The African National Congress (ANC) was initially founded as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on January 8, 1912, in Bloemfontein; the ANC set out to challenge systemic racism and fight for the rights of Black South Africans.
The name change officially took place in 1923. During the rise of apartheid in 1948 and the escalating conflict, the ANC became far more organized, which led to them taking a more militant stance to tackle the apartheid regime as political activists were being brutally suppressed.
In 1948, the ANC introduced the Women’s League—a spirited cooperative created to empower its women members, offering both a safe space for their voices and an explicit pipeline to drive political action within the movement. In 1961, the South African Communist Party (SACP), a close ally of the ANC, launched the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), or “Spear of the Nation,” the ANC’s paramilitary wing. Through MK, the ANC fiercely fought against the apartheid regime, pulling support from sympathetic African nations, their leaders and the Soviet bloc, which eventually forced the apartheid government to negotiate with the ANC.
The negotiations resulted in the dismantling of apartheid.
The ANC’s dominance was uncontested in South Africa’s early democratic elections, with the party steadily boosting in popularity from 1994 to 2004. Cracks began to show in 2009, as electoral support dropped for the first time and continued to decline through 2014. These electoral challenges overlapped with the controversial presidency of Jacob Zuma, whose terms were tainted by allegations of corruption and significant governmental failures.
“Robben Island is a symbol of enslavement and rebellion. It is a site of both imprisonment and resistance. On this day, at this place, we pay tribute to the men and women who fought so courageously against colonialism and apartheid. We pay tribute to the visionaries who founded the ANC on this day in 1912, and we honor the men and women who swelled its ranks over more than a century,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told a cheering crowd on the ANC’s 133th anniversary.
“By visiting Robben Island on these most important days in the life of our movement, we are reaffirming our determination to advance the struggle for the complete liberation of all South Africans from all forms of oppression. We are sending a message that no matter the challenges we confront, we will overcome them,” he added.
Ramaphosa insists the ANC’s future lies in lessons carved into history, citing the resilience of those imprisoned on Robben Island. Ramaphosa believes the key to restoring the movement is entrenched in a disciplined organization and deep, meaningful political engagement.
