Since 1994, when Nelson Mandela led South Africa out of apartheid and into real democracy, his African National Congress party has won every election with over 60 percent of the vote – until now.
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Once the results have been officially declared, which is expected to on Saturday, the city would have 14 days to set up an executive council.
The ANC has haemorrhaged support throughout South Africa and will be finishing off with a smaller portion of the votes than it did back in 2011.
“The DA has a lot more appeal than before”, said 30-year-old Port Elizabeth township resident Chimone Ferreira, who voted for the DA for the first time this week.
Unemployment and corruption scandals surrounding President Jacob Zuma have tarnished the ANC’s image. But it lost among other places in Port Elizabeth municipality, which the party had renamed the Nelson Mandela Bay, despite invoking anti-apartheid messaging in its campaign. On the other hand, the outcome in Nelson Mandela Bay gave the DA the mandate to run a second major city in South Africa after Cape Town.
The party’s leader, 36-year-old Mmusi Maimane, has predicted victory in Tshwane. He said the idea that his party was a white one has been “completely shattered”.
ANC national Chairperson Baleka Mbete says they are not anxious that no one is keen on forming a coalition with the party.
If the DA is to capitalize on gains this week and broaden its appeal ahead of a general election in 2019 it will need to prove it can redistribute wealth to benefit the black majority.
Neither party appeared to have a majority in Johannesburg or Tshwane that would allow it to govern alone, raising the likelihood of coalition governments.
According to official results on Friday, the DA was on 25 percent with the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on nine percent. We have no conditions but we participate mainly after being influenced by the number of votes a party receives, you look at what the voters wanted. Some commentators have predicted that the results may force Zuma to step down as leader before the national election.
“If we look at all the results now at our disposal the DA has obtained more votes than the ANC in the capital”, Maimane said, adding that Msimanga was likely to be the next mayor of Tshwane. Many demand land and wealth redistribution to combat the fact that wealth in the country is still predominantly controlled by the minority white population.
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The South African economy has stagnated since the global financial crisis in 2008, and the World Bank says the country has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world. The Constitutional Court recently said Zuma violated the constitution and instructed the president to reimburse the state $507,000. Many are concerned about the lack of jobs, with a quarter of South Africans being unemployed. The president has denied any wrongdoing.
