Opposition is foreign territory. In fact, since it lost power in the Western Cape, its only real experience of a major loss of power, the ANC in the province has withered on the vine and is all but dysfunctional. There’s also the worrying precedent of former ANC president hiding the contents of a report into the 2002 election in Zimbabwe, which Robert Mugabe stole until he was forced to punish it. And the Independent Electoral Commission’s handling of elections generally, Du Plessis notes dryly, is not improving. This is a kept debate for the next few years as the ANC edges towards an election loss. What may matter is how big it is.

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