Editing African National Congress (section)

== Current structure and composition ==
[[File:Cyril Ramaphosa e Michel Temer (cropped).jpg|thumb|205x205px|[[Cyril Ramaphosa]] was elected ANC president at the [[54th National Conference of the African National Congress|2017 conference]].]]

=== Leadership ===
{{See also|National Conference of the African National Congress|National Executive Committee of the African National Congress}}Under the ANC constitution, every member of the ANC belongs to a local branch, and branch members select the organisation's policies and leaders.<ref name="ANC-2017a">{{Cite web |date=2017 |title=African National Congress Constitution, as amended and adopted by the 54th National Conference |url=https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ANC-Constitution-2017.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ANC-Constitution-2017.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=African National Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Darracq |first=V. |date=2008-08-18 |title=The African National Congress (ANC) organization at the grassroots |url=https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/afraf/adn059 |journal=African Affairs |language=en |volume=107 |issue=429 |pages=589–609 |doi=10.1093/afraf/adn059 |issn=0001-9909}}</ref> They do so primarily by electing delegates to the [[National Conference of the African National Congress|National Conference]], which is currently convened every five years. Between conferences, the organisation is led by its 86-member [[National Executive Committee of the African National Congress|National Executive Committee]], which is elected at each conference. The most senior members of the National Executive Committee are the so-called Top Six officials, the ANC president primary among them. A symmetrical process occurs at the subnational levels: each of the nine [[Provincial Executive Committees of the African National Congress|provincial executive committees]] and regional executive committees are elected at provincial and regional elective conferences respectively, also attended by branch delegates; and branch officials are elected at branch general meetings.<ref name="ANC-2017a" />

=== Leagues ===
The ANC has three leagues: the [[African National Congress Women's League|Women's League]], the [[African National Congress Youth League|Youth League]] and the [[African National Congress Veterans' League|Veterans' League]]. Under the ANC constitution, the leagues are autonomous bodies with the scope to devise their own constitutions and policies; for the purpose of national conferences, they are treated somewhat like provinces, with voting delegates and the power to nominate leadership candidates.<ref name="ANC-2017a" />

=== Tripartite Alliance ===
{{main|Tripartite Alliance}}

The ANC is recognised as the leader of a three-way alliance, known as the [[Tripartite Alliance]], with the SACP and [[Congress of South African Trade Unions]] (COSATU). The alliance was formalised in mid-1990, after the ANC was unbanned, but has deeper historical roots: the SACP had worked closely with the ANC in exile, and COSATU had aligned itself with the Freedom Charter and Congress Alliance in 1987.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Twala |first1=Chitja |last2=Kompi |first2=Buti |date=2012-06-01 |title=The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Tripartite Alliance: a marriage of (in)convenience? |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC133152 |url-status=live |journal=Journal for Contemporary History |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=171–190 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231044535/https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC133152 |archive-date=31 December 2021 |access-date=28 December 2021 |hdl=10520/EJC133152}}</ref> The membership and leadership of the three organisations has traditionally overlapped significantly.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Buhlungu |first1=Sakhela |last2=Ellis |first2=Stephen |date=2013-01-01 |title=The trade union movement and the Tripartite Alliance: a tangled history |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004214606/B9789004214606-s013.xml |url-status=live |journal=Cosatu's Contested Legacy |language=EN |pages=259–282 |doi=10.1163/9789004214606_013 |isbn=9789004214606 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228162802/https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004214606/B9789004214606-s013.xml |archive-date=28 December 2021 |access-date=28 December 2021}}</ref> The alliance constitutes a ''de facto'' electoral coalition: the SACP and COSATU do not contest in government elections, but field candidates through the ANC, hold senior positions in the ANC, and influence party policy. However, the SACP, in particular, has frequently threatened to field its own candidates,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bandile |first=Dineo |date=2017-07-15 |title=SACP resolves to contest state power independently of the ANC |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-15-sacp-resolves-to-contest-state-power/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref> and in 2017 it did so for the first time, running against the ANC in [[by-election]]s in the [[Metsimaholo Local Municipality|Metsimaholo municipality, Free State]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mailovich |first=Claudi |date=2017-11-29 |title=SACP breaks alliance ranks in local election |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/politics/2017-11-29-sacp-breaks-alliance-ranks-in-local-election/ |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-12-21 |title=SACP governs its first municipality |url=https://www.news24.com/News24/sacp-governs-its-first-municipality-20171221 |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref>[[File:Old ANC logo 1990.svg|thumb|203x203px|The logo of the ANC in 1990, since updated.]]

