INTERNAL PARTY ELECTION
ANTHONY BUTLER: Dlamini-Zuma an ANC migraine to avoid
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s election would perpetuate the ANC’s dangerous habit of taking its voters for granted
When — or rather if — the ANC meets in Gauteng on December 16 to elect a new party leadership, many delegates will have the 2019 elections on their minds. Across two decades of one-party dominance, the movement seemed largely immune to serious electoral challenges, at least outside the Western Cape. This allowed ANC governments to act quite decisively, and sometimes to take unpopular decisions, without the fear of a fatal backlash from voters. But it also resulted in a significant degree of inattention to the demands of competitive electoral politics in a representative democracy. In 2016, however, the ANC’s leadership suffered a serious blow to its confidence in the local government elections. The growing disarray of Jacob Zuma’s administration and the sudden prominence of significant opposition parties with black leaders further increased the pressure on ANC election planners. The electorate itself has been undergoing a quiet transformation. In the first decade of democracy, as ma...
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