By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Mosotho Moepya (chairperson) of the Electoral Commission announced the arrival of the first election results during the South Africa General Elections at the National Results Operation Centre (ROC) at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.
South Africans voted in the country’s seventh democratic general elections to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces.
The live results, which are trickling in as vote counting continues, indicate the African National Congress (ANC) is in the lead. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is in second position and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in third. The newly formed Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party is among the top parties on the leaderboard.
The IEC said in order to improve the quality of the counting and the completion of result slips, it has instituted a new category of staff who will support the presiding officer with the counting effort.
“The recruitment criteria for these staff was slightly different from the rest as high levels of numeracy are mandatory. Three such staff were being appointed for each voting station and each sub-station where we operate a voting centre,” the IEC said.
The seismic delays stemmed from the voter management devices (VMDs) which persistently glitched at several municipalities around the country as voters queued to cast their vote.
The ANC looks set to retain control of the Nothern Province. The party slipped below 60% for the first time in 2019, resulting in opposition parties training their focus on the province.
Current Premier Zamani Saul is among President Cyril Ramaphosa’s strongest backers and allies. He is seen as a reformer in the party and pushed for opening a Special Investigating Unit office in the province for the first time after 2019.
In KwaZulu-Natal, MK Party already leads the race with more than 37.70%, followed by the ANC with 33.22%, the IFP with 16.83% and the DA with 6.81%.
- MK is strong in the northern parts of the province, especially around Pongola, where it is making serious inroads into ANC support. At uPhongolo it was at 51% shortly after 07:00, and the ANC a distant fourth at less than 9%. This is where the ANC normally registers at around 90% support.
- In the south, in the Umzimkulu district (to the west if Ixopo), where the ANC secured almost 85% of the vote in 2019, MK is on 35.1%. Almost all their support is coming from the ANC. The EFF is being decimated.
- In the Mzunduzi region – the central part of the province around Pietermaritzburg – MK has come out of the blocks hot. Their support clocks in at just short of 50% (from a zero basis). The ANC dominated in 2019, with 64% support.
In Gauteng, the DA has taken the lead with 51.15%, followed by the ANC with 24.53% and VF PLUS with 9.36% while in the Western Cape; the DA has 50.28%, with the ANC on 21.21% and Patriotic Alliance (PA) on 17.09%. The PA is doing exceptionally well in the Western Cape.
So far, the IEC said counting at 218 of 23 293 voting districts have been completed.
According to the Electoral Act, the Commission has seven days within which to announce the results.
The ANC continues to lead the pack, with well over 24,000 votes, while the DA is currently on 9,000, the EFF is just hovering under 4,000 and the MK Party is approaching the 3,000 votes mark but with less than 50,000 ballots counted this remains a long game that will shift multiple times over coming days.
Follow the Results Here: Results Dashboard 2024 National and Provincial Elections.