There can be no doubt, after the local government election results of last year, that the governing African National Congress is in deep political trouble. Many analysts take for granted that in 2024 there is a real possibility of the ANC getting less than 50% of the national vote, ushering in an era of coalition politics both nationally and provincially. This kind of prediction is premised on the assumption that the ANC cannot be saved from terminal electoral decline.

In this episode of In The Ring, which was first published on Eusebius on TimesLIVE (as you will hear in the audio content), well-known and experienced former journalists Thabo Shole-Mashao and Lance Claasen joined me to examine the possibility of the ANC yet recovering from its steady electoral decline of recent times.

We explored whether the political brand of the ANC is irredeemably and near fatally damaged by the effects of state capture on the reputation of the governing party. We also debated whether the leadership crisis of the ANC, both the ethical and technocratic dimensions, can be fixed before 2024 or whether that is now an impossible task.

Lastly, drawing on the public relations, communications and reputation management expertise of both my guests (in their post-journalism careers), this episode ended with a provocative question, "Assuming the ANC cannot fix its problems before 2024, what is the best strategy to convince voters to not abandon the party?" 

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