The African National Congress (ANC) organization at the grassroots

African Affairs

Volumn 107, Issue 429, 2008, Pages 589-609

  Darracq, Vincent ^a,b  

^a Institut d'Études Politiques de Bordeaux   (France)

^b South Africa   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DECISION MAKING; GRASSROOTS LEVEL; LEADERSHIP; PARTY POLITICS; POLITICAL SYSTEM;

EID: 53249115354     PISSN: 00019909     EISSN: 14682621     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adn059     Document Type: Article

References (114)

1. See M. Salih (ed.), African Political Parties: Evolution, institutionalisation and governance (Pluto Press, London, 2004);
2. M. Basedau, G. Erdmann, and G. Mehler (eds), Votes, Money and Violence: Political Parties and elections in sub-Saharan Africa (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Scottsville, 2007);
3. M. Gazibo (ed.), 'Partis politiques d'Afrique: Retours sur un objet délaissé', Politique Africaine 104 (special issue, 2006.);
4. and Party Politics 11, 4 (2005).
5. M. Mozaffar and J. Scarritt, 'The puzzle of African party systems', Party Politics 11, 4 (2005), pp. 399-421;
6. and M. Basedau.'Do party systems matter for democracy? A comparative study of 28 sub-Saharan countries' in Basedau et al. (eds), Votes, Money and Violence, pp. 105-43.
7. See V. Randall, 'Political parties and the representation of social groups' in Basedau et al. (eds), Votes, Money and Violence, pp. 82-104.
8. M. Duverger, Political Parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state (Methuen, London 1964).
9. See A. Ware, 'Introduction - parties under electoral competition' in A. Ware (ed.), Political Parties: Electoral change and structural response (Blackwell, Oxford, 1987). pp. 1-23;
10. and S. Wolinetz, 'Beyond the catch-all party: Approaches to the study of parties and party organization in contemporary democracies' in R. Gunther, J. Montero, and J. Linz (eds), Political Parties: Old concepts and new challenges (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002), pp. 137-65.
11. See S. Scarrow, 'Parties without members? Party organization in a changing electoral environment' in R. Dalton and M. Wattenberg (eds), Parties without Partisans: Political change in advanced industrial democracies (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000), pp. 79-101.
12. F. Meli, South Africa Belongs to Us: A History of the ANC (Zimbabwe Publishing House, Harare, 1988), p. 122.
13. Presentation, Saki Macozoma, ANC National Executive Committee member, at Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, 24 May 2006.
14. See M. Legassick, 'Armed struggle in South Africa: Consequences of a strategy debate', Journal of Contemporary African Studies 21 2 (2003), pp. 285-302. On MK and ANC armed struggle, see H. Bartell, Conscripts to Their Age: African National Congress operational strategy 1976-1986 (D.Phil. thesis in Politics, University of Oxford, 1993).
15. Interview, Lechesa Tsenoli, ANC MP and former South African National Civic Organization (SANCO) President, Cape Town, 18 October 2006.
16. On UDF, see J. Seekings, The UDF: A story of the United Democratic Front in South Africa 1983-1991 (D. Philip, Cape Town, 1991).
17. That concept was developed by the ANC after a visit to Vietnam by the Revolutionary Council in 1978, which brought about a re-think of its military strategy.
18. Legassick, 'Armed struggle in South Africa'.
19. Interview, Zwelinzima Sizani, secretary for political education and training, in the ANC's Gauteng, provincial office, 15 November 2006.
20. J. Rantete, The African National Congress and the Negotiated Settlement in South Africa (J. L. van Schaik, Pretoria, 1998), pp. 6-17.
21. For details about the ANC mass activity during this period, see Rantete, The African National Congress and the Negotiated Settlemen, pp. 113-216.
22. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) was a multi-party forum that met in the early 1990s to thrash out the details of South Africa's transition to democracy.
23. On 7 September 1992, about 80,000 ANC supporters marched on the Ciskei homeland against the decision by Oupa Gqozo (Ciskei's military ruler) not to participate in the multi-party negotiations. The Ciskei Defence Force opened fire and killed 28 marchers. This disaster led the ANC to a more cautious approach to mass action. See Rantete, The African National Congress and the Negotiated Settlement, p. 194.
24. For details about the ANC mass activity during this period, see Rantete, The African National Congress and the Negotiated Settlement, p. 113-216.
25. These numbers must be carefully addressed. Political scientists use different measures of membership: Raw numbers (M) are standardized in terms of each party's vote (M/V) within the overall electorate (M/E) (see Scarrow, 'Parties without members? '). In terms of raw numbers, ANC membership is impressive (bigger than the British New Labour Party, historically a mass party). In terms of the members/voters ratio, it is less convincing, and testifies to difficulties in providing an organizational home for supporters.
26. This is a provincial study of Gauteng ANC membership, released in 2006: ANC, 'Profile and perspectives on ANC membership in Gauteng' (ANC, Johannesburg, 2006).
27. ANC, 'ANC Constitution' (ANC, Johannesburg, 2007).
