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103-677: The Morogoro Conference was a consultative conference held by the South African African National Congress (ANC) in Morogoro , Tanzania , from 25 April to 1 May 1969. The organisation had not held a large-scale meeting of its membership since it was banned by the apartheid government in 1960, and the Morogoro Conference was to become the first of three consultative conferences that the ANC held while in exile. The conference
206-686: A broad church , and, like many dominant parties , resembles a catch-all party , accommodating a range of ideological tendencies. 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
309-504: 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 . 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; and the 2007 National Conference whole-heartedly endorsed developmentalism in its policy resolutions, calling for
412-618: 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. Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress ,
515-813: A dispatch clerk. He joined the National Union of Distributive Workers and, as a shop steward , was involved in organising a strike. Slovo joined the South African Communist Party in 1942. Inspired by the Red Army 's battles against the Nazis on the Eastern Front of World War II , Slovo volunteered to fight in the war. He served as a Signaler in combat operations for the South African forces in North Africa and Italy, and on his return to South Africa he joined
618-698: A great deal of press after his return. In 1992, Slovo secured a major breakthrough in the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa by presenting the "sunset clauses" developed by the ANC/ SACP leadership: a coalition government for five years following democratic elections, guarantees for civil servants, including the homelands and armed forces, and an amnesty process. These were intended to head off right-wing coups and destabilisation. However, Slovo specifically rejected any compromise on full majority rule, and any agreement that "constitutionally prevented permanently"
721-478: 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, led by its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. These circumstances significantly shaped
824-553: A leadership vote in 1985. Also notable about this period was the extremely close relationship between the ANC and the reconstituted South African Communist Party (SACP), which was also in exile. In 1961, partly in response to the Sharpeville massacre, leaders of the SACP and the ANC formed a military body, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK, Spear of the Nation ), as a vehicle for armed struggle against
927-487: 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. 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. Under the ANC constitution, every member of the ANC belongs to a local branch, and branch members select the organisation's policies and leaders. They do so primarily by electing delegates to
1030-490: A meeting since its banning in 1960. In 1969, Tambo called the Morogoro conference – not strictly a national conference in terms of the ANC's rules, but rather a national "consultative" conference – in response to signs of "crisis" in the organisation, particularly in the ranks of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the armed wing shared by the ANC and its close ally the South African Communist Party (SACP). The prime focal point of this crisis
1133-477: A new government "from effectively intervening to advance the process of redressing the racially accumulated imbalances in all spheres of life". Slovo was a harsh critic of Israel , which he viewed as an apartheid state , and has been described among "people who want to see justice in struggles wherever they are fought". After the elections of 1994, Slovo became Minister for housing in Nelson Mandela 's government, until his death in 1995 of cancer . His funeral
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#17330934933531236-401: 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, 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
1339-436: A reflection of the ANC's failure to implement genuinely radical transformation after 1994. 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". It
1442-539: 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. 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
1545-486: 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". The proposed developmental state was also central to the ANC's campaign in the 2009 elections , and it remains a central pillar of the policy of the current government, which seeks to build a "capable and developmental" state. In this regard, ANC politicians often cite China as an aspirational example. A discussion document ahead of
1648-528: 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 . 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
1751-650: A wide audience during apartheid. " Amandla ngawethu ", or the Sotho variant "Matla ke arona", is a common rallying call at ANC meetings, roughly meaning " power to the people ". 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. The ANC has received criticism from both internal and external sources. Internally Mandela publicly criticized
1854-561: Is a member of the Socialist International , and its close partner the SACP traditionally conceives itself as a vanguard party . 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). The concept remained important to ANC intellectuals and strategists after
1957-412: 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. 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
2060-484: 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, and it was at that time presiding over phenomenal expansions of its black economic empowerment programme and the system of social grants . As its name suggests, the RDP emphasised state-led development – that is,
