governing party - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

South Africa’s ANC marks its 112th year with an eye on national elections, but its record is patchy and future uncertain

THE speech President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered at the 112th birthday celebration of South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), on 13 January can be seen as the party’s opening election gambit: a stadium packed to capacity, the display of a united leadership, and an invocation of three decades of success, delivered by a leader firmly in control of his party. SANDY AFRICA, Associate Professor, Political Sciences, and Deputy Dean Teaching and Learning (Humanities), University of Pretoria The annual January 8 statement, unsurprisingly, was a 30-year self-assessment and is self-congratulatory. It was silent on the many failings under ANC…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Is South Africa better off with or without Cyril Ramaphosa?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa came to the helm of South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC) in 2017 on an anti-corruption, or anti-state capture, platform. The ANC’s 54th elective conference gave him a mandate of renewing the party, and simultaneously reversing the state capture phenomenon that had characterised much of the country 10 years under his predecessor Jacob Zuma. But, now, he himself has been caught up in controversy over the theft of thousands of American dollars allegedly kept in contravention of foreign exchange rules at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in 2020. He also allegedly failed to…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Ramaphosa appears — finally — to have his grip on South Africa’s ruling ANC

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IF the outcomes of the most recent meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) of South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), are anything to go by, the party has reached a tipping point. MASHUPYE HERBERT MASERUMULE, Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology As he was giving an update of the NEC meeting, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa’s demeanour appeared to be that of a leader in charge, sending his secretary-general Ace Magashule packing, and giving him the executive committee’s ultimatum to apologise for his vindictive behaviour. The NEC is the ANC’s highest governing structure in between…