The 48th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) took place from 2 to 7 July 1991 at the University of Durban–Westville in Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). It was the first national conference of the ANC since the organisation was banned by the apartheid government in 1960 and marked the ascension of Nelson Mandela to the ANC presidency, which since 1967 had been held by Oliver Tambo.
Notably, the conference elected trade unionist Cyril Ramaphosa as secretary general, and elected several United Democratic Front leaders to the ANC National Executive Committee. That shift was taken as reflective of the ongoing broadening of the membership base of the ANC, which since 1990 had begun to re-establish legal structures inside South Africa. This entailed integrating the ANC's headquarters, formerly based in exile, with the ANC's internal underground and recently released political prisoners (such as Mandela), but also entailed incorporating other elements of the internal struggle against apartheid. The conference adopted a new constitution for the organisation, although a proposal by the ANC Women's League to inscribe gender quotas was, controversially, withdrawn. 
Held under the theme "People's Power for a Democratic Future", the conference took decisions regarding the organisation's policy in the ongoing negotiations to end apartheid, including the decision to maintain the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, in a state of combat readiness. Delegates to the conference also formulated preliminary policy proposals for a post-apartheid government in South Africa. Indeed, in the three years between the 48th National Conference and the next in 1994, the ANC won a majority in the country's first democratic elections and formed a government under Mandela as national president. 
Background.
The African National Congress (ANC) was banned by the South African government between 1960 and February 1990. In those three decades, the ANC was based in exile, primarily with headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, and deviated from its regular governance procedures: in particular, it did not elect its leadership and take policy decisions at annual national conferences, but rather was governed on a fairly "ad hoc" basis by the incumbent leadership. In the exile period, the organisation held three "consultative" conferences: at Morogoro in 1969, at Kabwe in 1985, and in Johannesburg in 1990. Only at Kabwe in 1985 did the membership elect its leaders, including by confirming the presidency of Oliver Tambo, who until then had been acting president. The Johannesburg conference in 1990 was the first held in South Africa since 1960, but abstained from making major decisions: it resolved to reaffirm the composition of the leadership as elected at Kabwe. 
The 48th National Conference was therefore anticipated as a return to the erstwhile ANC norm of democratic decision-making, not only in the selection of a new leadership but also in decision-making about the ANC's strategy during the ongoing negotiations to end apartheid. Since February 1990, the organisation had also set about re-establishing legal structures for members inside South Africa, a process which involved integrating the ANC's membership in exile with elements of the internal movement against apartheid – not only the ANC's internal underground, but also the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) and its constituent organisations, including the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the trade unions – and also with recently released political prisoners, including but not limited to the Rivonia Triallists. At the time of the conference, the ANC reported a registered membership of 760,000 people; and many of the delegates to the conference were young people, with an average age of 34. 
According to the ANC, the conference was also attended by 450 foreign guests from 57 countries, including representatives of 92 foreign organisations such as the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, and various left-wing political parties. Among ANC delegates from other regions of the country, there was some anxiety about meeting in Natal province, which had been the epicentre of recent political violence between ANC-aligned groups and Inkatha-aligned groups.
Opening session.
The theme of the conference was "People's Power for a Democratic Future", and the conference hall, at the University of Durban–Westville, was decorated with banners showing slogans from the Freedom Charter. On 2 July, the opening session of the conference began late – "in true ANC fashion", as one delegate observed – with a prayer delivered by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston of the international Anti-Apartheid Movement. The conference was formerly opened with the political report of the ANC president, which, because Tambo had been weakened by a stroke, was delivered jointly with his deputy, Nelson Mandela. Tambo provided an overview of the ANC's activities in exile since 1960, while Mandela reflected on the ANC's role – as "the repository of the aspirations of the overwhelming majority of our people" – in South Africa's ongoing transition away from apartheid. 
Electoral procedure.
The 2,244 voting delegates at the conference represented three main categories of ANC membership: the newly established internal regions, inside South Africa; the external regions, in Southern African and Western countries, and also including Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the Women's League, and the Youth League; and the chief representatives of the ANC's key departments and various international offices. There were also 117 non-voting delegates present, including from other ANC departments; from the UDF; and from the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partners, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions.
At the request of the ANC – and presumably because of the considerable international interest in the conference's outcomes – all the elections conducted at the conference were organised by the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa and overseen by independent observers. They were held by secret ballot over the course of a day. As the ANC pointed out afterwards in its statement on the conference, most of the delegates had never before voted by this method, given the limited racial suffrage of the apartheid system.
Leadership election.
