ANC - African National Congress
**
First Draft : The
Past of the African National Congress (ANC)
[1]
Background on the Party, Alliances and Affiliations, and Policies
The South African Native National Congress was founded in 1912, but renamed the National African Congress in 1923.[2 ird] The ANC was the “black nationalist movement.”[3 ird] In the 1930s, its membership and support wavered because it was “unsuccessful in representing black grievances and was weakened by factionalism and leadership disarray.”[4 ird] Its only saving grace was the presence of young leaders who were willing to step up to the plate. These leaders, “Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Anton Lembede, were influenced by the pan-African version of nationalism.”[5 ird] They were the driving force behind the ANC’s protest against racial discrimination. They fought against the National Party (NP), or the white state, which imposed strict apartheid laws against the people by forming the Congress Alliance. This activism, and protest against the system breathed new life into the ANC and increased their membership.
In the years following, the ANC split because of disagreements about its “inclusive policies and established the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC)", whose focus was obtaining black political control. After this split, the government (whose majority were members of the NP) made the ANC and also the South African Communist Party (SACP) illegal organizations, and both had to flee in fear of arrest or worse. Two years later, in 1961, these two factions “formed a joint military wing called Umkhonto we Sizwe. The focus of this group now turned to the overthrowing the NP.”[6 ird]
While underground, the ANC networked, and “built up support in many Western and Eastern-bloc states. Financial support came from Scandinavian countries, while logistical support came from the Soviet Union and East Germany. The United Nations also granted the ANC observer status during the 1980s.”[7 ird]
The structure of the ANC is very much like that of the government. It has a president, deputy president, secretary general, deputy secretary general, and treasurer general. There is a ninety member National Executive Committee, and a twenty-six member National Working Committee that is chosen from the NEC. There is also a President’s Committee that has seven members. The national conference is the forum where the majority of representatives get together to elect the NEC and nominate the delegates that will represent them in the National Assembly. The party is also broken down into nine national departments, which focus on Information and Research, Manpower and Development, Foreign Affairs, Youth, Political Education, Information and Publicity, Finance, Religious Affairs, and Women.
The membership base of the ANC, consists of all races, even though they “primarily represent the interests of the majority black population.”[8 ird] The diversity, or elements of inclusion, of the membership base was also reflected in the party’s platform. In 1989, they “adopted the Harare Declaration that advocated multiparty negotiations to arrive at a new form of government, giving strong emphasis to the concept of individual rights.”[9 ird]
In the early years of the ANC, more specifically, during the years of apartheid, they were heavily affiliated with the South African Communist Party. The support of the SACP allowed the ANC to “secure support of the communist and socialist governments during its period of exile, played important roles in its policy formulation, and helped to consolidate support for the ANC in the labor movement.”[10 ird]
Among other allies, the ANC had the support of the largest trade union, which also happened to be nonracial, the Council of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). “It was the umbrella organization that existed over more than 12 unions, and had more than 1.3 million members. The largest labor rivals were the National Council of Trade Unions, that was against multiracial membership, and the United Workers’ Union of South Africa, which was affiliated with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).”[11 ird] In the mid 1990s, union members began to doubt the ANC, and “feared that workers’ interests would be overlooked in the effort to implement economic development plans in the post apartheid era.[12 ird]
In 1994, when the ANC became the country’s dominant political party, a lot of responsibility came along with it. “They had to balance the need to co manage (with the NP) the country’s finances to facilitate economic growth against its long-standing affiliation with COSATU.”[13 ird]
Reconstruction in the post-apartheid era was another big task that the ANC had to take on. “ANC economists, along with government and private-sector analysts figured out a blurprint to facilitate development in the upcoming years.”[14 ird] The plan, called RDP both “proposed ways to improve government services and the basic living conditions of the poor. They wanted to build homes and roads, upgrade the education system, and create jobs in an effort to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.”[15 ird] In order to accomplish their goals, the government was willing to sacrifice, and use revenues from the government’s social programs, increased trade, overall economic growth, and international assistance to fund this big move. In the long run, they also predicted growth and savings for the government by “increasing efficiency and reducing military spending.”[16 ird] The ANC facilitated South Africa’s reentry into world financial markets, establishing new trading partners and expanding other trade ties.
