South Africa’s mighty African National Congress (ANC) celebrates centenary with concerts, animal sacrifice, golf tournament, cleansing ceremony and a church service
Party of Mandela marks 100 years
South Africa’s mighty African National Congress celebrates its centenary tomorrow, still firmly at the helm of Nelson Mandela’s all-race democracy despite losing some of its shine.
However, Mr Mandela will not attend the weekend’s celebrations for the centenary of the African National Congress, the party he led to power after the fall of apartheid, an ANC leader said.
Africa’s oldest liberation movement expects 46 heads of state at its 100th anniversary bash that started yesterday, with 100,000 supporters flooding into the normally placid central city of Bloemfontein.
A golf tournament kicked off the three-day programme catering to the ANC’s diverse members of billionaires and paupers, with events ranging from an animal sacrifice and cleansing ceremony to a church service and concerts.
Tomorrow, President Jacob Zuma will address a mass rally at the start of a challenging year when he is bidding for re-election as party boss amid increasing internal threats to his leadership.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will not attend the ceremony but Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan is among other leaders that have confirmed attendance, alongside worldwide anti-apartheid movements.
They will be greeted in a city festooned with street banners offering thanks to the ANC’s foreign supporters. After inspiring a global anti-apartheid backlash, the ANC led South Africa peacefully into a “rainbow nation” in 1994 despite fears of civil war but has more recently faced criticism of abandoning its struggle roots.
The party was founded in Bloemfontein on January 8, 1912, as the South African Native National Congress, and met crushing brutality from apartheid rulers who slapped it with a ban in 1960 and jailed its top leaders four years later. Nearly 30 years on, the crumbling and isolated regime released ANC icon Nelson Mandela to lead the country into its first all-race polls where the party has enjoyed huge wins ever since in regular polls.
In doing so, it has avoided the pitfalls of fellow African liberation movements which once rallied with the party, such as Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF in power in neighbouring Zimbabwe for 30 years. But the ANC government has faced a rocky ride since the Mandela years. While the frail 93-year-old is idealised into near-sainthood, critics bemoan the party as the shadow of a once-noble movement which has lost its moral compass.
The smears reach to the highest level with graft charges dropped against Mr Zuma on the eve of his taking power in 2009, while abuse of taxpayers’ money and reports of flashy lifestyles for the new elite often make headlines. There is also growing unease over fears of media curbs and filling of watchdog posts.