ANC records worst-ever result in South Africa election

South Africa’s ruling ANC has recorded its worst-ever showing in local elections since Nelson Mandela led the country out of apartheid and into democracy more than 30 years ago, a result the party has called “catastrophic”.

While it won the most votes of all parties in the country, the African National Congress won 31% of the overall vote, one third down from the 46% it gained in 2021, and a far cry from the 65% 20 years ago.

The story of its decline is also clear in the provinces and cities. The party won a majority in just one of the country’s nine provinces, Limpopo. In 2021 it won six. It also won the most votes in just two of the eight cities, compared with six at the last local elections.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) came second in the overall vote with 25%, retaining majority control of the city of Cape Town. Former President Jacob Zuma’s MK party came third overall with 10%, unseating the ANC as winner in the city of Durban, while the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema, once seen as a serious challenge to the ANC, came fourth with 6%.

“This has been a very catastrophic outcome for the ANC,” said secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Saturday. “We knew this disaster is coming, we’re staring at it. As we got into elections, the cost of living of our people was too high. The middle class have turned on the ANC in big numbers.”

Entering the count centre on Sunday night, South Africa’s President and ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa said: “We accept the will of the people however concerning it might be, we accept that this is how the people of South Africa in our towns, in our cities, in our metros have spoken and this is their verdict, we accept it with humility. It is a decline that is concerning, that is how I characterise it.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to be replaced as ANC leader next year

It’s a continuing decline for the ANC, which lost its parliamentary majority in the national elections in 2024 for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994. It then had to form a coalition government with a raft of other parties in what is called the Government of National Unity (GNU).