Is Lack of Discipline the ANC’s Downfall?

By Karabo Ngoepe

Politics, at its core, is a contest of trust. Voters may forgive many things, but what they will not tolerate for long is a party that seems unanchored, adrift in scandal, division, and self-interest.

This is the perception the ANC increasingly battles, and the party’s performance in recent elections shows it is losing that fight. As South Africans begin to navigate the uncertainties of a Government of National Unity, questions linger not just about coalitions, but about the ANC itself.

Once the moral compass of the country, the liberation movement that led the charge against apartheid now finds itself bruised, fragmented, and blamed for much of what ails the republic.

Why? One word keeps coming up in every conversation I’ve had recently from township shebeens to newsroom debates and WhatsApp political groups: discipline.

Discipline

The ANC of Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu was not just a political organisation, it was a disciplined, values-driven movement. Members were held to a high standard. Loyalty to the people’s struggle came before ambition. Internal debates were fierce but principled. Strategy took precedence over self-enrichment.

Cope members campaigning during elections

But as the ANC transitioned from liberation to governance, discipline gave way to entitlement. The discipline that had been central to the ANC’s cohesion began to crack under the weight of factionalism, corruption, and a relentless scramble for positions.

What followed was predictable and painful: state capture, internal purges, competing power centres, and a public increasingly disillusioned by broken promises.

Today, the ANC faces its worst electoral outcomes since 1994. It governs not through overwhelming support, but through negotiated arrangements. Voter apathy is at record highs. The people’s trust has been eroded, not only by poor service delivery, but by the internal rot that citizens see plainly.

The “Eye of the Needle”: A Forgotten Map

In 2001, the ANC itself saw this coming. It adopted a document titled “Through the Eye of the Needle”, a clear-eyed attempt to reclaim its moral authority. The metaphor drawn from scripture, a camel struggling to pass through the eye of a needle was apt. Leadership, it warned, should be difficult to attain. It should demand integrity, humility, discipline, and service.

The document outlined the qualities of true ANC leaders:

Selflessness over greed
Unity over factionalism
Servant leadership over self-enrichment
Accountability over arrogance
Lifelong political education over complacency

It also made a crucial assertion: positions in the ANC are not rewards for loyalty or political muscle, they are responsibilities to be earned through trust, action, and sacrifice.

But more than two decades later, this powerful internal framework has been neglected. Leaders have emerged not through merit or community service, but through slate politics, manipulation, and access to patronage networks. The consequences are plain to see.

The ANC’s internal battles have not only weakened the party, but they’ve also given rise to breakaway movements. COPE was born out of leadership disputes. The EFF emerged from ideological clashes and disciplinary expulsions. The MK Party, most recently, capitalised on discontent and nostalgia for a different ANC.

Each of these breakaways has chipped away at the ANC’s base, not only in numbers but in moral standing. Instead of a single broad church, the ANC now resembles a loose federation of interest groups, many more concerned with survival than service.

Why Discipline Still Matters

Restoring discipline is not an abstract goal. It is the only way for the ANC to remain politically and morally relevant. Discipline is how a party ensures consistency, earns trust, and builds institutional strength. Without it, policies shift with every faction. Messaging becomes incoherent. And ordinary members, once the soul of the party, disengage.

Discipline doesn’t mean blind loyalty, it means principled conduct. It means holding leaders accountable when they fail. It means rooting out corruption, not protecting comrades. It means selecting leaders based on merit and contribution, not faction or favour.

The ANC cannot build unity through backroom deals and slogans. It must build it through action and that begins with discipline. Not just in Parliament, but at every branch meeting, every councillor’s office, every decision about who gets to lead and why.

The party’s path forward is not broad or easy. It is, as the Eye of the Needle suggests, narrow. It requires sacrifice. It requires reflection. It requires courage from leaders to step back when they’ve failed, and strength from members to demand better.

Rebuilding trust will take more than promises. It will require the ANC to become again what it once was, a disciplined, accountable, servant-driven movement of the people.

That transformation won’t happen overnight. But if it doesn’t begin now, the ANC’s downfall will not just be a political loss, it will be a tragedy of lost potential.

In an era where public trust is hard-won and easily lost, the question remains: can the ANC rediscover its backbone before the people walk away for good?

If it can, the party might still pass through the eye of the needle. But if not, it risks being remembered not for how it rose, but for how it unravelled.