JOHANNESBURG,– South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), the party that has dominated the country’s politics for three decades, acknowledged on Sunday that it had been humbled by recent election results that ended its 30-year majority.
Despite this setback, the ANC vowed not to replace President Cyril Ramaphosa as a condition for forming a new governing coalition.
Official results from Wednesday’s vote, expected on Sunday evening, will confirm the end of the ANC’s unchallenged grip on power and initiate a scramble to form a coalition with one or more opposition parties.
Political parties will have two weeks to negotiate a deal before a new parliament convenes to elect a president, who is likely to still be from the ANC, the largest party. Voters, frustrated by high unemployment, inequality, and frequent power outages, reduced their support for the ANC to 40%, down from 57.5% in the 2019 parliamentary vote.
“Did we commit mistakes? Yes, we did. In governance and everywhere else,” Fikile Mbalula, the party’s secretary general, admitted during the ANC’s first press briefing since the polls. He added that the party had “nothing to celebrate.”
This outcome means the ANC must now share power, likely with a major political rival, a scenario unprecedented since the end of white minority rule in 1994. “The ANC is committed to the formation of a government that reflects the will of the people, that is stable, and that is able to govern effectively,” Mbalula said. He noted that the ANC would hold internal discussions and engage with other parties to form national and provincial governments that “reflect the will of the people and are able to take the country forward.”
The party’s poor performance has sparked speculation about Ramaphosa’s future, with some suggesting that he might be pressured to step down either by a prospective coalition partner or through an internal leadership challenge. However, Mbalula firmly stated that the ANC would not succumb to demands for Ramaphosa’s resignation. “That is a no-go area,” he declared.
COSATU, South Africa’s largest trade union group and a key ANC ally, also expressed support for Ramaphosa. “What’s key is that a coalition be led by the ANC and President Ramaphosa,” COSATU spokesman Matthew Parks said.
With nearly all votes from the May 29 poll counted, results from 99.9% of polling stations were in by Sunday afternoon. The ANC, which has won every national election by a wide margin since 1994, has seen its support decline over the past decade. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), received 21.8% of the vote. uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former President Jacob Zuma and named after the ANC’s former armed wing, garnered 14.6%, dealing a significant blow to the ANC. Despite performing better than expected, MK announced it was considering challenging the results in court.
The far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, secured 9.5% of the vote. The potential for an ANC coalition with either the EFF or MK has unsettled South Africa’s business community and international investors, who favor a partnership that includes the DA.
The DA and the smaller Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) were set to meet separately on Sunday to discuss their next steps. “We will look at the final lie of the land,” said DA spokesperson Charity McCord, noting that no coalition talks had yet taken place with any party. Local media reported that the DA might consider a cooperation pact with the ANC, supporting it in key decisions in exchange for top parliamentary positions. The IFP could also be part of such an arrangement.
The ANC’s leadership is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the way forward. – Reuters
