South Africa’s African National Congress won just over 30 percent of the vote in Wednesday’s municipal elections, its lowest share in any election since it took power in 1994, according to near-final Electoral Commission results published on Saturday after 98 percent of votes had been counted. The party fell from 46 percent at the previous local elections in 2021 and from just over 40 percent at the 2024 general election, and lost its majority in six of the eight metropolitan municipalities, while remaining the largest single party.
The Democratic Alliance came second with 24 percent and was set to keep control of Cape Town with an outright majority, with strong results in Pretoria and Johannesburg leaving it positioned to lead coalitions that exclude the ANC. ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula called the outcome catastrophic for the movement and said the party cannot ask people to trust it merely because of its history. Voters punished the ANC over water and electricity shortages, failing municipal services, unemployment, crime and corruption, and President Cyril Ramaphosa had not addressed the result as of Saturday evening.