GARETH VAN ONSELEN: The ANC in opposition — a model of failure

There is next to no analysis of the ANC in opposition, and it is difficult to understand why. The City of Cape Town, for example, is a laboratory that has revealed much about the party’s inability to adapt to life outside the corridors of power. It has also exposed much about the party itself. Stripped of authority and the unquestioning hegemonic legitimacy it has historically enjoyed, it has collapsed organisationally and, in turn, at the polls.