ANC faces bruising defeat in South African local elections with 80% of ballots counted

Election posters in Pretoria, Guateng province, as South Africans went to the polls on Wednesday. Final results are due this weekend. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersView image in fullscreenElection posters in Pretoria, Guateng province, as South Africans went to the polls on Wednesday.

Final results are due this weekend. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersANC (African National Congress)ANC faces bruising defeat in South African local elections with 80% of ballots countedFormer liberation movement’s share of national vote almost 14 percentage points below 2021 result.

Prefira o Guardian no Google O Congresso Nacional Africano está no caminho de sofrer uma derrota dolorosa nas eleições locais da África do Sul, com o partido que antes dominava, de Nelson Mandela, caindo para menos de um terço dos votos nacionalmente, com mais de 80% das urnas contabilizadas.

Wednesday’s fragmented vote marks another stage in the decline of the ANC, which has led national governments since the end of white minority apartheid rule in 1994.

High unemployment, crime, corruption and poor local service delivery have all contributed to voters turning away from the party.

O antigo movimento de libertação está projetado para perder seu status como o maior partido nas duas províncias mais populosas, Gauteng e KwaZulu‑Natal, enquanto os partidos iniciam negociações de coalizão por trás de portas fechadas.

The final results are expected to be announced on Sunday.

The ANC was on 31. 8% of the vote nationally, almost 14 percentage points below its 2021 local election result. The centre-right, white-led Democratic Alliance (DA) had 24.

1% do voto, enquanto o partido uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) do ex‑presidente do ANC Jacob Zuma estava em 9,3%.

Turnout also rose in Wednesday’s poll. The election commission estimated that 54. 5% of registered voters cast their ballot, up from 46% five years ago.

The final shape of coalitions in some of the country’s biggest cities remained unclear with the final votes still being counted. Senior figures in key parties said they would talk with almost anyone, while keeping negotiating strategies under wraps.

In Johannesburg, South Africa’s commercial capital and biggest city, with 4. 8 million people, voters have had to contend with regular water and power cuts, uncollected rubbish and potholes.

O município, que já passou por 10 mudanças de prefeito na última década em meio a coalizões instáveis, admitiu um atraso de 220 bilhões de rand (£9,9bn) em gastos com infraestrutura.

With just over half of votes counted in Johannesburg, the DA was leading with 40%, having run an energetic campaign under Helen Zille, a 75-year-old former Cape Town mayor.

O ANC, que lidera a coalizão atual, ficou em segundo lugar com 17,5%. ActionSA, partido de direita liderado por Herman Mashaba, ficou em 15,5%. Mashaba prometeu nunca trabalhar com Zille, a quem ele chama de “racista”, algo que ela nega veementemente.

View image in fullscreenThe DA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, swims in a three-and-a-half-year-old water leak in the suburb of Douglasdale earlier this year to highlight crumbling infrastructure.

Photograph: Jacques Nelles/DAMany of the ANC’s township strongholds have yet to report full results. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a respected thinktank, has projected the DA will finish with 34%, the ANC 20% and ActionSA 16.

Coalitions in Gauteng’s three city municipalities are often negotiated together. The DA is leading in all three.

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O partido MK, liderado pelo Zuma de 84 anos, que continua resistindo e negando inúmeras acusações de corrupção, deve substituir o ANC como o maior partido em KwaZulu‑Natal.

Founded in 2023, it mixes socially conservative Zulu nationalism with pledges to redistribute land and wealth from white to black South Africans.

With half of votes counted in eThekwini municipality, which contains Durban, the MK had 41%, meaning other parties could form a coalition to keep it out of power.

Meanwhile, the DA is projected to maintain its majority in Cape Town, despite growing middle-class anger over rising housing costs.

Voters choose a local councillor and a party, with seats allocated via proportional representation. Councillors will then have two weeks to elect mayors and form municipal governments.