The African National Congress's Path From Rebels to Rulers JOHANNESBURG - Africa's oldest liberation movement, the African National Congress (A.N.C.), held a lavish birthday bash last weekend to celebrate its founding 100 years ago. More than 40 heads of state gathered in the small church in the small city of Bloemfontein, the A.N.C."s birthplace, to celebrate the party's role in defeating white-minority rule and apartheid. And deservedly: the A.N.C."s accomplishments as a liberation movement are extraordinary. Too bad its record as a party-in-government is a mixed bag. The A.N.C. has put in place liberal democratic institutions that are exemplary by any standard, not just for an African country. Parliament and the cabinet respect the Constitutional Court as the country's final legal arbiter. Unlike in other postcolonial states, civil and political rights - as well as socio-economic rights - are widely respected in fact, not just in theory. And millions of people have gained much better access to basic sanitation and health services. But haunting challenges remain. The country is experiencing an axis of social evil: deep income inequality (the second-worst Gini coefficient among 136 countries), a crippling unemployment rate (25 percent) and high levels of poverty (some 66 percent of South African children live in poverty, says a 2007 report [pdf] by the University of Johannesburg). These poor socio-economic indices are the product of underdeveloped state institutions, themselves the product of the A.N.C."s failure to redefine itself from liberation movement to ruling party with a mandate to deliver services to the population. The A.N.C. still hogs and holds on to political power as if for dear life and in so doing neglects the essential task of developing independent state institutions. South Africa does not have an adequately skilled and professional bureaucracy, for example. There is no comprehensive state-led training program for civil servants, and most such positions are allocated to political principals at the A.N.C. as thanks for services rendered in the struggle against apartheid or for displaying personal loyalty. The former minister of health in former President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet, Manto Tshabala-Msimang, was appointed for being a long-time Mbeki confidante rather than for her ability to deal with a general epidemic: she was an Aids denialist. As political loyalty is rewarded, expertise is subverted, and the line between the party and the state gets blurred. One result is a gap between the A.N.C."s policies (which are often sound) and their delivery (which is usually inadequate). For instance, the party's macroeconomic policies strike a fine balance between respecting market-friendly fundamentals and providing a safety net for the worst off. Foreign-exchange controls are increasingly relaxed, labor laws are more flexible than before, and the cost of doing business in South Africa compares favorably with that in countries with a similar economic profile. At the same time, South Africa has one of the biggest welfare states in the world and among the highest per capita expenditures for education. Yet despite these resources, pupils still receive a poor education, and the public health system is in embarrassing shape. To perform better, the A.N.C. will have to concern itself with governance first. This is not a simple shift to make. The A.N.C. is under little direct political pressure to step up. Open criticism within the party is rare, which allows poor performance and unethical behavior to go unsanctioned. The political opposition - really, only the Democratic Alliance - cannot capitalize on the A.N.C."s failings because it is hamstrung by the perception that it is a mostly white, middle-class and capitalist outfit (plus, it lacks liberation credentials, which still matter to some voters). There are no examples in postcolonial Africa of liberation movements that have managed this transition completely or successfully. But the A.N.C. has done much better than all of them at creating stable political institutions after gaining power. Already an exception among the lot, now the A.N.C. must be even more so.