The ANC and the Development of Party Politics in Modern South Africa

Tom Lodge is professor of political studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the author of many books and articles on South African liberation politics and the South African condition since 1994. An updated version of his standard work on Black Politics in South Africa will be published later this year.

Since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has undergone a transformation from liberation movement to South Africa's ruling party. How does the ANC come to terms with its role as the governing party in a multi-party democracy? While fighting apartheid, the ANC was hugely popular among a majority of black South Africans. To what extent has the ANC succeeded in sustaining a mobilized following while adapting to the challenges of a post-Cold War world? Tom Lodge will also examine the issue of internal democracy within the ANC and consider more generally how democratic consolidation in South Africa has fared under an ANC government.