The ANC, formerly the main anti-apartheid movement, has lost some support from people who say their hopes for economic opportunities have not been fulfilled since the end of white minority rule.
Advertisement
Wins in Tshwane and in Nelson Mandela Bay, which includes the manufacturing hub Port Elizabeth, are a watershed for the DA, which also held Cape Town, a municipality that it has controlled since 2006.
The ANC and DA are now neck-and-neck in the 3 biggest metros in Gauteng: Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, respectively. The DA may need to negotiate coalitions with the EFF in order to assure control over urban areas where they have a slender lead over the ANC.
The 2016 local government elections results showed a big decline in ANC support in South Africa’s major cities, with the DA gaining in popularity.
The party was still leading in the overall count in the nationwide municipal vote, with 98 percent of ballots counted. The party, competing in its first election under Mmusi Maimane, its first black leader, are now ahead in the region by 50.6% to 38.5%.
Zuma rattled investors in December by changing finance ministers twice in a week, sending the rand plummeting.
“We remain humbled by the support that we received in these elections and we do not take the support for granted”, the ANC provincial leadership said in a statement after it notably lost Tshwane metro to the Democratic Alliance. Zuma has since apologized and said he will repay some of the money as ordered by the court. Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters – a radical left-wing party dedicated to forced expropriation of white farms and public ownership of the mines – is looking to boost its appeal among poor rural voters.
Advertisement
Malema has not revealed who he would back, saying: “If anyone comes to us, we’ll talk”.