2163-413: 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. 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. The leaders of
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#17330934933532266-439: 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. The post-apartheid ANC continues to identify itself foremost as a liberation movement , pursuing "the complete liberation of
2369-579: The 2024 general election , the ANC lost its majority in parliament for the first time in South Africa's democratic history. It still remains the largest party however, with under 41% of the vote. 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
2472-570: The All-African Trade Union Federation , the Tanganyika African National Union , the National Union of Tanganyika Workers , South West Africa People's Organisation , Zimbabwe African People's Union , FRELIMO , and MPLA . On the internal front, the conference sought to address a growing malaise and malcontent, particularly among the rank-and-file of the ANC and MK. It also passed a motion of confidence in
2575-811: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with the CCP having supported ANC's struggle of apartheid since 1961. In 2008, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding to train ANC members in China. President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC have not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine , and have faced criticism from opposition parties, public commentators, academics, civil society organisations, and former ANC members due to this. The ANC youth wing has meanwhile condemned sanctions against Russia and denounced NATO's eastward expansion as "fascistic". Officials representing
2678-603: 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 ,
2781-517: The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). 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. Mandela was elected president and formed a coalition Government of National Unity , which, under the provisions of
2884-534: 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
2987-518: The Oilgate scandal, in which millions of Rand in funds from a state-owned company were funnelled into ANC coffers. 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
3090-631: The Rivonia trial and Little Rivonia trial . 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 . 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
3193-467: 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. After its banning in April 1960, the ANC was driven underground, a process hastened by a barrage of government banning orders , by an escalation of state repression, and by the imprisonment of senior ANC leaders pursuant to
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3296-633: The South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Slovo was a delegate to the multiracial Congress of the People of June 1955 which drew up the Freedom Charter . He was imprisoned for six months in 1960, and emerged as a leader of uMkhonto we Sizwe the following year. He lived in exile from 1963 to 1990, conducting operations against
3399-632: The Springbok Legion , a multiracial radical ex-servicemen's organization. Between 1946 and 1950 he completed a law degree at the University of the Witswatersrand and was a student activist. He was in the same class as Nelson Mandela and Harry Schwarz . In 1949 he married Ruth First , another prominent Jewish anti-apartheid activist and the daughter of SACP treasurer Julius First. They had three daughters, Shawn , Gillian and Robyn . Ruth First
3502-433: The conservative , educated, and religious professional classes of black South African society. Although they would not take part, Xhosa chiefs would show huge support for the organisation; as a result, King Jongilizwe donated 50 cows to during its founding. Around 1920, in a partial shift away from its early focus on the "politics of petitioning", the ANC developed a programme of passive resistance directed primarily at
3605-500: 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, the National Assembly has thus far always elected
3708-499: The freedom of the press . 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. The ANC have been criticised for its role in failing to prevent 16 August 2012 massacre of Lonmin miners at Marikana in
3811-472: 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. 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. In
3914-466: The ANC Youth League acted as international observers for Russia's staged referendum to annex Ukrainian territory conquered during the war. In February 2024 ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula attend a "forum on combating Western neocolonialism" hosted by Russia, thereby drawing further criticism for the party's perceived support for Russia's invasion. The ANC had received large donations from
4017-552: The ANC during its years in exile. 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 , 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
4120-430: The ANC president as the national president. The ANC has adhered to a formal policy of cadre deployment since 1985. 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. The ANC prides itself on being
4223-498: 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. 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. The ANC's Radio Freedom also gained
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4326-600: 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. 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. Although MK's malaise persisted into
4429-525: The ANC to non-blacks, a decision unpopular with some of the ANC's staunch African nationalists . Although the NEC remained open only to black members, the conference also established the powerful and multi-racial Revolutionary Council , on which MK and the SACP were well represented. African National Congress The African National Congress ( ANC ) is a political party in South Africa . It originated as
