Abstract

This article attempts a reflection on the complexities of political leadership. It notes that the difficulty with examining the specific case of leadership of the African National Congress of South Africa is that for most of its existence it has been 'in opposition', scarcely regarded in the literature as the most desirable of positions. Only in studies of a specific organisation, or through the biographical form, are such oppositional figures generally accorded any significance. The paper attempts to apply John Breuilly's 'charismatic' leader type to the early ANC, before attempting to draw some conclusions about the nature of leadership from the cases of a range of leading ANC figures.