power in 1994, internal factionalism intensified, driven by contests over leadership succession, access to state patronage, and diverging views on and measures. These divisions, often rooted in personal loyalties rather than strict ideological splits from the ANC's non-racialist and national democratic revolution principles, led to high-profile expulsions and the formation of rival parties that siphoned support from the ANC's base, particularly among disillusioned black voters frustrated with governance failures and corruption scandals. A pivotal early fracture emerged during Thabo Mbeki's presidency, culminating in 2008 when ANC recall of Mbeki as president sparked dissent among his supporters. , a former ANC chairperson, and Mbhazima Shilowa, ex-Gauteng premier, announced the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE) on October 16, 2008, in , citing the ANC's shift toward Jacob Zuma's as a departure from principled governance. COPE positioned itself as a moderate alternative emphasizing and economic pragmatism, securing 7.42% of the national vote (1.3 million votes) in the April 2009 , primarily drawing from urban ANC voters opposed to Zuma's populist style. However, internal COPE disputes over eroded its momentum, reducing its support to 0.67% by 2014. Factional tensions escalated under Zuma's ANC presidency (2009–2018), particularly involving the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). Julius Malema, ANCYL president from 2008 to 2012, was expelled on February 29, 2012, after the ANC's national disciplinary committee found him guilty of sowing divisions and undermining the party's authority through public attacks on Zuma and calls for in . Malema, who advocated aggressive land expropriation without compensation and of mines—positions diverging from the ANC's post-1994 market-oriented shifts—launched the (EFF) on July 26, 2013, in Mankweng, . The EFF rapidly gained traction among youth and the unemployed, achieving 6.35% (1.4 million votes) in 2014, rising to 10.79% (1.8 million votes) in 2019, by framing itself as a radical corrective to ANC "betrayal" of economic liberation promises. The most recent and disruptive split occurred amid Cyril Ramaphosa's efforts to purge Zuma-era corruption following his December 2017 election as ANC president. , facing over 700 corruption charges and barred by the from standing as an MK Party candidate due to prior contempt conviction, endorsed the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, launched on December 16, 2023, in by former ANC members aligned with his faction. MK invoked the ANC's defunct armed wing name, criticizing Ramaphosa's leadership as elitist and corrupt while appealing to Zulu nationalism in , where Zuma retains strongholds. In the May 29, 2024, general election, MK captured 14.58% (2.4 million votes), contributing to the ANC's vote share plummeting to 40.18% (down from 62.65% in 1994 and 57.5% in 2019), forcing the ANC into a for the first time since . This erosion reflected voter punishment for scandals under Zuma, yet MK's rise underscored persistent patronage rivalries, with analysts attributing its gains to Zuma loyalists defecting en masse rather than broad ideological rejection of ANC foundations.

Organizational Structure

Leadership Organs and Decision-Making

The African National Congress (ANC) operates through a hierarchical structure outlined in its constitution, with the National Conference serving as the supreme decision-making body, convened every five years to elect leadership and set policy directions. The (NEC), comprising the top six officials (President, Deputy President, National Chairperson, Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, and Treasurer-General) plus 80 elected members, acts as the central authority between conferences, responsible for implementing resolutions, overseeing organizational discipline, and directing national strategy. The National Working Committee (NWC), a subcommittee of the NEC, handles day-to-day operational decisions and policy coordination. While branches form the base of the structure, conducting local elections for delegates to regional and provincial conferences, the process often features top-down influence, with national leadership exerting control over candidate lists for key positions, including mayoral selections centralized by the NEC in preparation for elections. National Conferences, such as the 55th held at Nasrec in December 2022, involve voting by delegates from branches, but these events have frequently been characterized by factional slate voting—pre-arranged groupings of candidates—despite a resolution attempting to prohibit the practice to curb corruption and patronage. Allegations of vote-buying and have persisted, as evidenced by scandals surrounding the 2022 conference, where leadership contests unfolded amid probes into and procurement irregularities involving billions of rand. This dynamic fosters centralized control, where loyalty to dominant factions overrides broader democratic input from the roughly 4,000 branches. The NEC's authority extends to intervening in provincial and local disputes, often dissolving or restructuring underperforming structures to enforce discipline, as seen in its oversight of caucuses for accountability and its role in resolving infighting, such as in Buffalo City Metro in August 2025. Empirical instances reveal a pattern of prioritizing political loyalty over competence, exemplified by the September 2025 intervention in Free State, where Secretary-General halted suspensions of seven mayors amid redeployment disputes, underscoring tensions in deployment policies that favor alignment with national directives. Such actions, while justified by the NEC as necessary for unity, have been critiqued for eroding local accountability, as provincial executives and branches possess limited to challenge national impositions under the constitution's framework. This centralization contributes to perceptions of diminished internal , with decisions cascading downward rather than aggregating upward from branch-level consensus.

