ANC Slumps to Historic 30.76 Percent Votes

South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) suffered its worst electoral performance in history, securing just 30.76 per cent of the vote in the latest municipal elections.

Electoral Commission chairperson Mosotho Moepya confirmed that voter turnout reached 52 per cent—a six-percentage-point increase from the pandemic-impacted 2021 municipal elections—though one municipality must rerun its vote after party supporters stormed a polling station and destroyed ballot papers.

The historic decline highlights a dramatic reversal for Nelson Mandela’s former liberation movement, which won nearly two-thirds of the vote in 1994 but has steadily lost ground to public outrage over 34 per cent unemployment, widespread corruption, water shortages, power outages, and collapsing municipal services.

The election results leave more than half of South Africa’s 213 councils without an outright winner, triggering complex multiparty coalition negotiations across major urban centres.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) captured roughly a quarter of the national vote, securing the sole outright metro majority in Cape Town while leading the count in Johannesburg behind 75-year-old veteran politician Helen Zille.

Meanwhile, Herman Mashaba’s centre-right ActionSA finished fifth nationally, positioning itself as a potential kingmaker in key metropolitan regions, including Tshwane.

Acknowledging the severe defeat, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula labelled the outcome catastrophic and admitted that the party fell short on delivering basic service needs like water collection and road maintenance.

President Cyril Ramaphosa urged all political leaders to respect the voters’ verdict and prioritise community needs over political infighting during coalition talks.

Parties now face a strict 14-day statutory deadline to negotiate governing coalitions and elect municipal mayors before newly formed councils convene.