The ANC has dominated since Mandela won the presidential election in 1994/Getty Images
The ANC is likely to loose its majority in parliament for the first time since the late Nelson Mandela won the presidential election in 1994.
Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress is set to loose a majority in the country’s parliament for the first time in 30 years (1994), when Mandela won a landslide victory to end apartheid and become the country’s president.
Results from at least 20% of the districts where votes were cast show that the ANC is in the lead with 44%, and the closest opposition party, the DA is at 25%.
The radical EFF party is at 9%, while former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe party is at 8%.
While the final round of results is expected by the weekend, the initial results project that the ANC will loose its majority in parliament since the end of apartheid.
Projections from the News24 website and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) say that the ANC could record a final vote of 42%, a significant drop from the 57% it recorded in 2019.
From the results released so far, the ANC has suffered heavy losses to Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in KwaZulu-Natal, the country’s second-highest province in terms of votes.
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MK is leading the province with 43%, while the ANC is at 21%.
It is hardly surprising that the ANC is loosing in KwaZulu, where former president Jacob Zuma hails from.
Zuma shocked many in December 2023 when he announced that he would support MK instead of the ANC in the elections.
He could not run for parliament due to a conviction for contempt of court, but his name still appeared as leader of the MK on the ballot paper.
The BBC reports that William Gumede, a political analyst, said a loss in KwaZulu-Natal would be a “major upset” to the ANC and is capable of leading to the “potential decimation” of the party in the region.
The ANC might also loose its majority in the country’s economic heartland of Guateng.
In Guateng, the ANC is winning with 36% but is closely followed by the DA with 29%.
Key issues for voters in the election are corruption, a high rate of unemployment, and crime in the Rainbow Nation.
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