28. Interview, Aubrey Matle, Chairperson of the ANC Zone 3 (Eldorado Park Pimville) of Johannesburg Region, Johannesburg, 6 December 2006.
29. The national Policy conference is critical to that process: It takes place months before the National Conference and is dedicated to policy discussions.
30. Interviews with several ANC cadres and personal observations at the ANC national Policy conference (June 2007, Midrand).
31. Interview, Baleka Mbete, ANC National Working Committee member and Speaker of Parliament, Johannesburg, 27 November 2006.
32. Ibid.
33. ANC, 'The character of the ANC' (discussion document, ANC Mafikeng National Conference, 1997).
34. Ibid.
35. 'Secretary-General's Report' (ANC Stellenbosch National Conference, 2002).
36. Ibid.
37. Rantete, The African National Congress and the Negotiated Settlement p. xvii.
38. ANC, 'The character of the ANC'.
39. 'Organizational Report' (ANC National General Council, 2005.).
40. The principle 'The people shall govern!' is one of the key sentences of the ANC ideological milestone, the Freedom Charter (1955).
41. 'Tasks of the national democratic revolution and the mobilization of the motive forces' (discussion document, ANC National General Council, 2000).
42. 'ANC - people's movement and agent for change' (discussion document, ANC National General Council, 2000).
43. 'Secretary-General's Report' (ANC Stellenbosch National Conference, 2002).
44. Ibid.
45. This rhetoric was also that of many leading parties in newly independent African countries in the 1960s: To characterize their activity, Rupert Emerson discusses how under 'the general heading of community development the party serv[ed] as the crystallizing force to spur the local communities into action to better their own conditions' ('Parties and national integration in Africa' in J. LaPalombara and M. Weiner (eds), Political Parties and Political Development (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1966), pp. 267-302).
46. 'Tasks of the national democratic revolution'.
47. On this internal debate, see ANC, 'The character of the ANC'.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. Interview, Kader Asmal, National Executive Committee member, Cape Town, 11 October 2006.
51. Interview, ANC cadre in Parliament, Cape Town, 2 November 2006.
52. See O. Kircheimer, 'The transformation of Western European party systems' in LaPalombara and Weiner (eds), Political Parties and Political Development, pp. 177-200,
53. and R. Katz and P. Mair, 'The ascendancy of the party in nublic office - party organizational change in twentieth-century democracies' in Gunther et al. (eds), Political Parties, pp. 113-35.
54. These are the demand-side arguments. Supply-side arguments would emphasize the difficulty of recruiting members as the erosion of traditional social classes and social milieux, and the development of new citizen lifestyles, lessened popular political attachments. For the state of this debate, see Scarrow, 'Parties without members?' and P. Mair, 'Party organizations: From civil society to the state', in R. Katz and P. Mair (eds), How Parties Organize (Sage Publications, London, 1994), pp. 1-22.
55. Scarrow, 'Parties without members?', p. 82.
56. 'A strategic agenda for organizational renewal' (discussion document, ANC policy conference, 2007).
57. On New Labour's renewed mass membership strategy, see P. Seyd, 'New parties/new politics? A case study of the British Labour Party', Party Politics 5, 3 (1999), pp. 383-405.
58. S. Scarrow, Parties and Their Members: Organizing for victory in Britain and Germany (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996), p. 135.
59. Observation of the ward committee election in Ward 17, Kliptown Civic Centre, 13 July 2006.
60. ANC regional offices are aligned with district or metro (metropolitan area), whereas provincial offices are aligned with administrative provinces.
61. Interview, ANC Johannesburg regional organizer, Johannesburg, 1 December 2005.
62. For example, there are two for the Johannesburg regional office: One is in charge of the branches in Johannesburg North and the other in Johannesburg South. Interview, Jackson Mphao, Johannesburg regional organizer, Johannesburg, 14 November 2006.
63. The zonal level is disconnected from any administrative demarcation. Every zone comprises about 10 ward-based local branches. For instance, Johannesburg region is made of 16 zones.
64. Interview, Sizani.
65. Interview, Vanessa Hood, chairperson of the ANC branch in Woodstock, Cape Town, 15 October 2006.
66. Ibid.
67. Observation at meetings of the ANC branch in Ward 18 of Johannesburg Metro, Eldorado Park, Soweto, February July 2006.
68. Interview, Matle.
69. 'Secretary-General's Report' (ANC Stellenbosch National Conference, 2002).
70. Interview, Mphao.
71. Ibid.
72. Tom Lodge writes about the Letsema campaign in 'The ANC and the development of party politics in modern South Africa', Journal of Modern African Studies 42, 2 (2004), pp. 189-219.
73. Interview, Hood.
74. Interview, Mphao.
75. Interview, Sizani.
76. Interview, Mphao. At times, these public meetings are also meant to be platforms for public service officials to come and defend controversial local policies in communities. For instance, the author attended an ANC public branch meeting in Ward 18 of Johannesburg Metro where a city power official was invited to deliver a speech to argue for the installation of electricity pre-paid meters in the ward.
