The current public service strike has brought to the fore the bitter nature of the power struggle at play in the ruling ANC/SACP/COSATU alliance. Our current assessment is that factions in the alliance, perhaps led by the ANC Youth League, are preparing to execute a political coup at the ANC’s 2012 conference in Bloemfontein. At its most serious this political shift may include the axing of Jacob Zuma and his forced resignation as president of South Africa. At the very least infighting ahead of the 2012 conference will continue to destabilize the alliance. This will have the effect of destabilizing the broader policy environment in the country and therefore causing a rise in levels of uncertainty about the future of the country. It is our assessment that it is only possible to make sense of the policy environment in South Africa by understanding the ANC’s concept of a National Democratic Revolution (NDR). The NDR is poorly understood in South Africa but it serves as the philosophical and ideological grounding of the ANC. Its origins, its importance after 1994, its consequences, and the countervailing forces acting against it are reviewed in the abridged analysis below.

Political Report by ANC Youth League President Julius Malema to the ANCYL's 1st National General Council, Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand, August 25 2010:

Youth Action for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime

SALUTATIONS 
a. Chairperson of the Session 
b. African National Congress National Chair cde Baleka Mbethe 
c. The ANC delegation to the National General Council of the ANC Youth League 
d. Alliance partners, SASCO, COSAS and YCL 
e. COSATU, SACP leadership present today 
f. International Guests from youth wings of former liberation movement. 
g. International guests from progressive youth formation across the world. 
h. The leadership of the World Federation of Democratic Youth and 
International Union of Socialist Youth. 
Former leaders of the ANC Youth League and broader Youth 
Movement 
j. The ANC Women's League and Veterans League 
k. The MKMVA, Commissars and Commanders of Umkhonto WeSizwe Young professionals and representatives of business in South Africa 
m. Religious leaders 
n. Delegates

The announcement by the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille and the leader of the Independent Democrats (ID), Patricia de Lille, on the 15 August 2010, that the ID will merge with the DA highlights the precarious nature of opposition politics in South Africa. The DA is the official opposition party but its support was limited to 17% of the national electorate, predominantly based in the Western Cape. The ID has struggled to retain its once promising rise in the Northern and Western Cape, garnering only four parliamentary seats in the 2009 election. The Congress of the People (COPE), a breakaway from the ANC in 2008, had a meteoritic rise and fall as factionalism continues to tear the party apart. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) an earlier breakaway from the African National Congress (ANC) and New National Party has not made significant inroads into the South African electoral landscape.

The ANC continues to enjoy overwhelming support, despite concerns about internal dissent, corruption and lack of service delivery. This we argue is because of a continued pattern of voter behaviour largely influenced by the politics of race and ethnicity and the legacy of the ANC as the bearer of liberation. Even opposition politics, though negated in rhetoric, utilizes the politics of race and ethnicity, taking us into a cul de sac that inhibits our ability to move beyond this narrative of identity based politics.

Good afternoon, and thank you for the introduction.

My thanks also to Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, the director of SAIIA, for the invitation to speak to you today.
And for all my ambassadorial colleagues and those in the audience today, I will use my favorite expression: All protocol observed.

This is a special week for my family and I. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of our arrival in South Africa. At this point, I consider myself "proudly South African," despite my primary role of serving as the United States Ambassador. We have fallen in love with this country - its beauty, its diversity, its cultural richness. I have also developed a fondness for the braais, the wine and the amarula...sometimes I think the real role of an Ambassador is to eat and drink for your country.

From the northern reaches of Kruger Park to the southern tip of Cape Point, there is no more beautiful country in the world. Not only is it physically beautiful but the warmth of its people make it a very special place. My family and I have become huge Bafana Bafana fans-- we were thrilled with Bafana's recent win against Ghana, although that may also reflect Ghana's role in sending the U.S. home from the World Cup. We won't comment further on that.

The United States-South African relationship is a partnership that starts from a simple premise: