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. As he spoke on national television, four women stood up in front of him, silently facing the crowd and holding signs that appeared to refer to his acquittal for rape in 2006. Zuma didn’t appear to respond. The party’s image was tarnished by corruption scandals and economic stagnation after the global financial crisis in 2008 frustrated the country’s urban middle class. On social media, South Africans mocked Mr Zuma’s recent claim that the ANC would rule “until Jesus comes back”.
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Around three quarters of ballots were counted in this week’s municipal election and the final results are likely to be announced at 1600 GMT Saturday. “It says the democratic process is working”, he said on Friday. “Let us get back to work and build our country together”. In neighboring Zimbabwe, 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe has kept control since independence in 1980 with disputed elections and crackdowns on dissent. The defeat was viewed a humiliating blow for the ANC in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, known for its history which depicts it as a hotbed of anti-apartheid activism.
The party already runs the country’s second largest city, Cape Town, the only major South African city where blacks are in the minority among white and mixed-race residents. The party, which has roots in the anti-apartheid movement, has declared that its brand is good governance.
The DA, which previous year elected its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, as part of a drive to shake off its image as a party that mainly serves white interests, retained control of Cape Town, which it has held since 2006. He said the idea that his party was a white one has been “completely shattered”.
The municipal election result is probably the biggest wake-up call the governing ANC has received since it ushered in democracy in South Africa in 1994. As the AP reported, Maimane said “the 2019 campaign starts now”.
The ANC so far has received 53% of votes across the country, its lowest percentage ever, with the Democratic Alliance getting 26%.
The radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party led by Julius Malema, Zuma’s one-time protege but now arch-foe, was running a distant third in the local elections, with about 10 percent of the vote.
“A battle in the party could emerge from these poor results and ANC would have to find a dignified exit strategy for Zuma”, independent political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP.
Paul Mashatile, the ANC chairman in Gauteng province, which includes Tshwane and Johannesburg, said: “We can confirm that we are into (coalition) negotiations as we speak”.
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Zuma survived an impeachment vote in April after the Constitutional Court said he breached the law by ignoring an order to repay some of $16 million in state funds spent on renovating his private home.
