The South African National Civics Organisation or South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) is an
umbrella political organisation in South Africa. It was founded in March 1992 to coordinate among existing
civic organisations, which had been central in the latter phases of the
struggle against apartheid. At its founding conference, 2,000 organisations were represented. In practice, affiliate organisations retained a great deal of autonomy.
[.]
Primarily aligned to the
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
(ANC), SANCO played a high profile role in
Track II initiatives during the
negotiations to end apartheid
The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...
, particularly with respect to the transformation of
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
in South Africa.
Although relations with the ANC were sometimes strained, the two organisations were close enough that until 2002 SANCO was commonly referred to as the "plus one" of the ANC's
Tripartite Alliance, a term later avoided because civic activists felt it devalued SANCO. By 2001, it claimed to have over 4,000 local branches.
In 2020, a breakaway group was formed under the name Independent South African National Civic Organisation (ISANCO);
it held its inaugural conference in 2021
and contested as a registered
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in the
2021 municipal elections.
References
{{Reflist
1992 establishments in South Africa
Tripartite Alliance