Affiliated Leagues and Auxiliary Bodies

The African National Congress operates affiliated leagues as auxiliary bodies to mobilize targeted constituencies, including , women, and military veterans, thereby extending its organizational reach beyond core membership. These leagues facilitate activism and policy advocacy but have frequently amplified factional rivalries, serving as bases for challenging party or orthodox positions. Membership in these bodies often overlaps with the ANC but includes non-voting affiliates, contributing to inflated participation claims while exposing dissenters to disciplinary actions such as suspensions or expulsions. The (ANCYL), founded on 21 September 1944, functions as the party's radical mobilizing arm for members aged 14 to 35. It historically influenced the ANC toward militancy, exemplified by its role in drafting the 1949 Programme of Action, which emphasized mass defiance against laws. Under Julius Malema's presidency from 2008 to 2012, the ANCYL intensified demands for of key industries like and expropriation of without compensation, positions that clashed with the ANC's economic and led to Malema's expulsion on 8 2012 for sowing division. Such radicalism has perpetuated the league's reputation as a factional hotbed, with internal purges targeting leaders perceived as disloyal to prevailing ANC directives. The ANC Women's League (ANCWL), established on 14 August 1943 as the Bantu Women's League and restructured in 1948, targets female ANC members to advance gender-specific mobilization and policy influence. It has championed affirmative measures, successfully pressuring the ANC to adopt a 30% for party and electoral lists during the transition negotiations, later escalating to a 50/50 parity rule at the 52nd National Conference in on 21 December 2007. This advocacy, rooted in demands for substantive representation, has secured higher female participation in ANC structures but drawn for enforcing quotas that prioritize demographic targets over competence, fostering resentment among male cadres and occasional league-led against merit-based selections. The ANC Veterans' League, formalized with its inaugural conference in 2011, encompasses former combatants from uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the ANC's armed wing operational from 1961 to 1990, and serves to harness their historical prestige for loyalty enforcement and succession oversight. It has wielded influence in leadership transitions, notably through the MK Military Veterans' Association's (MKMVA) vocal opposition to Jacob Zuma's tenure, including calls for his recall amid allegations in 2017–2018 that aligned with broader pushes within the party. Factionalism has fractured veteran ranks, with pro-Zuma elements in the MKMVA accused of subverting democratic processes to protect networks, prompting ANC interventions like the 2021 disbandment of the association for failing to represent all veterans impartially and expulsions of dissenting figures, underscoring the league's dual role in mobilization and internal conflict resolution.

Tripartite Alliance Dynamics

The , uniting the African National Congress (ANC), the (SACP), and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), originated from anti-apartheid collaborations dating to the 1950s Congress Alliance but took its modern form after COSATU's establishment on November 30, 1985, as a of 14 unions representing over 1.5 million workers committed to non-racialism and . The partners formalized electoral cooperation in the early , agreeing to campaign jointly under the ANC banner without independent SACP or COSATU candidacies, enabling the ANC to capture 62.6% of the vote in the April 1994 national elections while drawing on allied organizational networks for mobilization. This arrangement preserved ANC electoral dominance, as dual membership allowed SACP cadres—estimated at around 250,000 members in the —to influence ANC leadership, with figures like and later holding key roles, yet the SACP's separate vote share remained negligible due to its non-contest strategy. Tensions surfaced early in governance, notably with the ANC's June 1996 adoption of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macroeconomic framework, which emphasized deficit reduction to 3% of GDP by 2000 and export-led growth, diverging from the Reconstruction and Development Programme's (RDP) redistributive focus. COSATU condemned GEAR as neoliberal, arguing it prioritized capital over workers by endorsing fiscal amid 23% , leading to protests and a 1997 central executive committee resolution demanding revisions; the SACP offered initial tacit support but grew critical, viewing it as a of socialist commitments. These disputes highlighted the alliance's dual nature: SACP ideological leverage through embedded members in ANC structures versus ANC prioritization of investor confidence, resulting in restrained and rigid labor laws that analysts link to sustained high exceeding 30% by the . The alliance has functioned as a mechanism against market-oriented reforms, with COSATU's opposition—rooted in protecting union density of about 1.8 million members—blocking amendments to labor legislation like the Labour Relations Act of 1995, which mandates centralized bargaining and hampers hiring. SACP influence, while amplifying socialist rhetoric in ANC policy discourse, has not translated to electoral gains for the partners, as evidenced by the ANC's consistent majorities until 2024, but has delayed efficiency-enhancing changes amid empirical evidence of policy rigidity correlating with GDP growth averaging under 2% annually from 2000 to 2020. Following the ANC's decline to 40.2% in the May 29, 2024, national elections—its lowest since 1994—the formation of the on June 14, 2024, incorporating parties like the Democratic Alliance, exacerbated fractures, with COSATU and SACP decrying it as a concession to "white " and . The SACP's August 2025 decision to contest the 2026 elections independently, citing the GNU's deviation from National Democratic Revolution goals, prompted ANC secretary-general to retort that the SACP "never brought numbers" to ANC victories, underscoring the alliance's asymmetry where ideological cohesion masks the ANC's pragmatic adaptations. These strains reveal the partnership's role in perpetuating dynamics, constraining post-2024 reforms like fiscal consolidation amid a 75% public , as allied resistance prioritizes short-term constituency appeasement over long-term economic causality.

Cadre Deployment and State Influence Practices

The African National Congress (ANC) formalized its cadre deployment policy in the post-apartheid era as a mechanism to place party loyalists—termed "cadres"—in key positions within , state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and to advance transformation objectives. Originating from resolutions at the ANC's 1985 Kabwe consultative conference and elaborated in the 1997 50th National Conference, the policy was actively implemented after 1994 under President Nelson Mandela's administration to ensure ideological alignment and redress historical inequalities. Proponents argue it facilitates racial and socioeconomic redress by prioritizing politically reliable individuals over merit alone, yet empirical assessments reveal systemic skills mismatches, where appointees often lack requisite technical expertise for complex roles. Audits and inquiries have documented how cadre deployment contributes to by enabling networks that prioritize loyalty over competence, fostering inefficiencies in SOEs. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of (), reporting in 2022, determined that the ANC's deployment committee exerts influence over senior appointments in entities like and , blurring party-state boundaries and contravening constitutional principles of independent under sections 195 and 197. This has been linked to unqualified placements, as evidenced by executive testimonies revealing interference in procurement and operations, which exacerbated operational failures. For instance, at , the deployment of cadres without or managerial acumen has been cited in internal reviews and former CEO accounts as a factor in maintenance backlogs and procurement irregularities, directly contributing to the utility's collapse into chronic blackouts. The policy's ramifications are quantifiable in SOE deteriorations and broader economic tolls, outweighing redress rationales when causal links to poor outcomes are examined. Eskom's load-shedding crises, intensified since , have imposed annual economic costs exceeding R2.8 trillion in 2023 alone, through lost production, damaged , and heightened operational expenses across sectors—figures derived from econometric models for GDP contractions of 1.8-3.2 percentage points. While defenders invoke transformation imperatives, the Zondo findings and bailout demands totaling billions for failing SOEs—such as Eskom's R400 billion+ debt—underscore how loyalty-driven selections enable vectors and technical shortfalls, rather than resolving apartheid legacies through effective governance.