4532-595: 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." During a lecture on 10 December, Mbeki reiterated concerns about "careerists" within the party, and stressed the need to "purge itself of such members". In May 2024, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in association with amaBhungane showed in documents that R200 million in
4635-500: 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. The membership and leadership of the three organisations has traditionally overlapped significantly. The alliance constitutes a de facto electoral coalition: the SACP and COSATU do not contest in government elections, but field candidates through
4738-462: 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. Towards the end of Jacob Zuma 's presidency, an ANC faction aligned to Zuma pioneered
4841-662: 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. In late 2011 the ANC was heavily criticised over the passage of the Protection of State Information Bill , which opponents claimed would improperly restrict
4944-533: 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. 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. These problems continued into
5047-481: The ANC, for the first time, to the sustained use of mass mobilisation techniques like strikes, stay-aways, and boycotts. 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. The ANC's membership swelled. In June 1955, it was one of the groups represented at
5150-552: 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, and in 2017 it did so for the first time, running against the ANC in by-elections in the Metsimaholo municipality, Free State . 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
5253-589: The Northwest. Some 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. 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. In 2014, Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced that he could no longer bring himself to vote for
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#17330934933535356-465: The People campaign and therefore symbolises a united and non-racial movement for freedom and equality. 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. The black, green and gold tricolour also appeared on
5459-460: 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. 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
5562-502: 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, and it was disowned by both COSATU and the SACP. While some analysts viewed Mbeki's economic policy as undertaking the uncomfortable macroeconomic adjustments necessary for long-term growth, others – notably Patrick Bond – viewed it as
5665-532: The SACP and the ANC. In the 1970s he wrote the influential essay "South Africa: No Middle Road", which argued that the apartheid government would be unable to achieve stability, co-opt significant sections of the small but growing black middle class, or democratise: the only choice was between an insurrectionary overthrow of apartheid, centred on MK, or even greater repression. At the time the SACP's orthodox pro-Soviet and two-stage view of change in South Africa – "national democratic revolution" first, socialism later –
5768-562: The apartheid régime from the United Kingdom, Angola , Mozambique , and Zambia . In 1990, he returned to South Africa, and took part in the negotiations that ended apartheid. He became known for proposing the "sunset clauses" covering the 5 years following a democratic election, including guarantees and concessions to all sides, and his fierce non-racialist stance. After the elections of 1994, he became Minister for Housing in Nelson Mandela 's government. He died of cancer in 1995. Slovo
5871-537: 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 such time as the ANC formally recognised it as its armed wing in October 1962. In the first half of the 1960s, MK was preoccupied with a campaign of sabotage attacks, especially bombings of unoccupied government installations. As
5974-427: The black majority even within a market-capitalist scheme. 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
6077-409: 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 . During this period, MK activities led the governments of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to condemn the ANC as a terrorist organisation. In fact, neither the ANC nor Mandela were removed from the U.S. terror watch list until 2008. The animosity of Western regimes
6180-483: The conference, Ben Turok circulated a memorandum which reflected on the theme, "WHAT IS WRONG?", seeking to explain and address what he called "a deepgoing malaise such as we have never known before" in the movement, and concurring with many of the complaints in the Hani memorandum – though a response by Joe Matthews dissented on several points. In response to the Hani memorandum, the conference decided to reinstate Hani and
6283-453: The country to participate in the early "talks about talks" between the government and the ANC. Ailing, he stood down as SACP general secretary in 1991 and was given the titular position of SACP chairperson. Slovo was succeeded by Chris Hani , who was assassinated two years later by a white right-winger. Slovo was a long-demonised figure in white South African society, widely misrepresented as a KGB colonel or Russian secret agent, and attracted
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#17330934933536386-457: The country from all forms of discrimination and national oppression". It also continues to claim the Freedom Charter of 1955 as "the basic policy document of the ANC". 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. Nonetheless, some basic commonalities are visible in
6489-525: The couple lived in exile. In 1984, Slovo, an ANC and SACP member, was forced to leave Mozambique in terms of the Nkomati Accord between the Marxist People's Republic of Mozambique and apartheid South Africa. In 1984, he was elected general secretary of the SACP in Lusaka , Zambia, and in 1985, he became the first white member of the ANC's national executive. Slovo was a leading theoretician in both
