The Library Media — National & World · World Desk
By Maya Wilson
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‘Devastating message’ as ANC records worst-ever result in South Africa election
Johannesburg — South Africa’s African National Congress recorded its worst-ever result in local elections since the end of apartheid, winning the most votes of any party but only 31% overall, according to the BBC.
The result is a sharp fall from 46% in 2021 and far below the 65% the party won 20 years ago. It is the clearest sign yet that the liberation movement’s dominance at local level is no longer assured.
The ANC won a majority in just one of nine provinces, Limpopo, down from six in 2021. It led in just two of eight major cities, down from six.
The Democratic Alliance came second with 25% of the vote and retained majority control of Cape Town. Jacob Zuma’s MK party took 10% and unseated the ANC in Durban. The Economic Freedom Fighters took 6%.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called the outcome “catastrophic” and blamed the cost of living and the defection of middle-class voters. President Cyril Ramaphosa said the party accepts the people’s will and called the decline concerning.
Turnout was 52%, up from 46% in 2021. The rise in participation makes the ANC’s fall harder to dismiss as the result of low engagement. More South Africans voted, and fewer of them voted for the party that has governed since 1994.
The result leaves South Africa’s cities and provinces in a period of negotiation. Parties have 14 days from the announcement of the results to negotiate coalitions. Those talks will now decide who actually governs many of the country’s major urban areas.
For the ANC, the question is not only who governs where, but whether the party can recover from a result that its own secretary-general has described as catastrophic. The loss of majorities in eight of nine provinces and six of eight major cities is not a single setback. It is a pattern.
Ramaphosa is due to be replaced as ANC leader next year. The succession will now take place against the backdrop of the party’s worst local-election result since the end of apartheid.
The ANC remains the largest party, with 31% of the vote. But the floor that once sustained it at local level has fallen away. The coalition talks that follow will show whether it can still govern through partnership, or whether South Africa’s cities are entering a new political era.
(Maya Wilson — Intelligence Lead, The Library Media)
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