ANC suffers worst-ever election result in South Africa

The African National Congress (ANC), which has dominated South African politics since the end of apartheid, has recorded its worst-ever electoral performance, securing 30.76 per cent of the votes in municipal elections, according to the country’s electoral commission.

The final results, announced on Sunday, showed that the party’s support had declined further, setting the stage for difficult multiparty coalition negotiations in several major cities where no party secured an outright majority.

The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the ANC’s closest challenger and main partner in the national unity government, secured about a quarter of the votes, according to the final tally.

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, Mosotho Moepya, said voter turnout stood at 52 per cent, six percentage points higher than the 2021 municipal elections, which were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moepya also disclosed that voting would be repeated in one municipality after party supporters stormed a polling station and destroyed ballot papers.

The outcome represents a significant decline for the party of late liberation icon Nelson Mandela, which won nearly two-thirds of the votes in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

Although the ANC remains the country’s largest political party, its support has steadily declined amid widespread unemployment, which has exceeded 34 per cent, as well as crime and corruption scandals.

Water shortages, electricity outages and poor service delivery were among the major issues that shaped Wednesday’s elections as voters assessed the performance of parties governing their communities.

Describing the outcome as “catastrophic”, ANC Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, acknowledged the party’s shortcomings on Saturday.

“Where we have fallen short, this movement does not dispute it. Communities have gone without water. Refuse has not been collected. Roads have not been maintained,” he said.

“We have been weighed in the balance, and where we have been found wanting we dare not quarrel with the scale,” Mbalula told reporters.

More than half of South Africa’s 213 municipal councils failed to produce an outright majority for any party, making coalition arrangements necessary for the formation of local governments.

Previous coalitions in the country have often been characterised by internal disagreements and shifting political alliances, resulting in administrative instability and disruptions to basic services.

President Cyril Ramaphosa urged political parties to prioritise the interests of communities in their coalition negotiations, warning against allowing political disagreements to disrupt essential services.

“The people have spoken. Their verdict must be respected. Their concerns must be heard and their expectations must now be met,” he said on Sunday.

The parties face a tight timetable, as newly elected councils are legally required to hold their inaugural meetings within 14 days of the formal declaration of results to elect mayors and other office-holders.

All but one of South Africa’s eight major cities require coalition negotiations, with the DA securing an outright majority in Cape Town.

The DA was also leading in Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub, where it fielded 75-year-old veteran politician Helen Zille, a longtime critic of the ANC who previously built her political career in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, centre-right ActionSA, founded by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba after his departure from the DA, finished fifth nationally but could play a decisive role in coalition negotiations in major metropolitan areas, including Tshwane, which is home to the administrative capital, Pretoria.