South Africa’s ANC Secures 31 Percent of the Vote in Local Elections

The ANC’s Electoral Setback

Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) has faced a significant electoral defeat in local municipal elections, with results showing the party securing just 31 percent of the national vote.

As of Sunday morning, with 99 percent of ballots counted, the results show a sharp decline for the organization that has held power in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, Al Jazeera reported.

The party’s support has dropped by roughly 14 percentage points compared to its 2021 local election performance. The Democratic Alliance (DA) finished in second place with 25 percent, while former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party secured about 10 percent of the vote, creating a new presence in the country’s increasingly fragmented political scene.

The Reality of Coalition Governance

Because no single party reached the 50 percent threshold required to govern outright, South Africa’s major metropolitan centers now face a scramble to form municipal coalitions. According to Daily Maverick, the ANC has lost its leading position in several key councils, including Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni.

With 14 days to negotiate before city councils must be formed, the process is expected to be complex and, as News24 described it, “messy, at times irrational and emotional.”

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula addressed the results on Saturday, characterizing them as “catastrophic” for the party. He noted that the ANC would not rush into desperate agreements to maintain power. “When the people tell us we have fallen short, … the honest answer is not to argue with them but to go home and put our house in order,” Mbalula said.

Service Delivery Failures and Unemployment Drive ANC Support Decline

The decline in ANC support is widely tied to persistent failures in basic service delivery. For voters in major urban hubs like Johannesburg, the daily reality includes uncollected refuse, deteriorating roads, and frequent water and electricity interruptions. These failures have compounded the frustration of a public dealing with an unemployment rate that remains above 34 percent, a figure cited by Al Jazeera as a primary driver of voter dissatisfaction.

The DA said in a statement that it would initiate coalition discussions with “political parties that share a commitment to clean and accountable government, rooting out corruption, service delivery for all, the rule of law, and non-racialism.”

The Democratic Alliance has positioned itself to capitalize on these grievances. In Johannesburg, where the DA led the count with approximately 35 percent of the vote, mayoral candidate Helen Zille campaigned heavily on a platform of fixing infrastructure, such as potholes and leaking water pipes. The DA’s federal leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has suggested the potential for a “government of local unity” model, similar to the national arrangement, to provide stability in hung councils.

The Road Ahead for Municipalities

While the ANC remains the largest party nationally, its inability to secure majorities in the eight major metro areas leaves it in a precarious position. The Daily Maverick reported that in KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC’s provincial support fell by over 20 percentage points, largely due to the emergence of the MK party.

As the Electoral Commission of South Africa prepares to announce final results this evening, the focus shifts to whether the ANC can maintain its influence through partnerships with smaller parties or if it will be forced into the opposition.

For the residents of these cities, the outcome of these negotiations will determine the immediate future of municipal service delivery. As News24 pointed out, if these hung councils fail to reach stable agreements, the resulting governance gridlock could further delay critical infrastructure projects, potentially risking the loss of private-sector investment in cities already struggling with deep spending backlogs.

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