The ANC is a dead party, killed by corruption, incompetence, and arrogance

Political scientist Prince Mashele said the ANC is a dead party and that Cyril Ramaphosa’s responsibility as party president is that of a funeral undertaker.

He shared this information during a 702 discussion about the decline of the ANC’s support in the 2026 local government elections.

The ANC’s support plummeted to 31%, down from its peak of 69% in the 2004 general elections, when Thabo Mbeki was in charge.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the 2026 local government election results have been catastrophic for the party.

“If anyone has not heard what the people are saying through this election, then we are lost. This has been a catastrophic outcome for the ANC,” he said.

Mashele said that the ANC’s decline was inevitable. In 2014, he predicted that the ANC would lose the 2024 general election, which did indeed happen.

He also accurately predicted that the ANC would end up in the low thirties in the 2026 local government elections, which, once again, happened.

He said that the latest result sent a clear message to the ANC that they no longer want the party to govern South Africa.

He added that the decline will continue and that the ANC would be lucky to get 15% of the vote in the 2029 general elections.

“The ANC is a dead party. It is being buried. Cyril Ramaphosa’s responsibility when he took over as ANC president is that of a funeral undertaker,” he said.

He explained that the party has been destroyed by widespread corruption, incompetence, and arrogance.

“When the ANC is finally buried on its tombstone, three diseases will be written that have killed it,” Mashele said.

“These three diseases are corruption, incompetence, and arrogance. So, when proper historians write the history of the ANC, those are the diseases that will have killed it.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu predicted this day would come

Mashele is not the only person who predicted that the African National Congress would fall from grace due to its bad behaviour.

The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a 2011 speech that people would pray for the downfall of the ANC.

“I am warning you. One day we will start praying for the defeat of the ANC government. You are disgraceful,” Tutu said.

“I want to warn you. You are behaving in a way that is totally at variance with the things for which we stood.”

“We will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the Apartheid government. We will pray for the downfall of a government that misrepresents us.”

“The ANC has a huge majority. That’s nothing. The nationalists had a growing majority. They beat the dust. Watch out, ANC government.”

The ANC did not change its ways, and Tutu’s warning has now become reality. People do not want the ANC as their government.

Mashele said he started writing his book, The Fall of the ANC, the year after Tutu warned the ANC of its downfall.

“So, Tutu spoke in 2011. The scientists wrote in 2012 that the ANC would fall. You can see the convergence of prophecy and analysis there,” Mashele said.

He added that the ANC’s decline was prophetic. “Liberation movements take an average of 25 to 30 years, and then they are gone,” he said.

He explained that there is an inherent DNA weakness of liberation movements, which is that they are never trained to govern.