Like Stuttafords, South Africa's 159-year-old department store, which shut down in August this year, the ANC will close down after being an institution loved for generations by loyal supporters for more than a century - unless it renews, becomes more accountable and votes in credible leaders.
Some fundamental reforms will have to be introduced if it is serious about renewal.
The ANC will have to become democratic in its internal operations, decision-making and elections. A governing party which is not democratic cannot preside over building a democratic society.
It will have to change the way it elects its president, leaders and representatives. The practice of branches sending delegations to vote on their behalf for party presidential candidates must be abolished. An electoral system is needed whereby individual members vote for the party president directly.Individual members who vote will need to be in good standing. The annual membership subscription could be lowered to allow the poorest supporter to be a member.
Every individual member must have the power to nominate a presidential candidate. Voting should be by secret ballot at all times. Everyone nominated should be able to campaign without approval from the national leadership. American-style primaries should be introduced into the presidential election campaign, with presidential hopefuls going directly to the ANC membership, making a case for why they should be elected.
The idea of election and appointment by merit should be introduced throughout party structures. Of course, this should be balanced by making provision for historically marginalised groups - women, young people and rural members. Introducing merit will unleash latent talent, energy and fresh ideas. The practice whereby members are rewarded for uncritical loyalty, patriarchy and long struggle credentials is wrong, and will accelerate the collapse of the ANC.
It will mean that the leadership will always be confined to an ever-narrower, older and out-of-touch elite, who will eventually die out, and the ANC will die out with them. This has been the case with most African liberation movements.The ANC must abandon "democratic centralism", the organisational system whereby decisions are made centrally by the leadership, and the practice that every member must unquestionably follow the party line should be abolished.
In the ANC, democratic centralism has frequently been abused by cynical leaders who make irrational, self-serving and corrupt decisions, then expect all members and supporters to follow them on the basis that to oppose them is against the party line.
Dissent must be allowed as normal. There has to be a mechanism for members to hold a dissenting or minority opinion on all issues - and the right to be allowed to have such dissenting views widely heard among the general membership.
Elements must be introduced into the ANC's constitution which allow members to vote according to their conscience.
The ANC should embrace South Africa's constitution as a social democratic one. It should become the new ideological blueprint for the ANC, replacing its outdated, confused and rhetorically loaded Marxist, African nationalist and traditionalist mixed bag. It will also have to change its language from the slogan-based Cold War variety to one more in tune with our technological and diverse world.
The party must enforce greater leadership accountability. A principle must be introduced whereby leaders found to be errant, corrupt and callous should resign...