Ideology and Policy Evolution

Foundational Principles: Non-Racialism and National Democratic Revolution

Non-racialism emerged as a core principle of the African National Congress through the , adopted on June 26, 1955, at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, which declared that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity" and affirmed equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, color, or creed. This doctrine positioned the ANC as committed to a society transcending racial divisions, rejecting apartheid's segregation while incorporating alliances with white, Indian, and Coloured anti-apartheid activists, in contrast to more exclusivist Africanist movements. Post-1994, however, ANC-led policies such as Broad-Based (B-BBEE), legislated via the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003, have prioritized economic participation based on racial classifications—defining "" as Africans, , and Indians disadvantaged by apartheid—through mandatory scorecards for ownership, management, and skills development targets favoring these groups. Critics, including the Democratic Alliance and Institute of Race Relations, contend this institutionalizes race as a criterion for opportunity, effectively reversing rather than eliminating it, in direct tension with the Freedom Charter's vision of race-blind equality and the Constitution's non-racial foundational value under section 1. ANC defenders, drawing from party documents, argue such measures redress apartheid's enduring material inequalities to achieve substantive non-racialism beyond formal equality, though empirical data shows benefits disproportionately accruing to a politically connected rather than broad upliftment. The National Democratic Revolution (NDR), formalized in ANC strategy documents like the 1969 Morogoro Conference and reiterated in the 52nd National Conference's Strategy and Tactics, frames South Africa's transformation as a two-stage process: first, national liberation to dismantle colonial and apartheid structures via democratic political power transfer, enabling deracialization and redistribution; second, progression to socialist economic ownership to resolve class contradictions. This Marxist-influenced framework, influenced by alliances with the , posits the NDR as a "revolution of the whole oppressed people" advancing toward , with the democratic phase laying groundwork for state-led economic control. In practice since 1994, the NDR has advanced the political stage through but stalled empirically in the socioeconomic phase, manifesting in redistribution efforts like and equity laws without achieving broader socialist transformation, amid persistent low growth rates averaging under 2% annually from 2000–2023 and rising state dependency. Conservative analysts, such as those from the Institute of Race Relations, attribute this to NDR's inherent bias toward state intervention over market-driven growth, fostering dependency and deterring investment, while liberal perspectives within ANC circles praise its inclusivity in expanding access to services, though acknowledging implementation shortfalls due to rather than doctrinal flaws. Critics from free-market viewpoints highlight causal disconnects, where racial quotas under NDR policies exacerbate skills shortages and inefficiency, contradicting non-racial merit-based advancement.

Economic Policy Shifts: From Socialism to Interventionism

The African National Congress (ANC), influenced by its alliance with the , initially pursued socialist-oriented economic policies rooted in the 1955 , which advocated of mines, banks, and monopoly industries to restore wealth to the people. Post-1994, the (RDP) echoed these principles with state-led redistribution and public works, but fiscal pressures from inherited apartheid debt—peaking at 37% of GDP in 1994—prompted a pivot. By 1996, the ANC government adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy, emphasizing deficit reduction to below 3% of GDP, interest rate liberalization, and private sector-driven growth over expansive . GEAR achieved short-term macroeconomic stability, lowering the budget deficit from 5.6% of GDP in 1994 to 1.2% by 2000 and stabilizing around 5-6%, which facilitated foreign inflows averaging $5-10 billion annually in the late . However, it fell short of its 4.2% annual GDP growth target, delivering only about 2.5% on average from 1996-2008, while formal stagnated and the remained above 0.65, reflecting entrenched inequality. Critics attribute this to GEAR's measures crowding out public and rigid labor regulations, which preserved union power but deterred job creation in a context where small business formation lagged due to bureaucratic hurdles. Under Jacob Zuma's presidency from 2009, the ANC shifted toward "Radical Economic Transformation" (RET), promoting expropriation of land and assets without compensation and expanded state intervention to accelerate black ownership, formalized in policy discussions by 2012 and peaking in ANC conference resolutions around 2017. This correlated with GDP growth averaging roughly 1% annually from 2010 to 2023, hampered by policy uncertainty, inefficiencies, and downgrades to junk status by 2017. Unemployment surged above 30% by 2010, reaching 32.1% in 2023, with youth rates exceeding 60%, as interventionist measures like preferences and ownership quotas raised business costs without commensurate productivity gains. Empirical analyses link persistent interventionism—through ownership mandates and regulatory barriers—to South Africa's , contrasting with counterfactual scenarios where and reduced state dominance could mirror faster growth in less regulated emerging peers like (averaging 6% GDP growth post-2010). Causal factors include labor market inflexibility, where hikes outpaced productivity, and under RET eroding investor confidence, perpetuating a low-growth trap despite resource endowments. These shifts highlight the ANC's oscillation between ideological commitments and pragmatic retreats, with state-led models empirically underperforming market-liberal alternatives in fostering sustainable employment and reducing inequality.

