As the dust settles on the ANC National Elective Conference, attention must now rapidly turn to fixing the raft of challenges facing South Africa.
While the leadership battle for the ANC was often bruising, it did represent democracy in its truest sense.
Candidates from the governing party campaigned and contested, branches voted bravely, in some instances independently from their provincial and regional structures – make no mistake about it, this was democracy in action.
For democracy to thrive and strengthen, it requires contestation. Contestation of ideas, values and viewpoints.
In the end, as in most battles, there is a winner and a loser. Both sides, however, must realise now that if they do not move swiftly in the coming months to consolidate the ANC, then they face bleak prospects for…