The African National Congress ( ANC ) is South Africa's governing political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions ( COSATU ) and the South African Communist Party ( SACP ), since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions ( COSATU ) and the South African Communist Party ( SACP ) are in a formal alliance with the ruling ANC, and thus do not stand separately for election.

On the other hand, it seemed uncertain about its relationship with the government under the African National Congress and seemed unable to decide whether it was in a political alliance with the ANC or in opposition.

After leaving the alliance, the NNP allied itself with the ruling ANC.

During the 2004 South African general election, much of this support deserted the party due to unhappiness with their alliance with the ANC, and their portion of the national vote dropped from 6. 9 % in 1999 to 1. 9 % ( it was 20. 4 % as the National Party in 1994 ).

The New National Party, a descendant of the ruling party of the apartheid era, collapsed and lost most of their support, dropping from 6. 9 % in 1999 to 1. 7 % ( it was 20. 4 % in 1994 ), many of their supporters being unhappy with their alliance with the ANC.

In 1961, Slovo and Abongz Mbede emerged as two of the leaders of Umkhonto we Sizwe ( MK ), the military wing of the ANC, formed in alliance between the ANC and the SACP.

COSATU is part of an alliance with the ANC and the South African Communist Party, called the Tripartite Alliance.

COSATU ’ s role in the alliance has been the subject of debate, since the organisation has been critical of some of the ANC government's policies.

Notwithstanding the formal alliance of COSATU with the ruling ANC party, it has been at odds with the government, calling for the roll-out of comprehensive public access to antiretroviral drugs.

Talking of the alliance which governs South Africa between the ANC, COSATU and the SACP after a failed trip to see the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions ( ZCTU ) in 2004, he is critical of the ANCs approach to Zimbabwe, privatisation, and corruption in government.

Gumede ( president of the ANC ) proposed cooperation with the Communists in a bid to revitalise the organisation, but he was voted out of power in the 1930s.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 161 of 21 February 1961, called for the withdrawal of Belgian officers from command positions in the ANC, and the training of new Congolese officers with UN help.

Mike Hoare was employed to created the English-speaking 5 Commando ANC at Kamina, with the assistance of a Belgian officer, Colonel Frederic Vanderwalle, while 6 Commando ANC was French-speaking and originally under the command of a Belgian Army colonel, Lamouline.

By August 1964, the mercenaries, with the assistance of other ANC troops, were making headway against the Simba rebellion.

In 2004 de Klerk announced that he was quitting the New National Party and seeking a new political home after it was announced that the NNP would merge with the ruling ANC.

This resulted in a UNIP – ANC Coalition Government, with Kaunda as Minister of Local Government and Social Welfare.

Though Nigeria never sent an expeditionary force in that struggle, it offered more than rhetoric to the African National Congress ( ANC ) by taking a committed tough line with regard to the racist regime and their incursions in southern Africa.

The formerly dominant New National Party, which both introduced and ended apartheid through its predecessor the National Party, disbanded in 2005 to merge with the ANC.

In 1985, Mbeki was a member of a delegation that began meeting secretly with representatives of the South African business community, and in 1989, he led the ANC delegation that conducted secret talks with the South African government.

When the ANC announced the election of its National Executive Committee on 21 December 2007, Mandela placed first with 2845 votes.

Simon M. Kapwepwe and Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula who before the declaration of a One Party State had been leaders of the UPP and ANC political parties respectively, had joined UNIP with the intention of challenging for the Presidency.

While black members of the SACP were encouraged to join the ANC and seek leadership positions within that organization, many of its white leading members formed the Congress of Democrats which in turn allied itself with the African National Congress and other ' non-racial ' congresses in the Congress Alliance.

In exile the influence of the SACP grew as communist states provided the ANC with funds and arms.

Patient work by the ANC slowly rebuilt the organisation inside South Africa and it was the ANC, with communists in prominent positions, who were able to capitalize on the wave of anger that swept young South Africans during and after the Soweto Uprising of 1976.

However, through the Tripartite Alliance and the sitting of many SACP members on the ANC's NEC, the SACP has wielded influence from within the ANC, often serving as an ideological opposition against the presidency and socio-economic policies of Thabo Mbeki ( 1999 – 2008 ); this became most apparent with the ouster of Mbeki from the presidencies of both the party ( 2007, by vote ) and the government ( 2008, by ANC party recall ) and his eventual replacement in both offices with Jacob Zuma, who is widely seen as being more conciliatory to the ideological demands of both the SACP and COSATU.

The ANC responded militarily to attacks on the rights of black South Africans, as well as calling for strikes, boycotts, and defiance.

The SACP and COSATU have not contested any election in South Africa, but field candidates through the ANC, hold senior positions in the ANC, and influence party policy and dialogue.

Although most South African parties announced their candidate list for provincial premierships in the 2009 election, the ANC did not.

Despite this, by September 1960, following the four-way division of the country, there were four separate armed forces: Mobotu's ANC itself, numbering about 12, 000, the South Kasai Constabulary loyal to Albert Kalonji ( 3, 000 or less ), the Katanga Gendarmerie which were part of Moise Tshombe's regime ( totalling about 10, 000 ), and the Stanleyville dissident ANC loyal to Antoine Gizenga ( numbering about 8, 000 ).

' de Witte goes on to write that on 26 – 27 August, the ANC seized Bakwanga, Albert Kalonji's capital in South Kasai, without serious residence.

His presidency was dominated by the negotiation process, mainly between his NP government and Mandela's ANC, which led to the democratisation of South Africa.

* 1964 – Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.

In addition to the Jonathan regime's alienation of Basotho powerbrokers and the local population, South Africa had virtually closed the country's land borders because of Lesotho support of cross-border operations of the African National Congress ( ANC ).

Moreover, South Africa publicly threatened to pursue more direct action against Lesotho if the Jonathan government did not root out the ANC presence in the country.

The new government gave shelter and support to South African ( ANC ) and Zimbabwean ( ZANU-PF ) liberation movements while the governments of apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia fostered and financed an armed rebel movement in central Mozambique called the Mozambican National Resistance ( RENAMO ).

In South Africa the African National Congress ( ANC ) abandoned its partial socialist allegiances after taking power, and followed a standard neoliberal route.

Since the end of apartheid in the 1990s the African National Congress ( ANC ) has dominated South Africa's politics.

South Africa held its first multi-racial elections in 1994, leaving the newly-elected African National Congress ( ANC ) government the daunting task of trying to restore order to an economy harmed by sanctions, while also integrating the previously-disadvantaged segment of the population into it.

Despite friction between the African National Congress and Biko throughout the 1970s the ANC has included Biko in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going as far as using his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994.

Some examples of " terrorism " in non-democracies include ETA in Spain under Francisco Franco ( although the group's terrorist activities increased sharply after Franco's death ), the Shining Path in Peru under Alberto Fujimori, the Kurdistan Workers Party when Turkey was ruled by military leaders and the ANC in South Africa.