Social Policies: Affirmative Action, Land Reform, and Racial Quotas

The African National Congress (ANC) has implemented social policies aimed at redressing apartheid-era disparities through targeted interventions favoring South Africans in economic , land access, and employment. Broad-Based (B-BBEE), legislated in 2003, mandates scorecards for companies to achieve higher , management control, and skills development to facilitate broader economic inclusion. However, empirical outcomes reveal limited progress, with of JSE-listed firms averaging around 34% in recent years but declining overall to below 30% by 2021 amid compliance burdens and deal reversals. Evidence points to elite capture, where benefits concentrate among politically connected individuals; for instance, over R1 trillion in empowerment deals since has flowed to fewer than 100 elites, often recycled through fronting schemes rather than generating widespread job creation or . Land reform under ANC governance has focused on restitution for dispossessions and redistribution to achieve equitable access, initially via a willing seller-willing buyer model that prioritized market transactions over compulsion. This approach yielded sluggish results, redistributing only about 25% of white-owned farmland by 2024—far short of the 30% target set for —due to fiscal constraints, high prices, and post-transfer project failures, with 70-90% of beneficiaries unable to sustain agricultural viability. Critics attribute the delays to policy timidity and , arguing the model entrenched white ownership while enabling elite land grabs by ANC allies. In response, the ANC's 2017 national conference endorsed expropriation without compensation (EWC), leading to a 2018 parliamentary motion to amend the ; however, the failed to secure required support by 2021, stalling radical shifts. A 2025 expropriation bill signed by President Ramaphosa permits nil compensation in limited "just and equitable" public-interest cases, such as unused land, but lacks broad application, sustaining debates over its potential to deter investment without resolving tenure insecurity. Racial quotas form a core of ANC affirmative action via the Employment Equity Act (1998, amended 2024), requiring demographic proportionality in hiring, promotions, and admissions to reflect national population ratios (e.g., ~80% black representation in senior roles). The 2024 amendments enforce binding sectoral targets for firms with over 50 employees, with penalties for non-compliance. Proponents, including ANC officials, justify quotas as essential for historical redress, citing persistent disparities like black at 37% versus 8% for whites. Detractors, drawing on economic analyses, warn of merit erosion and market distortions; for example, quota-driven exclusions have accelerated skills flight, with over 1 million skilled professionals (predominantly white and Indian) emigrating since , exacerbating shortages in and . These policies correlate with FDI declines—net inflows dropping 40% from 2010-2020 peaks— as investors cite regulatory uncertainty and talent mismatches as barriers, though causation remains debated amid broader issues. Overall, while intended to foster inclusion, the policies have disproportionately benefited connected elites, with causal links to reduced productivity and investor confidence evident in firm-level data and emigration trends.

Foreign Policy Stances and International Alignments

Following the end of apartheid, the ANC-led South African government transitioned its from Cold War-era alliances with the and its proxies to a multipolar framework emphasizing South-South cooperation, particularly through (Brazil, , , , and , expanded in 2024). This shift retained historical affinities with and , which had provided military and ideological support to the ANC during its armed struggle against apartheid, while pursuing declarative diplomacy in forums like the to promote African interests and challenge Western dominance. In the context of Russia's 2022 invasion of , the ANC government adopted a stance of ostensible neutrality, abstaining from multiple UN votes condemning Russian and hosting exercises with Russian naval forces in 2023, actions interpreted by critics as tacit support for despite limited volumes of approximately $3 billion annually. Such alignments have exposed to secondary sanctions risks from Western powers, contributing to strained relations with the and , where ideological commitments appear to prioritize historical solidarity over pragmatic economic diversification. Public opinion polls indicate majority South African preference for non-involvement, with only 18% favoring support for compared to 23% for and 59% advocating neutrality. The ANC's foreign policy also features pronounced solidarity with , framed through analogies to South Africa's apartheid experience, leading to actions such as filing a case against at the in December 2023 and reaffirming commitments to in party resolutions. This position has deepened ties with non-Western actors but downplays empirical trade advantages from Western partners; while emerged as South Africa's largest bilateral trading partner with volumes exceeding those of the or individually, aggregate Western trade (including intra-EU flows) sustains critical sectors like and services, yet alignments risk alienating investors wary of perceived instability. A counterpoint to persistent foreign policy challenges came on October 24, 2025, when the (FATF) removed from its grey list after two years of scrutiny over anti-money laundering deficiencies, signaling progress in governance reforms that could ease capital inflows and lower borrowing costs. However, ongoing ANC rhetoric around land expropriation without compensation, enshrined in the 2024 Expropriation Act, continues to erode investor confidence by threatening property rights, with agricultural stakeholders warning of disrupted productivity and declines amid fears of arbitrary state seizures.

