In a brief address shortly before final results were announced, the 74-year-old Zuma thanked South Africans for a vote he called largely peaceful, free and fair.
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The ANC bagged the Johannesburg metropolitan municipality with 44.64%, the Democratic Alliance (DA) came in second with 38.44% and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) received 11.11% of the votes.
With the nationwide vote count nearly complete, the ANC was ahead overall but recorded its worst electoral performance since white-minority rule fell 22 years ago. “The tide in our country is turning”, the leader of the leading opposition party says.
South Africa’s ruling ANC has suffered its biggest election setback since taking power 22 years ago.
The results have reshaped the political landscape in South Africa where the ANC has ruled virtually unopposed since it ended white-minority rule in 1994, led by Nelson Mandela. But its grip on power is being shaken against the backdrop of high unemployment, a stagnating economy and a series of scandals that have dogged President Jacob Zuma.
“The DA, which has belief traditional on the votes of and coloured South Africans, finally gains support among country’s black majority”.
EFF has said it is willing to work with the ANC on condition that President Jacob Zuma steps down.
Defeat in Port Elizabeth by a margin of 46.7 to 40 per cent was a humiliating blow for the ANC, as the municipality is officially known as “Nelson Mandela Bay” in tribute to its past as a hotbed of anti-apartheid activism.
It even lost Nelson Mandela Bay, named for the country’s revered first black president. It has been pushing hard to win supporters in other regions, saying its brand is good governance.
Past year it elected its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, as it tried to shake off an image of a party mainly serving white interests. For too long‚ the ANC has misgoverned our country with impunity.
He added that the idea that his party – which has its roots in the non-ANC opposition to apartheid – was a white one had been “completely shattered”.
Maimane immediately looked ahead to presidential elections. He said: “The 2019 campaign starts now”.
“Foreign investors will probably welcome the fact that reduced support for the ruling ANC has helped the centrist DA rather than the leftist EFF”, said John Ashbourne, Africa analyst at Capital Economics, in a note.
Maimane on Saturday described the results as “a tipping point for the people of South Africa”, while ANC deputy leader Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma’s vice-president, said the party would heed the electorate’s message.
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Zuma’s office said he would attend the official announcement of the municipal election results later on Saturday in Pretoria.
