South African local elections: Ruling ANC at crossroad

Local elections are the barometer of the depth of democracy in South Africa. Returning to the polls on Wednesday, in the fifth local election since the dissolution of the apartheid state in 1994, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party will find out how well it still represents the aspiration of the South African people.

Opposition parties are calling time on the ANC's dominance of the country's politics, but it would be foolish to rule the party out.

It's not just that this is the party of national luminaries and revered public figures such as Chief Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela, to name a few, but also that, for many of the ANC's disgruntled supporters, a credible alternative has apparently not yet emerged.