=== Electoral candidates ===
Under South Africa's closed-[[Party-list proportional representation|list proportional representation]] electoral system, parties have immense power in selecting candidates for legislative bodies. The ANC's internal [[Preselection|candidate selection]] process is overseen by so-called "list committees" and tends to involve a degree of broad democratic participation, especially at the local level, where ANC branches vote to nominate candidates for the local government elections.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mac Giollabhui |first=Shane |date=2018-08-18 |title=Battleground: candidate selection and violence in Africa's dominant political parties |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2018.1451841 |journal=Democratization |language=en |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=978–995 |doi=10.1080/13510347.2018.1451841 |s2cid=218523954 |issn=1351-0347}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giollabhuí |first=Shane Mac |date=2013 |title=How things fall apart: Candidate selection and the cohesion of dominant parties in South Africa and Namibia |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354068811407599 |journal=Party Politics |language=en |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=577–600 |doi=10.1177/1354068811407599 |s2cid=145444345 |issn=1354-0688}}</ref> Between 2003 and 2008, the ANC also gained a significant number of members through the controversial [[floor crossing (South Africa)|floor crossing]] process, which occurred especially at the local level.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Booysen |first=Susan |date=2006 |title=The Will of the Parties Versus the Will of the People?: Defections, Elections and Alliances in South Africa |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354068806068598 |journal=Party Politics |language=en |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=727–746 |doi=10.1177/1354068806068598 |s2cid=145011059 |issn=1354-0688}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McLaughlin |first=Eric |date=2012 |title=Electoral regimes and party-switching: Floor-crossing in South Africa's local legislatures |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354068810389610 |journal=Party Politics |language=en |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=563–579 |doi=10.1177/1354068810389610 |s2cid=143948206 |issn=1354-0688}}</ref>

The leaders of the [[Executive (government)|executive]] in each sphere of government – the [[President of South Africa|president]], the provincial [[Premier (South Africa)|premiers]], and the mayors – are [[Indirect election|indirectly elected]] after each election. In practice, the selection of ANC candidates for these positions is highly centralised, with the ANC caucus voting together to elect a pre-decided candidate. Although the ANC does not always announce whom its caucuses intend to elect,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Myburgh |first=James |date=2009-03-06 |title=The ANC's secret premier candidates |url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/the-ancs-secret-premier-candidates |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=PoliticsWeb |language=en}}</ref> the [[National Assembly of South Africa|National Assembly]] has thus far always elected the ANC president as the national president.

=== Cadre deployment ===
The ANC has adhered to a formal policy of [[cadre deployment]] since 1985.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1999 |title=Cadre Policy and Deployment Strategy |url=https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Umrabulo-Issue-No.6-1st-Quarter-1999.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Umrabulo-Issue-No.6-1st-Quarter-1999.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Umrabulo |volume=6}}</ref> In the post-apartheid era, the policy includes but is not exhausted by selection of candidates for elections and government positions: it also entails that the central organisation "deploys" ANC members to various other strategic positions in the party, state, and economy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Twala |first=Chitja |date=2014 |title=The African National Congress (ANC) and the Cadre Deployment Policy in the Postapartheid South Africa: A Product of Democratic Centralisation or a Recipe for a Constitutional Crisis? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09718923.2014.11893352 |journal=Journal of Social Sciences |language=en |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=159–165 |doi=10.1080/09718923.2014.11893352 |s2cid=73526447 |issn=0971-8923}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Swanepoel |first=Cornelis F. |date=2021-12-14 |title=The slippery slope to State capture: cadre deployment as an enabler of corruption and a contributor to blurred party-State lines |journal=Law, Democracy and Development |volume=25 |pages=1–23 |doi=10.17159/2077-4907/2021/ldd.v25.15|s2cid=245698431 |doi-access=free }}</ref>