African National Congress

African National Congress
President	Cyril Ramaphosa
Secretary-General	Vacant
National Chairperson	Baleka Mbete
Treasurer-General	Mathews Phosa
Founded	8 January 1912 (1912-01-08)
Headquarters	Luthuli House, 54 Sauer Street, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Youth wing	ANC Youth League
Women's wing	ANC Women's League
Paramilitary wing	Umkhonto we Sizwe (formerly)
Ideology	African nationalism Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International[1]
Colours	Black, green, gold
National Assembly seats	249 / 400
NCOP seats	60 / 90
NCOP delegations	8 / 9
Party flag
Website
http://www.anc.org.za

The African National Congress (ANC), supported by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), has been South Africa's governing centre-left political party since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a "disciplined force of the left".^[2] Members founded the organization as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein to increase the rights of the black South African population. John Dube, its first president, and poet and author Sol Plaatje are among its founding members. The organization became the ANC in 1923 and formed a military wing, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) in 1961.

It has been the ruling party of post-apartheid South Africa on the national level since 1994. It gained support in the 1999 elections, and further increased its majority in 2004, with 69.7% of the votes. In 2009 its share of the vote reduced slightly, but it remained the dominant party with 65.9% of the votes.

1. ↑ Mapekuka, Vulindlela (November 2007). "The ANC and the Socialist International". Umrabulo. 30. African National Congress. Archived from the original on 2014-03-10. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
2. ↑ "ANC Party Declaration". the African National Congress. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.