South Africa this year faces its most critical test since the end of white rule.

After two decades in which politics dominated the South African debate, there has, since the election of Nelson Mandela as president in 1994, been no pressing political question – the identity of his successor, Thabo Mbeki, was clear from the day Mr Mandela made him deputy president – and attention has increasingly focused on the economy. This year, however, politics has returned to the fore. Decisions by a few thousand delegates of the ruling African National Congress in the next six months could change the direction of the country.