At 8.07 am on 5 August, the ANC had taken a narrow lead, bagging 41.84 percent of votes.
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Maimane, at a media briefing in Pretoria Saturday morning said he was confident the DA can govern Tshwane through a coalition, as well as Nelson Mandela Bay.
The leftist Economic Freedom Fighters polled 12 percent, with smaller parties sharing the rest, the agency reported.
South Africa’s ruling party was struggling on Saturday to retain control of two major municipalities after losing one other key urban area in its worst electoral performance since the end of apartheid.
The DA, which previous year elected its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, as part of its efforts to shake off its image as a party that mainly serves white interests, has retained control of Cape Town, which it has held since 2006.
Meanwhile, the race between the DA and ANC is heating up, especially in Tshwane, where both are still not expected to reach 50%.
“And so we can make those things as rhetorical as we want, but actually when it comes to what is possible that is what we got to debate”.
Yesterday, EFF leader Julius Malema said his party would be open to coalitions but that issues like land ownership would be non-negotiable.
Zuma’s office said he would attend the official announcement of the municipal election results later on Saturday in Pretoria.
The ANC, with 41.66% of the total votes, have 89 seats, 68 of which are ward seats and 21 PR, equalling 41.59% of the seats in Tshwane.
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With not a single municipality bagged, it looks like the EFF is mulling over whether to form coalitions with its biggest rivals, if a Twitter poll is to be believed.
