With President Cyril Ramaphosa's second term as ANC president secured on Monday, party renewal talk hit fever pitch, alongside how the President's government reform agenda has been bolstered. All that, of course, with a firm view on the 2024 elections.

In Monday's vote announcement, President Cyril Ramaphosa's slate secured five of the seven top ANC officials' posts, almost a clean sweep, after terse and tense last-minute horse-trading and cajoling that was reflected in several narrow result margins.

Effectively, that means Ramaphosa remains in Luthuli House and the Union Buildings, set to steer a governing party that's admitted to being in an existential crisis and in decline. Or as the organisational report put it: "We must acknowledge that the ANC is experiencing a crisis threatening its existence. We cannot expect to achieve any of our goals and regain the people's trust if we fail to take the necessary actions."

The organisational report bluntly talks of the ANC's falling electoral support, how "disunity and factionalism remain rampant" amid inadequate party functioning. "We are at a crossroads," said the report.

Such blunt statements from an organisation whose...