Municipal elections are not usually much of a show in South Africa, but the early results mark a dramatic shift in support from the ANC to the Democratic Alliance and could serve as a sign that change may come at the parliamentary and presidential levels, too.
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Deputy President of South Africa and of the ANC Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to listen to the people ahead of national elections scheduled to take place in 2019. With 95 percent of votes counted the ruling ANC appea…
With 90% of the votes counted in Johannesburg, the ANC…
The ANC, once the party of Nelson Mandela, was defeated by the opposition Democratic Alliance for the first time in Tshwane, the municipality that encompasses the nation’s capital Pretoria.
The ANC lost a key municipality named after its star, Nelson Mandela Bay, to the Democratic Alliance.
The ANC has lost some support from people, notably in urban areas, who say their hopes for economic opportunities have not been fulfilled since the end of white minority rule.
South Africans on Twitter spoken out in anger and disgust at the manner in which security staff handled the four women, the way rape cases are handled in the country and the defence by the African National Congress of the president.
The leader of the Democratic Alliance party, 36-year-old Mmusi Maimane, had predicted a victory in Tshwane, however the party fell short of a majority in both Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.
In the metro, the DA emerged as the largest party with 46.71 per cent of the vote, up from 40.13 per cent in 2011.
Final results are being announced at roughly 5pm BST.
More than 200 political parties and 61,000 candidates are participating in South African municipal elections, which are the fifth in a row in the country. He has since agreed to pay the money back.
The EFF, led by former ANC man Julius Malema, was being credited as winning around eight per cent and surpassing 10 per cent in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Zuma is facing intensifying calls from the opposition to resign; even some veteran ANC members have urged the embattled leader to step down, saying the scandal has damaged the party’s image and has fractured the trust of its supporters.
Ratings agency Fitch said in a statement that although the results may weaken Zuma, the president has built a strong network of support in the ANC’s upper echelons “and there have been no clear signs that a majority of leaders could withdraw their support before the ANC conference in December 2017”.
“Many people who are disappointed by the ANC nevertheless can not bring themselves to vote for a party that they perceive to be dominated by white people”, said Shireen Hassim, a professor of politics at the University of the Witwatersrand.
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However, Zuma, jailed on Robben Island with Mandela during apartheid, retains deep loyalty inside the ANC and in many rural areas, although he can not stand for a third term.
