There comes a time in the life of an organisation when the necessity for self-reflection can no longer be postponed. In the case of former national liberation movements, this time unfortunately comes when an existential crisis has already taken hold. This crisis is characterised by the haemorrhaging of electoral support, a qualitative and quantitative decline in the organisation's membership and internal divisions that tear the organisation asunder. While all former national liberation movements on the African continent have somewhat different contexts, they share important similarities. The first is that they were born from anti-colonial struggles against foreign domination and racial discrimination. The second, linked to the first, is that they are all nationalistic in character, with most of them having dabbled in various ideologies. Some of these movements engaged in armed struggle as a path to independence and democracy, and