Local government elections
The recent municipal elections introduced an unprecedented power shift within local governance after 66 of the total 213 municipal councils were left hung with no clear winner, including five of SA’s eight metros.
While the ANC maintained control of most municipalities, its dip below 50% support and subsequent booting out from all Gauteng metros have many analysts saying the party would battle to secure a clear majority vote ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The recent polls have seen smaller parties hard at work to cobble working coalition governments that excluded the ANC in key municipalities, with some of these negotiations still continuing and led by the DA.
Land expropriation
The three-year process of amending the constitution to enable expropriation of land without compensation collapsed after the ANC failed to push through the amendment in parliament earlier this month. Despite the ANC and the EFF joining forces to ensure amendments to section 25 of the constitution, the EFF voted against the move as it accused the ANC of having watered down the process from its initial intent.
Ace Magashule and the ANC step-aside rule
The ANC has been entangled in its own factional battles and its "renewal" efforts have since the beginning of the year seen senior party figures, MPs and government functionaries removed from their posts to help clean the party's image from the taint of corruption and malfeasance, which it partly blames for its electoral misfortunes.
Its “step-aside” rule, that all those charged with corruption and other serious crimes step aside from their post or be removed, saw the ANC’s own secretary-general Ace Magashule being booted out of its Luthuli House headquarters.
Magashule, who dragged the party to court and suffered numerous legal appeals, claimed the rule had been crafted by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s faction to target, weaken and get rid of him.
Magashule had been touted as Ramaphosa’s potential challenger ahead of the ANC’s national elective congress next year.
The rise of Enoch Godongwana
The August cabinet reshuffle saw the appointment of the ANC’s economic transformation head Enoch Godongwana appointed new finance minister as Tito Mboweni retired.
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