The stability of an order is a function of how integrated or complementary its political elite is. Elite consensus on basic values that should undergird a society is as much a prerequisite for a high performance political system as it is a potential guarantor for unresponsive and oligarchic government. [...]

  Few policy issues have attracted more attention in an ANC Presidential term than the challenge of protecting the post-1994 gains, as in a Ramaphosa term. The African National Congress has, and through struggle and sacrifice, sponsored the idea of freedom for the majority of South Africans, most of whom are Black, [...]

    The governing African National Congress refers to the 1994 political settlement as a ‘democratic breakthrough’ rather than a year of liberation. In government as a governing party they celebrate 27 April as Freedom Day. Such is the depth of uncertainty on the meaning of South Africa’s political settlement to [...]

    It is no longer difficult to understand why society seems to have started dreaming of a future without the ANC as a governing party. As unemployment figures grow, crime and criminality are rewarded, public infrastructure is collapsing, disposable income is raided by fuel increases and their attendant inflationary [...]