6592-542: 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
6695-449: The economy, in favour of all South Africans, especially the poor". Arguments for RET were closely associated with the rhetorical concept of white monopoly capital . 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. The ANC has long had close ties with China and
6798-446: The end of apartheid. Indeed, the pursuit of the NDR is one of the primary objectives of the ANC as set out in its constitution. 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
6901-554: 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 we Sizwe , 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
7004-413: The expansion and entrenchment of pass laws . 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. In the 1940s, Alfred Bitini Xuma revived some of Gumede's programmes, assisted by
7107-612: 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 . 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. In addition, since 1972, it has been traditional for
7210-593: 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. 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
7313-473: The historical injustices perpetrated against the indigenous majority and thus lay the basis for a new – and deeper internationalist – approach". 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
7416-602: 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. It faced further casualties in the Bisho massacre , the Shell House massacre , and in other clashes with state forces and supporters of
7519-587: The interim Constitution, also included the National Party and IFP. The ANC has controlled the national government since then. 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
7622-494: 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. 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
7725-501: The leaders of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, formed in alliance between the ANC and the SACP. In 1963 he went into exile and lived in Britain , Angola , Mozambique and Zambia . In his capacity as chief of staff of MK he codetermined its activities, like the 1983 Church Street bombing . In 1982, Slovo's wife, Ruth First was assassinated in Maputo, Mozambique , where
7828-697: The leadership of Oliver Tambo , who had been acting as the organisation's president without a clear democratic mandate. Tambo closed the conference with the summary: "The order that comes from this conference is: Close Ranks and Intensify the Armed Struggle!" After the African National Congress (ANC) was banned by the South African government in 1960, it was driven underground in South Africa and sought to establish an external mission elsewhere in Southern Africa , with headquarters initially based in Morogoro, Tanzania and then in Lusaka, Zambia . Oliver Tambo, who
7931-459: The man. The Congress of South African Trade Unions , the largest union federation in South Africa, and an ally of the ANC and SACP, helps organise the annual Joe Slovo Memorial Lecture and normally issues a statement on the anniversary of his death. Slovo was widely admired across southern Africa, leading Zimbabwean magazine, Southern African Political and Economic Monthly running a special issue on his death, and describing Slovo in an obituary as
8034-465: The men who have been leading our struggle from Lusaka" and offered his resignation as acting ANC president. Once he had left the meeting, the conference passed an unopposed vote of confidence in him. He ultimately remained acting president until his appointment as president was formally confirmed at the next consultative conference, held in Kabwe, Zambia in 1985. The conference resolved to open membership of
8137-511: 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 . 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 . Before the trial was concluded,
8240-547: 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
8343-563: 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. 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
8446-409: 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
8549-535: The other six cadres who had been suspended, and it adopted a new "Strategy and Tactics" document, drafted by SACP leader Joe Slovo . The document affirmed that the seizure by force of state power in South Africa was a central objective of the struggle, but, acknowledging a position expressed by the Hani memorandum, it clarified the relationship between military and political struggle: [O]ur movement must reject all manifestations of militarism which separates armed people's struggle from its political context... The primacy of
8652-476: 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. 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,
8755-409: The policy and ideological preferences of the organisation's mainstream. The ANC is committed to the ideal of non-racialism and to opposing "any form of racial, tribalistic or ethnic exclusivism or chauvinism". 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
8858-489: The political leadership is unchallenged and supreme and all revolutionary formations and levels (whether armed or not) are subordinate to this leadership. The consultative conference did not nominate and vote on the composition of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), as it would have in normal circumstances. However, an address to the conference, Tambo acknowledged ANC members' "loss of confidence in
8961-454: The poor. This has resulted in the " No Land! No House! No Vote! " Campaign which became very prominent during elections. In 2018, the New York Times reported on the killings of ANC corruption whistleblowers. 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
9064-489: 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. 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
