South Africa’s African National Congress has shut down speculation about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s future after the party’s worst ever election performance. ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu told reporters on Thursday, ahead of a special National Executive Committee meeting in Boksburg, that the president is going nowhere and that there is no pressure from the leadership collective for him to leave. She dismissed a media report that Ramaphosa had offered to resign as a fabrication.
The results that prompted the meeting were declared on November 8. The ANC took 30.76 percent of the national municipal vote, down from 45.59 percent in the 2021 local elections, a fall of 14.83 percentage points, and won no outright majority in any of South Africa’s large cities. The Democratic Alliance led in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni without securing outright majorities there either. Secretary General Fikile Mbalula called the outcome catastrophic and said the party must take responsibility for local government failures and poor service delivery.
The defence of Ramaphosa was not unanimous in the wider party. Former president Thabo Mbeki argued that Ramaphosa and other senior leaders should resign and accept responsibility for the performance. Ramaphosa is expected to remain ANC president until the party’s next leadership conference in December 2027, which leaves the internal contest formally closed for a year while the criticism remains on the record.
The immediate work is municipal. The NEC discussions are shaping the party’s approach to coalition negotiations as councils form new administrations, and the ANC must now bargain from a plurality rather than a majority in the metros that carry most of the country’s economic output.