ANC heads for worst-ever local election result in South Africa
- Partial results put the ANC on about 32 percent of the vote in South Africa's municipal elections.
- That would be a sharp drop from 2021 and its weakest local showing since apartheid ended.
- The DA is second and expects to hold Cape Town, with coalition talks likely in major cities.
South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) is heading for its weakest local government election result since the end of apartheid, partial results show.
With about 80 percent of votes counted, the ANC stood at roughly 32 percent, according to the election authority dashboard. That is down from about 46 percent in the 2021 municipal polls and follows its loss of a parliamentary majority in the 2024 national elections.
The party of Nelson Mandela, which took nearly 70 percent of the national vote in 2004, has faced growing anger over years of municipal mismanagement. Many South Africans are dealing with failing water supplies, persistent power cuts and crumbling public services, and the polls were dominated by those concerns.
Political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP the outcome was "the most severe result that the ANC would have feared" and said it would weaken the party's authority at local and national level.
DA gains and coalition talks
The pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) was second with about 24 to 25 percent, up from nearly 22 percent in 2021. The party was on course for an outright majority in Cape Town.
DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said his party had begun reaching out to possible coalition partners. "We will approach the next few weeks with respect for the mandates those parties have received from their voters," he said.
Coalition talks may be tricky, especially if the DA teams up with the ANC, its partner in the national government. Analyst Ralph Mathekga warned that such a deal could alienate voters who rejected the ANC at the polls.
ActionSA, founded in 2020 by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, is positioning itself as a possible kingmaker, especially in Gauteng Province. Its national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said he was "quite convinced no government is going to be formed without us."
Attention also remains on eThekwini, which includes Durban, where former President Jacob Zuma hopes his breakaway party can win a majority.
What happens next
Final results are expected by Sunday. They will decide who controls several major cities and shape the coalition negotiations that follow.
