ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has done the unthinkable, more than doubling the party's membership since December last year as it fights to claw back electoral support.
Mbalula announced on Wednesday that the ANC's membership stood at 1,479,257, with 809,361 in good standing. This, he said, reflected a 19.5% increase from June 2025.
“This is a clear testament to the people’s enduring faith in their movement,” Mbalula said.
The ANC’s membership numbers are in stark contrast to previous annual reports, which indicated a significant decline.
In 2024, the ANC’s annual report indicated that its membership had increased by 92,211 from October to December 2024.
In December 2024, the ANC’s membership stood at 584,357 increasing from 494,146 in October of the same year. This was a drop from its August 2022's membership, of 691,381.
The 2024 report, released last month, characterised this as “not an encouraging picture”, with the ANC claiming it had seen a decline in all provinces since its 2024 elective conference.
It said all provinces report that members are drawn predominantly from various strata , but particularly the working class, the unemployed, rural men and women, as well as sections of the middle strata.
“Increasingly, however, the middle strata and organised workers, especially in the public sector, have withdrawn from participation in ANC structures, often as the fiercest critics of the ANC. Most provinces furthermore indicated that the non-racial character of the ANC has taken a hit, with members and supporters from national groups also taking a back seat,” the report stated.
The 2024 annual report indicated that the party was drawing its biggest support from three provinces, with Limpopo overtaking KwaZulu-Natal with 113,517 members, while the latter stood at 105,533. The Eastern Cape was recorded as the third-biggest province with 101,285 members.
We might have reached a stage where we are unable to persuade the SACP away from its decision to contest elections. We believe, as the ANC, that this will weaken the National Democratic Revolution. It is important that the SACP understands the implications of this decision.
— Fikile Mbalula, ANC secretary-general
The report also stated its membership system was offline for a number of months in 2024 as the party transitioned to a new service provider. It said this hampered capacity to mobilise for renewal and recruit and sign on new members to the system.
However, this seems to have changed, with Mbalula crediting the ANC’s renewal and rebuilding for its new membership records.
He said that of its members, 108,407 had completed its various modules of the foundation course, a criterion to hold regional elections.
Speaking to TimesLIVE Premium on the sidelines of the media briefing, Mbalula said internal research as well as polling indicated South Africans were positive about the GNU. He said its research indicated that the ANC had stabilised, moving above 40% in favourability.
He said the ANC was on track to rehabilitate its image, arguing that while it was not yet a moment of celebration, the party was rebuilding its branches.
With the election season almost upon political parties, the ANC must make tough decisions about its relationship with its oldest allies, the SACP, which hopes to take away from its numbers in 2026.
While the SACP has shown very little signs that it could threaten the ANC’s position in its metros and strategic municipalities, the ANC can ill afford a battle for electoral support. Its electoral and membership decline has been largely attributed to splinter parties.
The MK Party came close to governing in KwaZulu-Natal in 2024 when it reduced the ANC from the majority party to one with just 17% support.
Mbalula said the ANC will act with maturity, humility and fortitude when engaging the SACP in the hope that it will reverse its decision to contest next year's local government elections.
“However, we might have reached a stage where we are unable to persuade the SACP away from its decision to contest elections. We believe, as the ANC, that this will weaken the National Democratic Revolution. It is important that the SACP understands the implications of this decision,” he said.
Mbalula said the implications of the SACP’s decision meant that SACP members who held dual membership in the ANC would have to choose between the two parties.
“This decision will mean that how we work with them will be reviewed,” he said.
“We point to ideological challenges about the party's position. We also point to the contradictions this is bringing. As you would have heard, the general secretary of the Communist Party is very clear.
“They insist on that path. We are now going to look into the implications of this decision in the next two weeks and how we are going to operate as two parties going forward.”
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