African National Congress.

African National Congress. I INTRODUCTION African National Congress (ANC), South African political organization that has been the country's ruling party since 1994. That year, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the ANC won South Africa's first election in which the black majority could vote. Mandela was elected the nation's first black president. In 1997 veteran leader Thabo Mbeki replaced Mandela as ANC president. The ANC was returned to power in 1999 elections and selected Mbeki to succeed Mandela as South Africa's president. Jacob Zuma succeeded Mbeki as ANC president in 2007. II FOUNDING OF THE ANC The ANC was founded in 1912 as a nonviolent civil rights organization that worked to promote the interests of black Africans. With a mostly middle-class constituency, the ANC stressed constitutional means of change through the use of delegations, petitions, and peaceful protest. In 1940 Alfred B. Xuma became ANC president and began recruiting younger, more outspok...