Members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) including the organization’s leadership were out on the streets in major cities, making door-to-door visits to encourage citizens to go out and vote.
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Voters across South Africa have handed another municipal elections victory to the ruling African National Congress (ANC), but in the major cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the party of Nelson Mandela recorded record low support.
The elections were seen by many as being the most contested since 1994.
About 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from Dainfern in the Diepsloot shantytown, retired seamstress Dorothy Mavuso, 81, said the ANC was the only possible choice.
“Things needs to change and it starts here”, said Chris Venter, a 42-year-old marketing manager who voted at Dainfern, a wealthy gated community in Johannesburg.
The ANC, which fought white minority rule, still has support among rural and elderly black South Africans who view it as a party which liberated them from years of oppression.
The party, which won six percent of the vote in 2014, advocates land redistribution without compensation and the nationalisation of mines.
“The ANC is really losing ground, but it can join other political parties to form coalitions”, Shadrack Gutto, director the Centre for African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa, told AFP.
It could reshape the political landscape ahead of the 2019 national election, and may also embolden President Jacob Zuma’s rivals within the ANC to challenge him.
The DA had 45 percent of the votes in Tshwane municipality against the ANC’s 40 percent although only 40 percent of the votes had been counted.
According to preliminary results released by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Thursday morning, the ANC has won 21 councils, securing 1,038 seats with six million votes.
“We expect to do well not only here in Joburg, in Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and other municipalities across the country”.
Anger is also rising in a country where one in four people are unemployed and the central bank expects zero growth this year.
With 70% of the votes counted, the ANC had 54% of support nationwide, the DA had 27% and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by former ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, had 8%.
With 26.3 million registered voters due to cast their ballots at 22,612 voting stations countrywide, this election promises to attract one of the highest voter turnout numbers since democracy.
Many South Africans who queued up to vote across the country said they were anxious about Zuma’s performance and the state of the economy.
A Reuters witness said voting was delayed after roads leading to some polling stations in Vuwani town in the northern Limpopo province were blocked overnight by unknown people.
A final Ipsos survey earlier this week placed the ANC and DA in a close battle for the key cities after some undecided voters drifted back to the ruling party.
“It’s fantastic, and I hope that everybody would want to use their vote in the right way”, said Tutu.
In December, he rattled investors after changing his finance minister twice in a week, sending the rand plummeting.
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After months of legal wrangling, Zuma was ordered by the country’s Constitutional Court to repay the inflated costs of home improvements at his Nkandla private estate.
