The African National Congress recorded its worst-ever result in Wednesday's local elections, winning just over 30 percent of the vote and losing its majority in most major cities.
Final tallies published on Sunday gave the ANC 30.76 percent, down from 45 percent in the 2021 local elections and 40.2 percent in the 2024 national vote. The Democratic Alliance won just under 25 percent. The ANC lost its majority in six of eight metropolitan regions, the Electoral Commission said.
The party is set to lose Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni to the DA, which retained Cape Town. In Johannesburg, the DA put forward 75-year-old Helen Zille as its mayoral candidate. With no outright winner in several major cities, politicians face tough coalition talks to form municipal governments.
Voters cited water shortages, power cuts and corruption. James Ntsepo, a taxi rank manager in Johannesburg, said the ANC-led city management had done no maintenance on his facility since 2008. "The ANC has lost my vote," he said.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula called the outcome "very catastrophic." "If anyone has not heard what the people are saying in this election, then you are lost," he said. President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter that "municipal failures have contributed to declining public trust and confidence in democratic governance."
Political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP the result was "the ANC's worst result in history" and "the most severe result that the ANC would have feared." DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said his party had "taken a big step forward" toward becoming the country's biggest. The MK Party of former president Jacob Zuma won around 10 percent.
The ANC, which led South Africa out of apartheid in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, peaked at 69.7 percent in the 2004 national elections. It lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the 2024 national election.
