African National Congress: from an emancipatory to a rent-seeking instrument

Patronage is fast proving to be an intractable problem in South Africa's postapartheid politics. Reports of in-fighting both within the ruling African National Congress and in municipalities are common-place. This article probes the phenomenon of patronage politics. It does so through the use of case studies, illuminating the various ways in which patronage politics manifests itself, and examines the various understandings and rationales of the actors. The article contends that patronage politics is a mechanism for redistribution as well as accumulation. It is a reciprocal relationship that involves both power holders and ordinary people, through which each political party gets what it needs, thereby reducing the organisation to an instrument preoccupied with control and supply of material rewards without any regard for normative ends. Rules and institutions are flouted and undermined.