The DA was narrowly ahead in Tshwane, home to the capital Pretoria, while the ANC held a slim margin in the country’s economic hub of Johannesburg, in tight races that have changed hands several times during the vote count. But it has been challenged by corruption scandals and a stagnant economy that has frustrated the country’s urban middle class.
Advertisement
In Tshwane, the metropolitan area that includes Pretoria, DA won 43.1 percent of the vote over the ANC’s 41.2 percent, according to final results in elections highlighting the declining popularity of the party that led the anti-apartheid struggle.
The DA, which a year ago elected its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, as part of its efforts to shake off its image as a party that mainly serves white interests, has retained control of Cape Town, which it has held since 2006.
Whilst the ANC received significant support, we however note and remain concerned that we did not receive more than 50% in some of the municipalities. It has been pushing hard to win supporters in other regions, saying its brand is good governance.
The party’s leader, 36-year-old Mmusi Maimane, had predicted victory in Tshwane.
Which leaves, as the only option left, Malema getting into bed with the DA – a party he has consistently scorned as an agent of the “white monopoly capital” he says still controls Africa’s most industrialised economy. “No one went beyond the outright majority mark”, Didiza said on the sidelines of the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) results operations centre in Pretoria, where the 2016 local poll results were to be formally announced.
Among the EFF’s basket of expectations would be the demand that the governing party remove Zuma as South Africa’s president with immediate effect – a demand that would stall any future talks as this would have to be processed through the ANC’s senior structures.
“The ANC has turned its back on everything Nelson Mandela fought for”, said Maimane, a former pastor who claimed the Democratic Alliance represents Mandela’s nonracial vision for South Africa better than the ANC.
Political analyst professor Andre Duvenhage said the result of the election made clear the ANC would not rule until Jesus returns.
Zuma, jailed on Robben Island with Mandela during apartheid, retains deep loyalty inside the ANC and in many rural areas, although he can not stand for a third term.
“We can confirm that we are into (coalition) negotiations as we speak”, said Paul Mashatile, who blamed the poor result on low voter turnout.
The South African economy has stagnated since 2008’s global financial crisis, and the country has one of the highest rates of economic inequality in the world. The Constitutional Court recently said Mr Zuma violated the constitution and instructed him to reimburse the state 507,000 dollars (£386,000).
Advertisement
A more radical opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, contested the local elections for the first time and received 8 per cent of the vote nationwide after promising measures to help the poor.