The results of the leadership elections, announced at the end of 6 July after a day-long secret ballot, were as follows (victorious candidates in bold):
The election of Cyril Ramaphosa as Secretary General received particular attention, and was viewed as symbolic of the ANC's new direction and changing membership; Ramaphosa was an internal activist, attending the conference in his capacity as a leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. According to Ramaphosa's biographer, the SACP leadership had encouraged him to run for the position. When his election was announced, delegates carried him to the dais on their shoulders. The other leaders represented more traditional ANC constituencies: Mandela and Walter Sisulu were ANC stalwarts and leading political prisoners on Robben Island, while Tambo and Thomas Nkobi were incumbent leaders of the exiled ANC, and Jacob Zuma was associated with MK. Mandela's ascent to the presidency was not unexpected: Tambo had suffered his stroke in 1989 and, upon his release from prison in 1990, Mandela had assumed the ANC deputy presidency and many of Tambo's duties. The chairmanship, to which Tambo was elected, was a newly created position. 
Sisulu was elderly and in poor health after his imprisonment, but told reporters, "If the people that I lead desire that I take a particular position, even though I am hesitating, I will do that". He was reportedly persuaded to accept the deputy presidency in order to avert an acrimonious contest for the position among a younger generation of leaders – particularly between Thabo Mbeki, Tambo's protégé, and Chris Hani, a SACP and MK leader. Indeed, initial nominees for the deputy presidency, selected by the regional branches of the ANC, included not only Sisulu and Harry Gwala but also Mbeki, Hani, and Zuma – although, according to R. W. Johnson, the fact that Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi had publicly supported Zuma's candidacy harmed, rather than helped, his prospects. All the nominees, excepting Sisulu and firebrand Gwala, were evidently persuaded to withdraw from the race. 
The leadership election results were also taken to indicate the declining influence of Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Ramaphosa was associated with the MDM's public "ostracism" of Madikizela-Mandela due to the conduct of her "football club", and her patron and favoured candidate, Alfred Nzo, was defeated in two votes.
National Executive Committee elections.
Following the election of the so-called Top Six leaders, the other fifty members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) – the top executive organ of the ANC – were elected from a list of 130 nominations. The following candidates received the most votes:
The composition of the committee again represented the broadening of the organisation's base: prominent UDF activists ranked high in the election results, among them Terror Lekota, Steve Tshwete, Popo Molefe, Cheryl Carolus, and Trevor Manuel. Many SACP members were also highly ranked, although it was not possible to judge their proportionate share of NEC seats, since membership in the SACP remained secret. 
Resolutions.
Between plenary sessions, the delegates attended meetings of commissions appointed to debate various policy issues of significance. The main commissions covered the ANC's "strategy and tactics"; negotiations with the government; international policy; MK; the ANC's organisational development; and the ANC's constitution. The latter commission discussed a draft constitution for the organisation, which was adopted by the plenary. In addition, delegates attended sessions which formulated preliminary policy proposals for a post-apartheid government, such as on education and the national constitution.
Negotiations and armed struggle.
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 The possibility of eradicating apartheid by peaceful means has emerged through our struggles. The overwhelming majority of South Africans are convinced that the process of peaceful transition to a democratic future must proceed with all deliberate speed. In this regard, we reaffirm our unambiguous commitment to exploring every possible avenue to resolve by peaceful means the problems of our country... ;br ;
[V]ictory has not yet been won, the danger of repression continues to loom over the people and the possibility of a derailment of the negotiations process exists. Therefore, we will continue to strengthen the people's army, Umkhonto we Sizwe both as a force indispensable to the defence of the people and in preparation for the creation of a truly national army of a democratic South Africa; to maintain such underground formations as are necessary; to intensify mass organisation and mobilisation and to ensure the continued engagement of the international community...
– Declaration of the 48th Conference
Since at least the mid-1980s, and as reflected in the debate about Operation Vula, the top leadership of the ANC and SACP had been embroiled in a debate over the plausibility of a negotiated end to apartheid, and over the question of whether disarmament should be averted to maintain armed struggle as a fallback position. By 1991, serious negotiations to end apartheid were underway, and the ANC had committed to suspending the armed struggle – until then waged under the auspices of MK – in the Pretoria Minute of August 1990. However, at the time of the 48th Conference, talks with the National Party government had stalled, due to the ANC leadership's belief that the government was permitting or even encouraging the ongoing political violence in the country. The delegates at the conference concurred in this suspicion: in an early articulation of the third force theory, the conference described the violence as "counter-revolutionary" and as "perpetrated by agencies of the state". Thus the conference reiterated the ANC's commitment to end apartheid peacefully, but also resolved to maintain and expand MK structures inside the country. It described MK's role as, among other things, defending the ANC's personnel and property, and defending "peace and stability"; and stated, "the ANC shall maintain and develop MK until the adoption of a democratic constitution and the creation of a new defence force into which cadres of MK will be integrated. Until such a point is reached the equipment of the movement shall NOT be surrendered to the regime. MK shall remain in constant combat readiness."
The conference's concern with political violence was ultimately embodied in the September 1991 . In terms of the ANC's substantive negotiating position, the conference reaffirmed the ANC's existing demands for an interim government and a constituent assembly elected on the basis of one-person, one-vote.
Proposed gender quota.
According to delegates present, the most heated debate of the conference took place on the afternoon of 3 July, when the floor discussed a proposal to include a principle of affirmative action in the organisation's new constitution. This would directly affect the conduct of elections later in the week, because the