ANC membership numbers drop from 1.4 million to 600,000

In 2017, the ANC had 989,000 members. Three years later, when now suspended Secretary-General Ace Magashule was responsible for the administrative tasks of the party, the membership numbers climbed to 1.4 million.

However, the latest tally shows the party has just over 600,000 members in good standing — those who have paid the required membership fees.

Gwen Ramokgopa, the coordinator in the secretary-general’s office, told Daily Maverick this was not necessarily negative for the ANC. She said it was not only about the numbers but also about the quality of the membership.  

“It is a chicken and egg situation; you need a broad base of support because you want to represent the aspirations of South Africans. However, every organisation wants to make sure that they have systems in place to ensure that the values, the principles, the mission are well and truly understood.  

“I think when we expanded to millionaire-level members we did not have the capacity to orient everyone, especially the younger members,” she said.

Ramokgopa has similar sentiments to those of former party president Thabo Mbeki, who has been very critical of the quality of members who have recently joined the governing party.



This year, during a lekgotla held in the Free State, Mbeki suggested that the party cleanse its membership.

He suggested that ANC members be readmitted based on defined criteria, and new members undergo 12 months of probation, accompanied by clearly defined tasks.

Mbeki suggested that the cadre deployment policy takes into account deployees’ levels of political education, community involvement, experience and academic qualifications.

This would mitigate the influx of people who want to join the party for the wrong reasons.

At the moment, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Eastern Cape have the most members. They are followed by Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State, Western Cape and Northern Cape.

The 55th ANC conference begins today (Friday, 16 December) and runs until Tuesday. The party will appoint its new leadership and decide on key policies. Party president Cyril Ramaphosa seems on track for re-election for a second term. DM