Anatomy of the ANC in Power: Insights from Port Elizabeth, 1990-2019

Observers reacted with shock to the 2016 African National Congress electoral loss in Port Elizabeth, once an ANC stronghold. Yet, argues Mcebisi Ndletyana, that loss should not have come as a surprise—nor, perhaps, should the subsequent absence of reforms within the party. Ndletyana explores power and politics in Port Elizabeth since 1990, tracing the ANC's postapartheid trajectory of rebuilding and decline. What his study reveals is an organization that not only failed to cohere as a democratic institution, but became an amalgam of greedy factions competing for patronage. Though his canvas is local, his analysis importantly informs what is happening now in South Africa at the national level.