REVIEW| Book Predicts ANC’s Last Decade Of Political Dominance In South Africa

CHRISTOPHER ISIKE|

THE declining political dominance of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has increasingly attracted scholarly attention since 2009. Political analyst Ralph Mathekga’s new book, The ANC’s Last Decade: how the decline of the party will transform South Africa, is a welcome addition.

The ANC’s electoral fortunes have steadily declined in the last three national elections; 2009 (65%), 2014 (62%) and 2019 (57.50%).

But, since the 2016 local government elections saw the party lose some of its former strongholds, including four major metropolitan municipalities, the question has shifted from whether to when the party will lose power at the national level.

This book is one of the few researched publications bold enough to offer specific timelines for the end of the ANC’s dominance. Mathekga puts this at 2024 or 2029.

Throughout the 17 chapters of the book, he expertly combines his journalistic and academic writing flair to