By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) Chairperson Gwede Mantashe says the electoral decline is a sign of South Africa’s maturing democracy.
Mantashe was speaking at the National Results Operations Centre at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Thursday.
The ANC is on track to win about 31.7% of the vote at the national level, according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The state institute also sees the Democratic Alliance (DA) garnering 25.7% backing, with f uMkhonto weSizwe Party, or MK Party, garnering 9%, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 6.1% and ActionSA 5.1%.
The overarching national projections won’t reflect who is likely to control the major towns, with support for a number of the parties concentrated in some specific areas — for example the port city of Durban in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, where Zuma’s MK Party could make inroads.
In the last municipal elections in 2021, the ANC won 45.6% support, the DA 21.7% and the EFF 10.3%. The MK Party was only formed in 2023.
Mantashe said the growing number of political parties competing for votes shows that South Africans are increasingly exploring their political choices.
He said it was too early to draw firm conclusions from the results, arguing that several major areas, including townships, were still to be counted.
“At this point 32% is not the final result. We may improve, we may go up to 40%, we may go beyond 40%. We are at 32% now. And major areas and township areas have not been counted yet. So it is premature to have a concrete outcome out of what you see now, “he said.
Mantashe maintained the ANC continued to have significant influence in South African politics. He also pointed to the record number of registered political parties contesting the elections.
“A democracy that is maturing is a good democracy. Let people fight. I’m sure that you have seen even in global politics, things are shifting. We are not an exception,” he said.
When questioned about remarks by ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula attributing potholes to climate change, and Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero’s assertion that the city was not in crisis, Mantashe said he did not want to be drawn into what he described as “negative discussions”.
“I’m not a negative human being. I’m positive, I’m always optimistic, and now you want to drag me into negativity. I don’t go there,” he said.
Addressing concerns about the ANC’s declining support, Mantashe defended the party’s development record, pointing to progress in housing and access to basic services. He argued that the ANC’s achievements were sometimes overlooked because people had become accustomed to improvements made since the advent of democracy.
“If we say we build houses, we do build houses, sometimes slower than we predicted, but we do build houses,” he said.
Mantashe also cited electricity access as an example of the country’s progress, claiming that access had increased from 34% of South Africans in 1994 to 95% today… People ignore that because they have electricity. When they have problems of access, they think that it’s the only problem in the world, but there are problems that go with access,” he said.
Mantashe was reluctant to entertain discussions about potential political partnerships before the final results were known.
“If you prepare coalitions before results, you are being very pessimistic. You don’t do that. You contest elections to win outright. If you don’t, then you look into coalitions,” he said.
He also downplayed the pressure associated with the ANC’s electoral performance, comparing the fluctuations in political support to those experienced by parties in other democracies.”
The pressure is natural during elections,” he said. “It happens in elections. That is what maturing democracy is all about.”
The IEC reported that 23,444 results had been scanned (35.5% of the expected total), while 22,983 (34.8%) had been captured and 16,791 (25.4%) independently audited.