The ANC’s leadership should do itself a big favour and hold a workshop with leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). It should try to speak specifically to NUM kingpins from the past 15 years.

The union could teach the ANC a lot about how an organisation can lose touch with its members and how leaders can find themselves becoming increasingly distant from their constituencies. The NUM could teach the party about loss of dominance and power. It could teach the ANC about realising that perhaps you will never be top dog again...