77. 'Secretarv-Gencral's Report' (ANC Stellenbosch National Conference, 2002).
78. For instance, the NEC requires branches to get involved in the implementation of the government's Expanded Public Works Plan (EPWP) and to facilitate the work of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA.) 'in ensuring that all eligible community members are able to access these grants', in 'assisting people to obtain the necessary documentation, specifically ID documents and birth certificates' (Statement of the National Executive Committee, Lekgotla, 22 January 2007).
79. Interview, Hood.
80. See Scarrow, Parties and Their Members, pp. 113-49.
81. Heard in branch meetings. 'Madiba' is one of Nelson Mandela's nicknames.
82. 'I have not engaged, nor sought to engage others on my behalf, in any campaign with respect to the presidency of the ANC and have no interest in being a candidate. Like all ANC members, I am bound by the discipline, traditions, organizational culture and processes of the organization. I have not, and will not, act in a manner contrary to these practices.' Quoted in M. Monare, 'Ramaphosa "not interested" in ANC top job', Cape Times, 26 July 2006.
83. 'It is like indigenous communities, people gather under the tree and talk. There's no individualism.' Interview, Hood.
84. All ANC public meetings end with the slogans 'Amandla ngawethu!' ('The Power is ours!'), 'Viva ANC, viva!', 'A lutta continua!??'.
85. 'For instance, one deals with Thabo Mbeki's role in the advancement of women' (heard in a branch public meeting in Ward 18 of Johannesburg Metro).
86. French political scientists Michel Offerlé and Philippe Braud develop this kind of analysis about political parties. See M. Offerlé, Les Partis politiques (PUF, Paris, 2006).
87. See S. Neumann 'Towards a comparative study of political parties' in S. Neumann (ed.), Modern Political Parties (Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL, 1956), pp. 395-421.
88. In Scarrow, 'Parties without members?', p. 82.
89. At that time some political scientists were still indulgent with one-party regimes, seen as a catalyst for development and nation-building.
90. R. Emerson, 'Parties and national integration in Africa', p. 296, in LaPalombara and Weiner (eds), Political Parties and Political Development, pp. 267-302.
91. In Scarrow, 'Parties without members?, p. 84.
92. ANC,'A strategic agenda for organizational renewal' (discussion document, ANC policy conference, 2007).
93. 'Secretary-General's Report' (ANC Mafikeng, National Conference, 1997). In that sense, the ANC, with its all-embracing and multi-class outlook, looks more similar to former dominant African parties than to classic European mass parties, meant to be the expression of a specific social class.
94. Interview, Mphao. For instance, branches in Johannesburg, North bring together upper middle-class people and domestic workers.
95. For a more detailed report of that case study, see V. Darracq, ' Dans le parti, dans le quartier: Les branches locales de l'African National Congress (ANC), Revue Tiers-Monde, forthcoming.
96. It was the case for the latest branch leadership elections, where members largely stood for election and voted according to these blocs.
97. Observation of ward committee election in Ward 18 of the Johannesburg Metro, Eldorado Park, Soweto, 13 July 2006.
98. Interview, Joel Netshitenzhe, Head of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) sub-committee on political education, Pretoria, 12 December 2006.
99. On this topic, see also V. Darracq, 'Being a "movement of the people" and a governing party: Study of the African National Congress mass character',Journal of Southern African Studies 34, 2 (2008), pp. 429-49.
100. Lodge, 'The ANC and the development of party politics', pp. 189-219, p. 210.
101. Interview, Hood.
102. Interview, Matthew Parks. deputy-secretary of the ANC Cape Town region, Cape Town.
103. Interview, Jeremy Cronin, ANC National Executive Committee member and South African Communist Party (SACP) Deputy-Secretary, 3 November 2006.
104. Ibid.
105. Interview, Zwelinzima Sizani, 13 December 2006.
106. Interview, Matle.
107. For a more detailed study of the Polokwane National Conference, see the postscript of V. Darracq. 'Being a "movement of the people" and a governing party'.
108. G. Carbone, 'Comprendre les partis et les systèmes de partis africains: Entre modèles et recherches empiriques', Politique Africaine 104 (2006), pp. 18-37.
109. M. Gazibo, 'Pour une réhabilitation de l'analyse des partis en Afrique', Politique Africaine 104 (2006), pp. 5-17.
110. G. Erdmann, Western European bias and the "African labyrinth"' in Basedau, Erdmann and Mehler (eds), Votes, Money and Violence, pp. 34-64. Erdmann proposes that the careless use of the mass party model explains the failure of scholars to successfully analyse African political parties in the 1960s.
111. Ibid., pp. 36-7.
112. '[A] party with a clear-cut ideology, a programme. a paying mass membership. a bureaucratic organization which reaches or builds up from the grassroots, democratic participatory structures, close links to ancillary organizations, and a fairly stable electorate'. ibid., p. 51.
113. Carbone, 'Comprendre les partis et les systèmes de partis africains',
114. Erdmann 'Western European bias and the "African labyrinth"'.