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‘coherence’. 243 DFA’s institutional weaknesses co-existed with its intensifyingcompetition with sister-bureaucracies, the Department of Trade and Industry(DTI) 244 and the Department of Defense (DoD).4.1.2. ANC and foreign policymaking: Contradictory trends in a changingpartyA curious phenomenon that became increasingly apparent during the Mbekipresidency was that in spite of foreign policy decision-making and its broaderformulation being centralised in the office of the State President (who was also theparty president), the period also witnessed the gradual isolation of the AfricanNational Congress from the policymaking process. This is attributed by scholars totwo parallel processes taking place within the organisation since at least 1997, theyear Thabo Mbeki became ANC president, and two years before he became StatePresident. They are: the modernisation of the party, and the growing distancebetween the party leadership and the rank-and-file, 245 resulting in detrimental effectsfor accountability and internal democracy.In its seminal post-Apartheid document, ‘Ready to Govern’, published in 1992, theANC announced that under its leadership, in the area of foreign policy, “(a)democratic South Africa will actively promote the objectives of democracy, peace,stability, development, and mutually-beneficial relations among the people of Africaas a whole, as well as a Pan African solidarity”. 246 It also stated that “ANC policywill contribute to the democratisation of international political and economicrelations, and so help secure a global context within which a democratic SouthAfrica will be able to coexist peacefully and to cooperate on a democratic basis withits neighbours in the region and further afield”. 247243 Some accounts include: Nathan, “Consistency and inconsistencies”; Black andWilson, “Rights, region and identity”.244 See Marie Muller, “Some observations on South Africa’s economic diplomacy and therole of the Department of Foreign Affairs”, Institute for Global Dialogue, OccasionalPaper No.27, (October 2000).245 Richard Calland, Anatomy of South Africa: Who holds the power? (Cape Town:Zebra Press, 2006), especially Chapter 5; and William Gumede, “Chapter 2:Modernising the African National Congress: The legacy of President Thabo Mbeki”,State of the Nation 2008, (Durban: HSRC Press, 2008).246 African National Congress, 1992.247 Ibid.117