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South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) denied on Thursday that President Cyril Ramaphosa faces internal pressure to resign following the party’s steep decline in last week’s municipal elections.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a National Executive Committee meeting on coalition negotiations, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu dismissed a TimesLive report claiming Ramaphosa considered stepping down as a “fabrication.”
“The president is going nowhere,” Bhengu said, adding, “There is no pressure on the part of this leadership collective for the president to leave.”
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Last week’s municipal ballot saw the once-dominant ANC drop to a historic low of roughly 31 per cent of the vote, falling sharply from 46 per cent in 2021.
Political parties now must negotiate coalition agreements to govern local municipalities because no single party won an outright majority in major metropolitan centres such as Johannesburg.
The party’s defence of Ramaphosa followed sharp criticism from former president Thabo Mbeki, who argued on a local podcast that Ramaphosa and other senior ANC officials should step down over the electoral defeat.
Mbeki, a long-time rival of Ramaphosa since the ANC chose Mbeki over him to succeed Nelson Mandela decades ago, has repeatedly faulted Ramaphosa’s leadership record.
Under current party timelines, Ramaphosa plans to step aside in December 2027 after completing two five-year terms as ANC president.
