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overwhelming majority of South Africans, many of whom are poor’, despite itsgrowing financial dependence on big business. 409In this way, the party’s policymaking system is somewhat vulnerable to theinfluence of well-resourced lobbyists and campaigners.However, not only is the ANC party machinery, especially at election time, highlydependent on large disbursements from the private sector within South Africa thatremain undisclosed. It is also the beneficiary of funding from other controversialsources, such as the governments of China and Malaysia, with at times negativeconsequences for transparency in policymaking. (See sub-section a.)d. DFA and ParliamentThere are thus two competing trends at play: on one hand, institutional freedomwas gradually won as the consequence of the African National Congress’sunquestionable political hegemony in South African society, and the increasingblurring of the lines between state and party, with the appointment of central partyfigures or people close to the President in pivotal state institutions. At the polls, theparty regularly won majorities in excess of 66%, translating into overwhelmingmajorities in parliament. On the other hand, this freedom was not necessarily wonfor party positions, as Luthuli House (as ANC party headquarters in Johannesburgis known) became increasingly marginalised from the policymaking apparatus withMbeki’s consolidation of his own political position. Thus, while the ability to actwith progressively less opposition to policy proposals was being enhanced, this wasnot necessarily in favour of the party. As Chothia and Jacobs note,The major losers in the restructuring of the presidency, and its effects on policymakingand the exercise of political power, are parliament and the ANC…But it isthe position of the ANC as a political entity relative to the presidency that has been the mostnegatively affected. As the president builds the capacity of his executive office, so theANC’s capacity dwindles. Mbeki wants officials at ANC headquarters to bemanagers, dealing with organisational matters such as errant branches and buildingelection machinery rather than with political issues. 410409 Ibid., 192.410 Farouk Chothia and Sean Jacobs, “Remaking the Presidency: the tension betweenco-ordination and centralization”, in Thabo Mbeki’s World, eds., Jacobs and Calland:153-154. Emphasis added.173