ANC has worst-ever result in South African local polls

Once-dominant party blamed for failure to manage municipal infrastructure and public services

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s once-dominant African National Congress (ANC) was headed for its worst-ever election performance on Friday with about a third of support after 80% of the votes from local government polls had been counted.

Wednesday’s municipal elections were dominated by concerns over failing water and power supplies in one of Africa’s wealthiest nations which became a democracy in 1994 when the ANC took power.

With final results expected by Sunday, the election authority dashboard showed the ANC was still the largest party with 31.8% of votes after 80% had been counted.

Projections released on Thursday by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a state-funded research body, put its support at nearly 32%.

This was its lowest score yet for the party after it secured just over 40% at the 2024 national polls and 46% at the previous municipal elections in 2021.

At the heart of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, the ANC — the party of jailed liberation hero-turned-president Nelson Mandela — took nearly 70% of the national vote in 2004.

“This is the most severe result that the ANC would have feared,” political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP. “It’s the ANC’s worst result in history.”

“It will undermine its ability to exert authority across South Africa, not just at a local level, but frankly at a national level as well,” he told AFP.

“And opposition parties will be smelling blood when it comes to the next election in 2029.”

The party now led by President Cyril Ramaphosa has borne the brunt of criticism about years of municipal mismanagement that have left South Africans grappling with failing water supplies, persistent power cuts and crumbling public services.

The pro-business, centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) was placing second with 24.2% of votes, according to the 80% count. This was up from nearly 22% in the 2021 local government election.