South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has suffered its weakest performance in local elections, securing less than a third of the vote in a result that further challenges the party’s long-standing dominance of the country’s political system. The outcome reflects mounting voter dissatisfaction over corruption, unemployment and deteriorating public services, while strengthening the role of opposition parties and municipal coalitions.
According to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), the ANC received 30.76 per cent of the national vote, down from 45.6 per cent in the 2021 local elections. Despite the decline, it remained the country's largest political party, ahead of the Democratic Alliance (DA), which secured 24.64 per cent. Former president Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party came third with 9.76 per cent, followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 6.22 per cent and ActionSA with 5.67 per cent.
The results also highlighted the changing balance of power in South Africa's eight metropolitan municipalities. The DA emerged as the leading party in five, including Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay, while retaining its outright majority in Cape Town. The MK party came first in eThekwini, the metropolitan municipality encompassing Durban, while the ANC failed to secure outright control of any of the country's major metropolitan councils.
The fragmented electoral landscape is expected to trigger extensive coalition negotiations. According to the IEC, 127 municipal councils emerged without a party holding an outright majority in the official results announced on November 8. Smaller political parties are therefore likely to play an important role in determining the composition of local administrations.
The vote marks another setback for the ANC, which has governed South Africa nationally since the end of apartheid in 1994. Its declining electoral support has been associated with persistent unemployment, corruption allegations, infrastructure problems and dissatisfaction with the delivery of basic public services. Beyond municipal politics, the outcome carries implications for the ANC's internal leadership contest ahead of its 2027 party conference and the country's 2029 general elections. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to step down as ANC leader in 2027, adding to uncertainty over the party's future direction. The coalition negotiations now under way will provide an indication of how political alliances are evolving in a country increasingly characterised by fragmented electoral support.
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