[1]Isoke Davis
[2]Library
of Congress <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+za0109)>
[3]
ibid
[4]
ibid
[5]
ibid
[6]
ibid
[7]
ibid
[8]
ibid
[9] ibid
[10]
ibid
[11]Library
of Congress <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+za0084)>
[12]Library
of Congress <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+za0115)>
[13]
ibid
[14]Library
of Congress <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+za0076)>
[15] ibid
[16]
ibid
The ANC (African National Congress)
Recent Info.
In 1990, the regime, presided by the white leader, F.W. de Klerk, was forced to unban the ANC and other organizations after much protest and social unrest. The unbanning signified a chance for the black majority in South Africa to finally work towards political power and freedom. The ANC quickly began to establish branch and regional memberships and reinstated its goal “to unite South Africa and bring the country to free and democratic elections.” At the 1991 National Conference, Nelson Mandela was elected the ANC’s president. Pretty soon negotiations by the ANC made to hold South Africa’s first national elections based on one person one vote in April 1994. The ANC won these first historic elections with a vast majority. 62,6% of the more than 22 million votes cast were in favour of the ANC. On the 10th of May 1994 Nelson Mandela as the President of South Africa. The ANC is currently the leading party in the Government of National Unity in South Africa. 1msp From the 1991 ANC National Conference a Constitution of the ANC was created. This constitution clearly states the party’s main aims and objectives as follows:
1. To unite all the people of South Africa, Africans in particular, for the complete liberation of the country from all forms of discrimination and national oppression.
2. To end apartheid in all its forms and transform South Africa as rapidly as possible into a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic country based on the principles of the Freedom Charter.
3. To defend the democratic gains of the people and advance towards a society in which the government is freely chosen by the people according to the principles of universal suffrage on a common voter's role.
4. To fight for social justice and eliminate the vast inequalities created by apartheid and the system of national oppression.
5. To build a South African nation with a common patriotism and loyalty in which the cultural, linguistic and religious diversity of the people is recognized. To promote economic development for the benefit of all.
7. To support and advance the cause of national liberation, women's emancipation, development, world peace, disarmament and respect of the environment.
8. To support and promote the struggle for the rights of children. 2msp
Since the ANC came into power it has been considered a “liberation party” with three political faiths that make up the party. A 1999 Financial Times article discusses the “tripartite”alliance between the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the “united opposition group” the Democratic Alliace (DA). This alliance shows that the ANC holds great political power in South Africa, partially because it was started as a liberation party and also because there simply is no alternative party with similar left wing policies. Although Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s current president (elected in June 1999), attempts to maintain and preserve this alliance, the ANC seems to be one huge roof for all lefists to find solace. In a 1999 Guardian article, right before the presidential elections, the ANC was described as incorporating hard left politics (such as SACP), center left politics (including Mandela, Mbeki and other social democrats) and a form of black consciousness that first began with Steven Biko.3msp Could this lead to an authoritarian government? Is the ANC immune to corruption simply because of its legacy?
There has been growing criticism of the ANC since right before the 1999 elections. Since the ANC did seem to be the only good choice for South Africa, there were many complaints that they did not succeed in helping the poor or creating jobs for the black majority. Though the ANC helped abolish apartheid and was able to get the bare necessities (food, electricity, clean waters, roads) to the ghettos, the ANC was unable to erradicate unofficial racial segregation or curb violence and create more jobs. Out of these criticism the ethnic based, Inkatha Freedom Party emerged. The ANC thus took a more economic approach to the 1999 elections and began campaigning “black empowerment” to win support. What they did not campaign was the fact that this “black empowerment” was a disguise for trade union movement. The ANC’s main objective since has been to create more jobs for the black community through privitisation and economic policies of deficit control, which was opposed by the ANC leftist allies such as SACP and Cosatu. These policies were supposed to modernise and expand facilities and take over billing revenue collection, in other words, they wanted to open up South Africa to globalisation!4msp
1. http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/about/umzabalazo.html
2. http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/const/constanc.html
3. The Guardian. “The Danger of electing a dictatorship . . .” May 1999. LEXIS-NEXIS