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An ANC delegate walks past a banner during the 5th National General Council
Political commentator Sandile Swana says the African National Congress (ANC) can expect an even worse electoral showing in future polls, despite already suffering its poorest performance during the 2024 general elections.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC’s National General Council (NGC) at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Swana warns that the party’s decline is far from over.
More than 1 600 delegates from 740 branches, along with representatives from Provincial and Regional Executive Committees, the Tripartite Alliance and the ANC’s national leagues, have gathered to assess the state of the organisation and chart a way forward.
This year’s NGC is themed: “The Year of Renewal: Making the ANC a More Effective Instrument of the People to Achieve the Vision of the Freedom Charter.” It comes as the party faces mounting challenges ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
“It’s going to get worse. What the MK did to them, in 2026 it’s going to get worse,” asserts Swana.
He argues that former president Jacob Zuma’s legacy within the ANC and his current influence through the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, continues to weigh heavily on the biggest party in the government of national unity.
“There are certain things that are going to get worse. The people who are supporting Jacob Zuma want to protect certain types of benefits of corruption because that is the trademark of Zuma.”
Swana adds that “politics of money” remains another significant vulnerability for the ANC, even after it lost its majority for the first time in 2024.
“[Fikile] Mbalula himself, in this conference, said the politics of money are a problem. So, the politics of money continues. And the people of the ANC are the people of the politics of money. [ANC President] Cyril Ramaphosa is a person of the politics of money; Mbalula is a person of the politics of money; Mashatile is a person of the politics of money. So, the ANC and the MK are people of the politics of money. So, this is what is going to happen, if you are the one who is winning … for instance, the ANC controls more wards of Joburg, by far than anybody else, the MK is going to go to those people who are making those people who are making the ANC to win those elections, the ward councillors, and take them to the MK and promise them bigger things and better things,” explains Swana.
“Physically, you are going to see it happening. They are going to see a new Jerusalem; they are going to see a new heaven and the ANC is going to go down in 2026 in the municipal elections.”
Former DA leader Helen Zille has signaled her intention to contest for the mayoral position in Johannesburg, but Swana believes she will also fall victim to the MK Party’s strategies.
“Zille is hopeful to get something, but MK is going to show her flames. The puppet of Zille is the ANC. The hope of Zille is the ANC, but the ANC is going to be eaten by MK people,” argues Swana.
While the MK Party has recently faced internal instability, with several leaders resigning or being removed, some analysts warn this could weaken the party ahead of future elections.
Swana, however, disagrees, “You must remember that Zuma led the ANC for two full terms, creating an ecosystem of chaos and thieving. So, there are people who live in the jungle – the politics of the jungle ghetto. Zuma provides that. So, some are still in the ANC, they want those politics without border, politics without boundaries, politics without rules,” he argues.
