Opposition and Democracy in South Africa

Nelson Mandela's African National Congress won an overwhelming victory in South Africa's liberation election and repeated that triumph when the electorate went back to the polls in 1999. Whilst testifying to the enduring popularity of the ANC, these results have precipitated an emergent debate about the quality of the country's hard won democracy. In particular, a critique of the new government's performance in office has developed around the notion of the ANC as a "dominant party", one of which for demographic, historical and social reasons is unlikely to be displaced from power in an election for the forseeable future. This has led, in turn, to key questions about the role of the political parties of opposition. The debate about the ANC's dominance therefore becomes a debate about whether democracy in South Africa is just formal or whether it is real.