The formation of political parties in SA is as young as our democratic era. While the ANC, IFP, Minority Front and other organisations predate democracy, they only began operating formally as the political parties they are today when they were allowed to contest electoral power. Until the early 1990s, political parties organised more loosely and organically.

They organised around a key objective, the liberation from white oppressive rule. Their forms followed the functions needed to mobilise effectively and thus included a military wing when it became clear that peaceful protest was suppressed, a youth wing when young people needed to consolidate their positions and a women’s wing when the moments for women’s struggles became a focus. The ANC particularly is called the glorious movement because it grew and sustained its existence through an ability to alter its form to meet the political moment and organise for what society needed. It was movement politics that defined its character and culture then...