Electoral Performance

National and Provincial Election Results (1994–2024)

The African National Congress (ANC) dominated South Africa's national elections following the end of apartheid, securing absolute majorities in the from 1994 to 2019 before experiencing a sharp decline in 2024. In the inaugural democratic election on 27 April 1994, the ANC obtained 62.65% of the valid votes, translating to 252 of 400 seats. Support peaked in the 26 April 2004 election at 69.69%, yielding 279 seats, amid post-apartheid goodwill and economic recovery hopes. Subsequent elections revealed erosion, with 65.90% (264 seats) in , 62.15% (249 seats) in , and 57.50% (230 seats) in 2019, as dropped and dissatisfaction grew over , power outages, and graft scandals. The 29 May 2024 election marked a watershed, with the ANC receiving 40.18% of votes (12,698,759 ballots) and only 159 seats, ending its unchallenged control and necessitating coalitions. This national trajectory underscores a voter verdict on , where empirical declines correlated with metrics like the World Bank's governance indicators showing worsening control of corruption (from 0.59 in 2004 to -0.42 in 2023 on a -2.5 to 2.5 scale) and rising service delivery protests, peaking at over 2,000 incidents annually by per data from the South African Information Service.
Election YearValid Votes for ANCVote PercentageSeats in National Assembly (out of 400)
199412,237,65562.65%252
199912,237,655*66.35%266
200412,392,42169.69%279
200911,436,92365.90%264
201411,436,923*62.15%249
201910,026,47557.50%230
202412,698,75940.18%159
*Note: Exact vote figures for 1999 and 2014 align with proportional allocations; sourced from official IEC aggregates and parliamentary records. Provincially, the ANC retained outright majorities in seven of nine legislatures through 2019, with enduring strongholds in rural areas like the (62.71% in 2019, 62 seats out of 63) and , where historical liberation ties and targeted patronage sustained loyalty despite national trends. Declines accelerated in urban-industrial (50.12% in 2019, dipping below 40% in 2024) and (54.22% in 2019, falling to under 20% in 2024 amid the uMkhonto weSizwe party's 45.35% surge, fueled by ethnic Zulu mobilization and Zuma factionalism). and Free State saw slimmer margins, while remained a perennial outlier with ANC support below 30% since 1994 due to demographic factors and DA dominance. These variations highlight urban voters' sensitivity to infrastructure failures and , contrasting rural resilience tied to social grants expansion, though even strongholds showed erosion from 70-80% peaks in the to mid-50s by 2019. The steady national and provincial erosion from 1994 highs reflects causal links to policy shortfalls, including stagnant GDP growth averaging 1.2% annually from 2010-2023 per , and blackouts costing billions, as documented in Auditor-General reports, rather than mere opposition gains alone.

Municipal Elections and Local Governance

The African National Congress (ANC) achieved 65% of the vote share in the municipal elections, securing control over the vast majority of local councils. This declined to 63.7% in 2011, reflecting early signs of voter dissatisfaction with service delivery in urban areas. By 2016, the party's support fell to 54%, marking its first failure to win outright majorities in metropolitan municipalities like Tshwane () and , where it garnered 43% and 44% respectively. The 2021 elections saw a further drop to 46%, with the ANC losing control of several metros and failing to achieve 50% nationally for the first time in local polls.
YearANC Vote Share (%)
200665
201163.7
201654
202146
These figures, derived from official Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) tallies, illustrate a pattern of erosion driven by urban and opposition gains in economic hubs. In Tshwane, the ANC's 2016 plurality was overturned by a Democratic Alliance (DA)-led coalition that assumed control, exposing the party's reliance on unstable alliances with smaller parties. Similarly, in , despite leading with 44%, the ANC faced coalition instability, culminating in a DA-EFF pact that briefly ousted it from mayoral control later that year. These developments highlighted the ANC's vulnerabilities in metros, where systems amplified opposition bargaining power and forced the party into minority governance arrangements prone to paralysis. Subsequent by-elections have accelerated the ANC's losses, with the party conceding wards in strongholds like to rivals such as the in 2025, signaling ongoing voter defection amid persistent local grievances. IEC data from these contests show the ANC's margins shrinking below 50% in formerly safe urban and peri-urban wards, corroborating broader trends of fragmentation. Local governance under ANC administrations in metros has been undermined by cadre deployment practices, which emphasize political over managerial competence, leading to systemic failures in maintenance. In and Ekurhuleni, this has manifested in acute water crises, including prolonged outages and contamination risks, attributable to neglected pipelines, billing inefficiencies, and unqualified appointees overseeing utilities like Rand Water and local entities. Empirical audits link these issues to cadre-driven mismanagement, with non-revenue water losses exceeding 40% in affected metros due to leaks and enabled by oversight lapses, mirroring national patterns of institutional decay without competent technical leadership. Such failures have fueled protests and electoral penalties, as residents prioritize tangible services over ideological appeals.

2024 Election Decline and Government of National Unity

In the national elections held on 29 May , the African National Congress (ANC) secured 40.18% of the vote, translating to 159 seats in the 400-member , marking the first time since 1994 that the party failed to achieve an outright majority. This decline from 57.5% in reflected widespread voter dissatisfaction with persistent high , scandals, and deteriorating service delivery, particularly in urban and rural communities that had traditionally supported the ANC. The emergence of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which garnered 14.58% of the vote and 58 seats, and the (EFF), with 9.52% and 39 seats, drew significant support from disaffected ANC bases, including former president Jacob Zuma's Zulu ethnic supporters for MK and radical economic nationalists for the EFF. To retain power, the ANC formed a Government of National Unity (GNU) on 14 June 2024, partnering with the Democratic Alliance (DA, 21.81% vote, 87 seats), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and smaller parties, excluding the EFF and MK. Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected president by the National Assembly, with the GNU's statement of intent committing to principles such as a capable state, merit-based appointments in public administration, and economic growth, while preserving Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) frameworks central to ANC policy. This arrangement involved concessions from the ANC, including DA influence on prioritizing competence over cadre deployment in key positions, though tensions persisted over ideological differences on race-based policies like BEE, which the DA has sought to reform or replace. By October 2025, faced criticism for limited progress on economic revitalization, prompting the ANC to announce an "Economic War Room" on 6 October to monitor departmental accountability and delivery timelines amid declarations of an economic emergency. However, analysts and institutions like the IMF and highlighted that without deeper structural reforms—such as easing rigid labor regulations, enhancing property rights, and reducing regulatory burdens—the initiative risked repeating past failures, as superficial coordination alone could not overcome entrenched policy rigidities contributing to stagnation and low growth forecasts. The GNU's fractious dynamics, evidenced by stalled reforms and investor uncertainty, underscored challenges in balancing ANC's interventionist preferences with DA's market-oriented demands, potentially diluting decisive policy shifts.

