South African voters queue outside a polling station outside a former hostel complex in KwaMashu, north of Durban, on August 3, 2016.
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The elections Wednesday were the most closely contested for the ruling party since it took power in South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994.
Opposition parties hope to make big gains against the ruling party in Johannesburg; Tshwane, the greater metropolitan area of the capital, Pretoria; and Nelson Mandela Bay, a municipality on the east coast.
With about half the ballots counted Thursday, the ruling African National Congress had won 52 percent of the vote and 21 municipal councils, compared to almost 30 percent and 6 councils for the opposition Democratic Alliance.
The DA, which previous year elected its first black leader Mmusi Maimane, was leading the ANC in Tshwane municipality, home to the capital Pretoria, in Johannesburg and in Nelson Mandela Bay, the area named after the anti-apartheid hero who led the ANC to power and which includes the city of Port Elizabeth.
The loss, in local polls that are the sternest test the ANC has faced since the end of apartheid in 1994, will also smart because it was at the hands of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a Zulu nationalist party, which widened its tally in the area to 54 percent from 46 percent in 2011.
Many queuing in the winter cold said they were anxious about President Jacob Zuma’s performance and the state of Africa’s most industrialised economy, where one in four is unemployed the central bank expects zero growth this year.
ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe said they were comfortable with the early lead.
South Africans are voting in municipal elections in which the ruling African National Congress seeks to retain control.
The DA now controls Cape Town and won 22 percent of the vote in 2014, while the EFF secured 6.4 percent.
Siyasanga Sijadu, a representative of Cope, an ANC breakaway party which had votes in its favour among the ballots, said elections should be run free and fairly.
The results, most of which are expected on Thursday, may pile pressure on Zuma, 74, to step down before his second term ends in 2019.
As results continue to come in to the National Results Center, the ANC has the utmost confidence that as the evening wears on, we will build on our current base for more than 10 million South Africans who have entrusted the ANC with their vote for us to continue creating a better life for all.
With no party expected to pass the 50 percent mark in all three centers in Wednesday’s vote, Africa’s most-industrialized country may be headed for a new era of widespread coalition politics.
Earlier he told the BBC: “The ANC failed to enthuse their voters and give them a credible offer and that is what often happens to parties that have mismanaged the economy, mismanaged the city, but it also says that we are growing as a party”.
With two-thirds of the votes counted on Thursday, the ANC had 53%, followed by 28% for the Democratic Alliance and 7% for the radical Economic Freedom Fighters.
“It is showing gratitude for people who didn’t have that before me”, Spani said.
The DA, which previous year elected its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, was ahead in Johannesburg and in Nelson Mandela Bay, the area named after the anti-apartheid hero who led the ANC to power.
In December, he was widely criticized for changing his finance minister twice in a week, sending the rand plummeting and alarming investors. Zuma has said he would repay some of the funds spent on his home and rejected the accusations, saying he is fit to lead.
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There have been continued concerns in South Africa regarding housing, inequality and education, with a number of protests taking place demanding changes in these areas.
