South Africa is set to end three decades of dominance by the party that freed it from apartheid, as voters angry at joblessness, inequality and power shortages slashed the African National Congress’s (ANC) share of the vote to 40 per cent.
A dramatically weakened mandate for the legacy party of Nelson Mandela, down from the 57.5 per cent it got in the 2019 parliamentary election, means the ANC must now share power with a rival in order to remain in government — an unprecedented prospect.
“We can talk to everybody and anybody,” said Gwede Mantashe, the ANC chairman and current mines and energy minister, in comments broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), when asked who the party was discussing a possible coalition deal with.
Vote tallying from Wednesday’s poll was entering the final stages on Saturday, with results in from more than 99 per cent of polling stations giving the ANC 40.27 per cent.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.63 per cent, and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, managed to grab 14.71 per cent.
The ANC has won every previous national election by a landslide since the historic 1994 vote that ended white minority rule, but over the last decade its support has dwindled as the economy stagnated, unemployment rose and roads and power stations crumbled.
MK’s strong performance, especially in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, is one of the main reasons the ANC failed to secure a majority, and will now have to strike a coalition deal or another form of agreement with one or more smaller parties.
‘We are all talking to one another’
Political parties’ share of the vote determines the number of seats they get in the National Assembly, which elects the nation’s president.
Investors in Africa’s most industrialised economy will hope the uncertain picture of who will form government can quickly become clear, and that the country avoids an extended period of wrangling if the parties struggle to reach an agreement.
However, some parties have questioned what they say are vote-counting inconsistencies that may lead to some results being contested.
“There is peace, there is harmony. We [are] all talking to one another,” ANC First Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane said on SABC.
“I wish the mood that is here can permeate to communities and voters.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa can in theory still keep his job, given the ANC is on course to get about twice as many votes as the next party.
But he will be weakened and could face calls to quit both from opposition parties and critics within his deeply divided party.
On Friday, however, a top ANC official backed him to stay on as party leader and analysts say he has no obvious successor.
A deal to keep the ANC in the presidency could involve opposition backing in exchange either for cabinet posts or for more control of parliament, perhaps even the speaker position.
The election commission has pencilled in a final results announcement for Sunday.
Reuters