The fall in membership from 300000 in 1999 to 89000 is attributed to apathy among middle-class blacks and disillusionment with economic policy
Jaspreet Kindra
Membership of the African National Congress has dropped to less than a third of what it was three years ago, the ANC’s parliamentary caucus has been told.
When approached by the Mail & Guardian, ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe confirmed there had been a fall in membership, but refused to give details. “I am answerable to the [ANC’s] national executive committee, not to you,” he said.
Senior ANC sources say the figure of 89000 was revealed at a caucus briefing in Parliament towards the end of last year.
According to the statistics made available in Motlanthe’s report to the party’s national general council in 2000, the party’s membership in 1999 stood at more than 300000.
The decline in party activism can be seen as part of the normalisation of South Africa’s politics. However, party sources also attributed it to apathy among middle-class black people who were now in good jobs, together with some popular disillusionment with government’s economic policy, which had not eased unemployment, and the party’s stance on HIV/Aids.
An ANC member complained that while offering the unemployed little, this year’s budget “had a lot to offer the middle class, who frankly couldn’t be bothered with politics now that they all have jobs”.
Disgruntlement with the ANC-led government’s HIV/Aids policy has been felt at the grassroots, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, where the high ground on anti-retroviral provision has been seized by other parties.
The declining membership figures are surprising in view of the proximity of the ANC’s national conference, when they have tended to rise. National executive members due to debate government’s Aids policy at the weekend will be conscious of them.
“Even people who have not made up their minds on the policy are feeling the pressure of waning membership, as most provinces are currently involved in reconstituting branches and regions,” said a party member.
A newly constituted branch in KwaZulu-Natal reported that its membership had dropped from a peak of 4000 to 108. Apparently only 37 members showed up at the recent branch relaunch. “People are too poor to pay the R12 membership fee,” said a party member.
At the national general council two years ago, Motlanthe commented that the party’s programme of membership recruitment and induction lacked focus.