In one party dominant democracies, political parties often lose vitality. Interviews with ANC branch members reveal a more encouraging picture of the party's inner life. Members engage voluntarily in a range of party-sponsored activities. The ANC's organisational deployment is directed at the mobilisation of a militant activist community. Its commitment to consultative decision-making has declined, however, though under certain conditions the rank and file can challenge leadership successfully. The ANC's internal electoral arrangements promote consensus rather than competition, despite the interest they evoke from members. In general, despite the ANC's hegemonic aspirations, increasingly it conforms to the behaviour of an electorally oriented party in a liberal democracy.