9167-664: The seats in Parliament . 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 Dube , and Walter Rubusana founded the organisation, who, like much of the ANC's early membership, were from
9270-503: 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 . Joe Slovo Yossel Mashel Slovo (23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995), commonly known as Joe Slovo , was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist , he was a long-time leader and theorist in
9373-436: The weaknesses of the socialist movement and the excesses of Stalinism , while at the same time rejecting attempts by the left to distance themselves from socialism. Slovo insisted on having a "justified confidence in the future of socialism and its inherent moral superiority", and pointing to "the failures of capitalism", although he now rejected the one-party state model. In May 1990, after 27 years of exile, Slovo returned to
9476-580: Was a delegate to the June 1955 Congress of the People organised by the ANC and Indian, Coloured and white organisations at Kliptown near Johannesburg , that drew up the Freedom Charter . He was arrested and detained for two months during the Treason Trial of 1956. Charges against him were dropped in 1958. He was later arrested for six months during the State of Emergency declared after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. In 1961, Slovo and Abongz Mbede emerged as two of
9579-527: Was an extremely controversial topic within the organisation. Following preliminary contact between the ANC and representatives of the state, business, and civil society, 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. Some ANC leaders returned to South Africa from exile for so-called "talks about talks", which led in 1990 and 1991 to
9682-711: Was assassinated in 1982 in Maputo , by order of Craig Williamson , a major in the South African Police . In 1950, the SACP was banned and both First and Slovo were listed as communists under the Suppression of Communism Act and could not be quoted or attend public gatherings in South Africa. He became active in the South African Congress of Democrats (an ally of the ANC as part of the Congress Alliance ) and
9785-600: Was attended by over seventy delegates, and included representation for various ANC branches, various units of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and other political and labour organisations opposed to apartheid . It was also well attended by interested parties from other African liberation movements : the conference was opened by George Magombe, the executive secretary of the Liberation Committee of the Organisation of African Unity , and speeches were also made by representatives of
9888-1028: Was attended by the entire high command of the ANC, and by most of the highest officials in the country, including both Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki , and he was buried in Avalon Cemetery , Soweto, which was unheard of for a white South African. 50,000 people, virtually all black, attended the event. In 2004 Slovo was voted 47th in the Top 100 Great South Africans . Shack settlements built on land occupations in both Durban and Cape Town were named after Joe Slovo by their founders. Harrow Road in Johannesburg and Field Street in Durban Central were renamed Joe Slovo Drive and Joe Slovo Street respectively. A newly constructed Residence building at Rhodes University in Grahamstown , South Africa, has been named "Joe Slovo" in honour of
9991-560: Was born on 23 May 1926 in Obeliai , Lithuania , to a Jewish family that emigrated to the Union of South Africa when he was eight. His father worked as a truck driver in Johannesburg . Although his family were religious, he became an atheist who retained respect for "the positive aspects of Jewish culture ". Slovo was educated at King Edward VII School and left school in 1941 and found work as
10094-548: Was dominant in the ANC-led liberation movement. Slovo's 1988 "The South African Working Class and the National Democratic Revolution" defended the two-stage conception, insisting that "national democratic revolution" would "implement economic measures which go far beyond bourgeois-democracy" and so "erect a favourable framework for a socialist transformation but will not, in themselves, create, or necessarily lead to, socialism". In 1989, he wrote "Has Socialism Failed?" which acknowledged
10197-605: 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. Other corruption issues in the 2000s included the sexual misconduct and criminal charges of Beaufort West municipal manager Truman Prince , and
10300-538: Was judged a necessary step towards both goals. 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. Although the RDP was abandoned in 1996, these three channels of state economic intervention have remained mainstays of subsequent ANC policy frameworks. In 1996, Mandela's government replaced
10403-524: 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 . 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
10506-479: Was the ANC deputy president and had been instructed to establish the external mission, had become the organisation's de facto leader, as ANC president Albert Luthuli had limited freedom of movement due to a series of government banning orders . When Luthuli died in 1967, Tambo became acting ANC president. While operating inside South Africa, the ANC had held annual national conferences to select its leadership and take political decisions, but it had not held such
10609-412: Was the so-called Hani memorandum of 1969, an open letter drafted by Chris Hani and five other MK cadres, which criticised the "wrong policies and personal failures" of the ANC leadership. All the signatories to the memorandum were suspended, which provoked further outrage among MK members. Discussion at the conference confronted head-on the apparent malcontent in the ANC and MK ranks. In preparation for
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