Mantashe unfazed as rivals chip away at ANC support - IOL

ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe has brushed aside pressure from opposition parties, insisting that political competition is part and parcel of elections, as early results trickle in.

Speaking to journalists at the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) national results operation centre in Midrand on Thursday, Mantashe said the ANC was not surprised that rival parties were trying to win over its voters.

He focused on voter turnout and the latest election projections by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), maintaining that South Africans were simply exercising the democratic freedoms won through the country’s liberation struggle.

Mantashe said the freedom to form political parties and choose alternatives was fundamental to democracy, adding that the ANC had no regrets about allowing that freedom.

“We have given them that freedom and we don’t regret it,” he said.

He acknowledged that registered political parties were exploring different opportunities, with some seeking benefits and others believing they could do better.

“A democracy that is maturing is a good democracy,” Mantashe said.

He added that the political shifts seen around the world were also unfolding in South Africa, insisting the ANC continued to wield considerable influence despite the changing electoral landscape.

But the early numbers show that influence under serious strain.

These are the first municipal elections since the ANC lost its outright majority in the 2024 general elections, forcing it into the Government of National Unity (GNU) with the DA and other parties.

By 12.20pm on Thursday, with 31% of votes counted, the ANC had 32.18% nationally, with its GNU partner the DA second on 27.94%.

That is a far cry from the 45.59% the ANC won in the 2021 local government elections, when the DA took 21.62%.

The MK Party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, was third on 6.52% and had already won control of a council in its first local government elections.

The ANC had won outright control of eight of the country’s 213 councils so far, while the DA and the MK Party had one each.

Another 29 councils were hung, with 174 still to be calculated.

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) had won 68 seats, the third most of any party, ahead of the MK Party on 37.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the MK Party was ahead of the ANC in early results.

In the Eastern Cape, long one of the ANC’s strongholds, the party had slipped below 50% earlier on Thursday, having won more than 60% of the vote there in the 2024 provincial election.

Earlier on Thursday, the ANC was on 38.37% in Buffalo City with 30% of votes counted, down from the 59.4% it won outright in the metro in 2021.

In the Western Cape, the PA was earlier on Thursday less than a percentage point behind the ANC.

The ANC is also facing its long-time alliance partner, the SACP, which is contesting the elections separately.