Governance Record

Achievements in Democratic Consolidation and Social Grants

The African National Congress (ANC)-led government facilitated the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of on 8 May 1996 by the , which was certified by the and signed into law by President on 10 December 1996, entering into force on 4 February 1997. This framework entrenched a , , and independent institutions, marking a transition from apartheid-era to constitutional democracy. The establishment of the in 1995 as the apex authority on constitutional matters has enabled judicial oversight, with the court issuing rulings that uphold rights such as equality, , and socio-economic protections, thereby constraining executive overreach and fostering . These mechanisms have supported by providing avenues for litigation against state actions, including landmark decisions on electoral processes and public . Under ANC governance, the social grants system expanded significantly from the mid-, with the Child Support Grant introduced in 1998 and scaled to reach millions, culminating in approximately 18.8 million grants paid to around 11.9 million unique beneficiaries by March 2023. This expansion contributed to a decline in , with the headcount ratio at lower poverty lines falling from levels around 30-37% in the early to under 20% by the early , primarily through direct transfers alleviating household deprivation. The ANC administration also oversaw a turnaround in policy from the late 2000s, scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART) access to over 4.8 million people by 2019 and exceeding 5 million by the early 2020s, which reduced AIDS-related mortality and new infections through public health programs. This shift, initiated under President and continued under , positioned as having the world's largest ART program, averting millions of deaths. However, the social grants system, now comprising over R200 billion annually or about 3-4% of GDP, has raised concerns regarding long-term fiscal amid stagnant growth and rising , with critics noting dependency risks and taxpayer burdens from fewer than 7 million contributors supporting expanding recipient numbers.

Failures in Economic Growth, Infrastructure, and Service Delivery

Under ANC governance since 1994, South Africa's GDP per capita in terms has stagnated, hovering around $13,000–$14,000 from the mid-2010s onward, with minimal real growth compared to peers like those in , where per capita figures doubled or tripled over the same period. This flatline reflects policy choices favoring expansive state intervention and redistribution over investment in productive capacity, leading to average annual growth of just 1.6% from 1994 to 2009 and subdued rates thereafter, insufficient to absorb labor market entrants. Unemployment has surged to 33% overall and over 60% for aged 15–24 as of 2024, exacerbated by rigid labor regulations, skills mismatches from shortfalls, and insufficient expansion under ANC industrial policies. These rates, among the highest globally, stem from a failure to prioritize export-led and enabling job creation, with participation rates languishing below 40% due to discouraged workers. Infrastructure decay has compounded stagnation, particularly in state-owned enterprises mismanaged through cadre deployment and underinvestment. , the power utility, imposed load shedding on 205 days in 2022 and a record 332 days in 2023, totaling over 500 days of outages that shaved up to 4% off annual GDP through disrupted manufacturing and output. Similarly, Transnet's rail freight volumes have plummeted by over a third since 2017, falling to levels below those of 2008, with general halved due to track vandalism, locomotive shortages, and theft, forcing reliance on costlier and bottlenecking exports. Service delivery failures manifest in chronic water shortages, sewage spills, and potholed roads in municipalities, where ANC-led local governments allocate resources inefficiently amid fiscal pressures from national bailouts of failing SOEs. Inequality, measured by a of 0.63–0.67, has worsened post-1994, not solely from apartheid legacies but from in empowerment schemes that concentrated wealth among a connected few rather than broad-based growth. This persistence arises from policies distorting incentives, such as ownership quotas deterring foreign investment and favoring insiders, perpetuating a where formal sector fragility leaves the majority dependent on grants amid eroding public goods.

Corruption, State Capture, and Institutional Decay

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into , chaired by Raymond Zondo and established in 2018, uncovered systemic corruption within state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during Jacob Zuma's presidency from 2009 to 2018, involving undue influence by private actors over public and appointments. The commission's reports detailed tainted state expenditures totaling approximately R57 billion across entities like and , where contracts were irregularly awarded, leading to inflated costs and substandard services. These findings contradicted claims that such graft was limited to isolated tender irregularities, revealing instead a coordinated capture of processes that prioritized ANC-aligned networks over merit. Central to this era was the Gupta family's influence, which began intensifying around 2010 through close ties to Zuma and his administration. The family secured billions in state contracts, including R6 billion from SOEs by 2016, by leveraging political access to appoint pliant executives and bypass competitive bidding. Examples include the allocation of coal supply deals worth over R10 billion to Gupta-linked firms despite lacking expertise, resulting in operational inefficiencies and financial strain on the utility. This pattern extended to , where locomotive procurement scandals inflated costs by up to 68%, draining public resources into private enrichment. At the municipal level, the 2018 collapse of exemplified localized institutional decay, with R1.9 billion looted through fraudulent investments from predominantly ANC-controlled municipalities. Officials in entities like diverted over R300 million in public funds to the bank in exchange for bribes, exacerbating service delivery failures in impoverished areas reliant on those allocations. The scandal implicated ANC cadres in a network that prioritized personal gain, contributing to broader fiscal among local governments. Factional rivalries within the ANC fueled institutional erosion through , with politically motivated assassinations rising steadily since 2010 amid contests for control. Between 2010 and 2020, reports documented over 200 targeted killings linked to intra-party disputes, particularly in and , where rivals eliminated competitors for positions granting access to tenders. This undermined governance continuity, as unelected successors often perpetuated corrupt practices to recoup losses. The cumulative effects manifested in economic repercussions, including multiple downgrades attributed to failures and . Moody's cited Zuma-era scandals in downgrading to junk status in 2017, while Fitch followed in 2020, linking persistent graft to weakened fiscal buffers and investor withdrawal exceeding R200 billion in flight from 2015 to 2020. These shifts increased borrowing costs by over 200 basis points, constraining public spending on . Post-2024 national elections, where the ANC lost its majority, corruption persisted amid factional jockeying in the Government of National Unity, with ongoing probes into irregularities and cadre deployments. High-profile cases, including unprosecuted Zondo recommendations, highlighted incomplete institutional reforms, as evidenced by continued service delivery protests and fiscal leaks estimated at R27 billion annually from municipal graft. This endurance underscored causal links between unchecked and decaying public trust, rather than transient anomalies.

