Forty percent. That was the ANC’s share of the national vote, and it was not enough. When final results were declared late on a Sunday night, the party that has governed South Africa since Nelson Mandela’s victory in 1994 had lost its parliamentary majority for the first time.
Voters had gone to the polls on Wednesday. Long lines formed from early morning in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and in townships and rural areas too. People interviewed named high unemployment, rampant crime, frequent power outages and corruption inside the ANC as their reasons for wanting change. Skhumbuzo Mnyandu, a 48-year-old business owner from KwaMashu, said he had backed the ANC for years but switched to the uMkhonto we Sizwe party, known as MK, because he was disillusioned with the government. Others stayed loyal and doubted what the opposition was promising.
The Independent Electoral Commission described voting as smooth at most sites. It listed minor problems: ballot papers that arrived late, and some voters turned away over registration issues. There were 27 million registered voters.
President Cyril Ramaphosa cast his ballot in Soweto and sounded sure of himself. “I have no doubt whatsoever in my heart of hearts that the people will invest their confidence in the African National Congress,” he said.
Who took the votes
The pro-business Democratic Alliance, the official opposition, finished second with over 21 percent. MK, formed only recently and led by former president Jacob Zuma, came in with around 14 percent and took a bite out of ANC support. Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema had campaigned openly on unseating the ANC and on radical economic reforms.
There is some irony in the MK result. Zuma, now 82, is the man who once boasted that the ANC would rule “until Jesus comes back.” He has a grudge against the party, which pushed him out of the presidency in 2018 amid corruption scandals. A joke making the rounds in South Africa this week holds that Jesus must have returned.
A chastened ANC
Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula made the party’s first public remarks after the vote. “There is nothing to celebrate,” he said, adding: “It is the will of the people, and that is what we must accept.”
“The results send a clear message to the ANC,” Mbalula said. “We wish to assure the people of South Africa that we have heard them, we have heard their concerns, their frustrations and their dissatisfaction.”
He said the ANC would not ask Ramaphosa to step down, whatever some reports had claimed. On coalition partners, he said only that talks with other parties were under way and named none.
David Everatt, a professor at the Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg, thought nearly every option was still open. Business interests would like to see the DA in government, he said, but some inside the ANC might balk because they see it as a “white” party and lean toward a radical partner such as the EFF. “The political arithmetic is being recalibrated almost hourly,” Everatt said, and the parties would have to “horse-trade very quickly” because little time remained to form a government.
Zuma’s challenge to the count
On Saturday Zuma called for the official declaration to be delayed. He alleged rigging and demanded a recount, but offered no proof, and the election has been widely praised as free and fair. According to Everatt, Zuma also hinted that violence could follow if the announcement went ahead on schedule. “This is not a democrat, this is an autocrat who is threatening violence to try to get what he wants,” Everatt said.
The electoral commission said it was handling challenges to the vote but would not postpone. The declaration took place Sunday night at a conference center in Johannesburg, and Ramaphosa confirmed he would attend.
Sources
- South Africa’s governing ANC humbled after historic vote
- Zambia : South Africa Votes In Historic Election As ANC Faces Potential Loss Of Majority
