GARETH VAN ONSELEN: The ANC in opposition — a model of failure
‘Modern constitutional democracies demand political parties that can function both in government and opposition’
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.
Opposition is a different universe where your right to be heard has to be earned. The ANC is about as familiar with it as it is with all the accompanying ideas: professionalism, vision, leadership and accountability. The ANC has now been in opposition for 11 years in Africa’s southernmost city. That is a remarkable fact. And it shows not the faintest sign of being able to win back control nor the inclination to try. Expand your view broader, to 2019, and the ANC will have been in opposition in the Western Cape for a decade, and likewise unable to turn the tide. Quite the opposite, in fact. In both the city and the province the party continues to implode rather than reconstitute itself. That is saying something, as the extent of its decay is so profound it often defies belief. Just when you think it has hit rock bottom, it digs deeper. The DA won 66% of the vote in 2016 (up about five percentage points from 2011). In 2019, there is every chance the party will replicate that in the We...
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