Major Controversies

Corruption Scandals and Elite Enrichment

The African National Congress (ANC) has been implicated in numerous corruption scandals since assuming power in 1994, often involving the enrichment of party elites through state resources, tender manipulations, and undue influence over public institutions. A key enabler has been the ANC's cadre deployment policy, formalized in the party's 1997 conference, which prioritizes placing loyal party members in senior government and positions over merit-based selection, fostering opportunities for and graft. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into (Zondo Commission), established in 2018, concluded that this policy created fertile ground for corruption by politicizing the and enabling undue influence by private actors. One of the earliest major scandals emerged from the 1999 Strategic Defence Package, a R30 billion arms procurement deal, where former ANC deputy president received bribes from his financial advisor to influence tender awards. Shaik was convicted in June 2005 on two counts of and one of for channeling approximately R1.2 million to Zuma between 1995 and 2002, including payments tied to the arms deal with French firm Thint (a subsidiary of Thales). Zuma faced 16 charges of , , racketeering, and related to the deal, with trials ongoing as of 2021, though allegations of prosecutorial interference have persisted. During Zuma's presidency (2009–2018), state capture allegations centered on the Gupta family's capture of key appointments and contracts at entities like and , facilitated by Zuma's administration. The Guptas, Indian-born businessmen with close ties to Zuma, were accused of influencing cabinet appointments and securing R138 billion in state contracts through corrupt means, as detailed in leaked emails and testimonies. The Zondo report, released in phases from 2022, found that the ANC under Zuma "permitted, supported and enabled ," with party structures receiving illicit funding from implicated actors, leading to the looting of public funds estimated in the hundreds of billions of rands. The Nkandla homestead upgrades exemplified elite self-enrichment, with over R246 million in public funds spent between 2009 and 2014 on non-security features at Zuma's private residence, including a R3.5 million reclassified as a "fire pool." The Public Protector's 2014 report deemed these expenditures improper benefits to Zuma, prompting a 2016 ruling ordering repayment of R7.8 million; Zuma complied with a partial refund of R7.1 million after apologizing publicly. Under President , scandals have continued, notably the 2020 Phala Phala farm robbery, where an undisclosed $580,000 in cash was stolen from Ramaphosa's game farm, raising questions of undeclared foreign currency, potential , and a involving Sudanese nationals. An independent panel found evidence of misconduct in 2022, but the declined charges in October 2024, citing insufficient evidence, amid criticisms of investigative leniency toward ANC leadership. These incidents underscore a pattern where ANC elites have leveraged party control for personal gain, contributing to institutional decay and public distrust, as evidenced by the Zondo Commission's recommendations for reforming cadre deployment to curb such abuses.

Policy Implementation Shortfalls: BEE, RET, and Economic Stagnation

(BEE), legislated through acts like the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003, aimed to increase black ownership and management in the economy but has largely enriched a narrow , with over 80% of black reporting no personal benefit. ANC leaders have conceded these implementation flaws: in 2015, former President described BEE's history as "dominated by a few individuals benefiting a great deal," while Treasurer-General highlighted how millions of black citizens remained excluded, perceiving gains as tied to tenderpreneurship rather than productive enterprise. Earlier, Mineral Resources Minister criticized in 2012 the policy's role in inflating costs—such as water bottles marked up from R7 to R27—to artificially create a black , calling for an end to such distortions. The Radical Economic Transformation (RET) agenda, advanced within ANC circles from around 2009 and peaking under President , promoted nationalization of mines and banks alongside land expropriation without compensation, fostering regulatory uncertainty that repelled . RET rhetoric correlated with South Africa's subdued economic performance, averaging 1.4% annual GDP growth from 2010 to 2019—less than half the rate of comparable emerging economies excluding and —amid threats that prioritized state control over incentives. Critics attribute this stagnation to RET's distortion of market signals, while ANC proponents maintain it addresses structural apartheid legacies, though empirical outcomes show persistent low below 15% of GDP. Land reform exemplifies these shortfalls, with the ANC's initial 1994 pledge to redistribute 30% of white-owned commercial farmland within five years yielding only 8-10% by the mid-2010s, extended repeatedly to a 2030 horizon. This measured pace averted Zimbabwe's post-2000 fast-track model's agricultural output collapse—where and farm seizures halved productivity—but left entrenched, as redistributed holdings often lacked support for sustainable farming, undermining broader empowerment goals. Opponents of and RET, including the Democratic Alliance, advocate replacing race-quotas with color-blind policies emphasizing skills, merit, and broad to drive job creation, arguing that elite-focused redistribution has entrenched dependency without scaling prosperity. The ANC counters that such interventions remain vital for historical redress, yet data on sustained low growth and inequality—Gini coefficient above 0.60—underscore causal links between implementation rigidities and stalled inclusive development.

