THE African National Congress (ANC), struggling to erase Jacob Zuma’s taint of corruption, is hobbling toward South Africa’s local elections riven by in-fighting, sliding support and too broke to pay its staff.
The municipal polls on 1 November will test whether the party which freed South Africa from the racist apartheid regime can overcome a situation so dire that members and supporters themselves are losing patience.
While the opposition has yet to make major national inroads against the historic party that brought Nelson Mandela to power in 1994, the ANC has been hemorrhaging votes over the years and stands to lose even more in the local elections, analysts and polls predict.
Asked about her party’s problems, secretary-general Jessie Duarte said this week: “The ANC will come around. The ANC always comes around.”
But it has a lot to deal with.
CROWDFUNDING FOR SURVIVAL
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