History can help ANC
Sandinistas in Nicaragua show party needs more than introspection — it needs a radical reorientation, writes Zamani Saul
The decline in electoral support for the ANC in the 2016 local government elections was a rude awakening for the ruling party and reduced to dust its myth of invincibility. Taking a positive view, it heralds the critical juncture the ANC has been waiting for to genuinely embark on organisational renewal. Despite the erosion of its electoral base, the ANC remains the governing party and by far the most significant political force in SA, unlike the misfortunes suffered by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Sandinistas) of Nicaragua, the Indian Congress Party and the United National Independence Party (UNIP) of Zambia. These parties were voted out of power as a result of organisational paralysis and rot. Similar to the ANC, their paralysis started showing before their desolate electoral defeats. Following its poor electoral performance, the ANC committed to a process of deep introspection. But drawing from the experiences of the ANC’s sister organisations, introspection does not...
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