KEITH GOTTSCHALK
DEMOCRACIES are precarious endeavours, as events around the world are showing. In most, political parties hold sway over whether the system delivers the will of the people, or doesn’t. So how political parties are organised plays a big role in the health, or ill health, of democratic states.
In South Africa, the issue of how the governing African National Congress (ANC) is held accountable by its members has come to the fore in recent weeks. Ace Magashule, ANC secretary-general, has reminded the public that it is party branches which elect and remove ANC leaders.
The trouble is that the ANC’s branch structure, designed initially as a means of grassroots democracy at work, is in a mess. This is best exemplified by the collapse of branches in the North West province.
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Another problem is that most South Africans, since the
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