Violence Incidents: Marikana Massacre and Factional Killings

The Marikana massacre took place on August 16, 2012, when members of the fired on approximately 3,000 striking platinum miners assembled on a koppie near the mine in Marikana, North West province, resulting in 34 deaths and 78 injuries. The shootings followed a initiated on August 10 over wage demands, escalating amid inter-union violence between the established National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which enjoyed close ties to the ANC and the ruling , and the breakaway Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which had gained traction among dissatisfied workers. In the week prior, clashes had already claimed 10 lives, including two police officers, two security guards, and six miners, fueling tensions that prompted police to deploy with automatic rifles and consider tactical options including rubber bullets and tear gas before resorting to live ammunition. Cyril Ramaphosa, serving as a non-executive director of Lonmin and a member of the ANC's national executive committee, intervened via emails to government ministers and police officials on August 15, labeling the strike "dastardly criminal" conduct and urging "concomitant action" to address it, actions later scrutinized by the Marikana Commission of Inquiry for potentially influencing the decision to confront the strikers forcefully. The commission's 2015 report faulted police planning and execution, noting the use of excessive force despite miners being armed primarily with traditional weapons like pangas and knobkerries, but cleared senior political figures of direct culpability while highlighting systemic failures in intelligence and negotiation. This incident, the most lethal police operation since the end of apartheid in 1994, underscored vulnerabilities in the ANC government's labor relations, where alliance with incumbent unions like NUM appeared to prioritize stability over accommodating emerging worker dissent, exacerbating rather than resolving underlying wage disparities rooted in stagnant productivity and protected union monopolies. Factional killings within the ANC have persisted as a form of intra-party , often driven by for control over municipal tenders and networks, with province emerging as the epicenter, accounting for around 40% of recorded targeted hits nationwide from 2000 to 2017. These assassinations, frequently involving councillors and officials, intensified around cycles and tender allocations, as rival ANC slates vied for dominance in , leading to an estimated 90 political murders since 2016, the majority targeting fellow party members. In 2023, the Global Initiative Against documented 31 such politically linked killings across , part of a broader upward trend since 2010 tied to "criminal " where factions leverage state contracts for illicit enrichment, eroding institutional . Such violence reflects entrenched patronage dynamics within the ANC, where access to public resources incentivizes lethal intra-factional conflict over electoral or ideological disputes, as seen in KwaZulu-Natal's of score-settling dating back to post-apartheid power transitions but amplified by unaddressed that sustains dependency on state-controlled opportunities rather than competitive markets. Low conviction rates—fewer than 10% in many cases—further entrench , allowing perpetrators to operate within party structures and perpetuating cycles of retaliation that undermine . While ANC has periodically condemned these acts, the persistence into the indicates structural failures in internal discipline and economic policy, prioritizing over reforms that could diffuse grievances through broader opportunity creation.

Suppression of Dissent: Secrecy Bills and Media Controls

The African National Congress-led government introduced the Protection of State Information Bill in 2010, aiming to classify and protect sensitive state information amid concerns over and threats. Proponents within the ANC argued it was essential to safeguard against foreign operations and leaks that could compromise defense capabilities, drawing comparisons to similar laws in other democracies. However, critics, including groups, opposition parties, and media organizations, contended that the bill's broad powers and severe penalties—up to 25 years for unauthorized disclosure—lacked a robust defense, potentially shielding and from scrutiny rather than addressing genuine risks. Widespread protests erupted against the bill, with demonstrations in and drawing thousands, including marches organized by the Right2Know Campaign and candlelight vigils highlighting fears of a return to apartheid-era secrecy. International bodies such as and condemned the legislation for its potential to stifle whistleblowers and , warning it could enable authoritarian control over information flows. Despite amendments narrowing some provisions, the passed the bill in April 2013, but President declined to sign it into law in 2013, returning it to for further review due to constitutional concerns over its vagueness and overreach. The bill has since stalled without enactment, attributed by analysts to sustained domestic backlash and the ANC's recognition of its political costs, though proponents maintain unresolved security gaps persist. Parallel efforts to influence media narratives emerged through control over the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the public broadcaster, particularly during Zuma's presidency. In 2016, SABC executives, under pressure from ANC-aligned appointees, implemented policies censoring footage of violent service-delivery protests, justifying it as preventing the glorification of destruction, which drew accusations of self-censorship to protect the government from negative coverage. The ANC initially defended these decisions as editorial independence but later condemned the SABC for censorship practices amid public outcry, including the suspension of senior journalists who resisted directives to portray Zuma favorably. Critics viewed these manipulations as tools to suppress dissent and maintain ANC electoral dominance, contrasting with the party's post-apartheid commitments to media freedom, while defenders cited operational autonomy from political interference. Following the ANC's loss of an outright majority in the May 2024 elections and the formation of the Government of National Unity () with parties like the Democratic Alliance, pressures for media accountability intensified, with coalition partners advocating stricter oversight to prevent recurrence of past controls. Organizations such as Corruption Watch have urged the to prioritize transparency mechanisms, citing historical scandals as cautionary examples against reverting to opaque practices under ANC influence. This shift has prompted debates on balancing imperatives with safeguards, where empirical evidence from stalled bills and exposed broadcaster biases underscores the tension between state protectionism and democratic openness.

References

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