ANC and Putin: Ideology Abandoned in Favor of Mutual Animosity for West

Russia has formed alliances of convenience with right-wing and left-wing parties based not on ideology and shared principles, but on opposition to the West.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses new members of the African National Congress (ANC) during an election campaign ahead of the 2024 general elections, at the Nelson Mandela Community Youth Centre in Chatsworth township, north of Durban, on May 14, 2023. Rajesh Jantilal/ AFP via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—In terms of ideology and constitutional principles, South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party (URP) couldn’t be further apart, according to analysts.  

South Africa, because of the ANC, has one of the most liberal constitutions in the world, and in 2006, it became the first, and so far only, African country to legalize same-sex marriage. Adults in the country are legally permitted to consume cannabis, as long as it’s in private.