South Africa has just watched one of the biggest shifts in its post-apartheid politics. The South Africa ANC vote stood at about 32 percent, with the Democratic Alliance on 24 percent, after 90 percent of ballots were counted in this week’s municipal elections. The electoral commission shared the figures on Friday.
A Steep Fall From 2021
The numbers look stark next to the last local elections in 2021, when the ANC took 45.6 percent and the DA 21.7 percent. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research projects the final count will land near 31 percent for the ANC and 24.5 percent for the DA.
Turnout was projected at about 52 percent, higher than in 2021. One analyst said that suggests ANC voters did not stay home. They turned up and chose someone else.
Cities Without a Clear Winner
The party still leads nationally, but it has lost its grip on the big metros. Mangaung ended with the ANC on 33.9 percent and the DA on 33.5 percent, a hairline gap. The DA looks set to lead in Nelson Mandela Bay and to win Cape Town outright. In eThekwini, around Durban, Jacob Zuma’s MK Party holds the lead, though without a majority.
Johannesburg and Tshwane look headed for hung councils. That means coalition talks, and South Africans know how messy those can get.
Why Voters Walked Away
Many voters were angry about crime, unemployment, corruption scandals and failing water and electricity. For most households, local government is where politics meets daily life, so a broken pipe or a dark street can sway a vote.
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe urged patience, saying the trends were not final. Even so, the message from the ballot box is hard to miss. The next few weeks of deal-making will decide who actually runs South Africa’s cities.
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