Dissecting the fallout from a bruising local government election, African National Congress (ANC) 1st deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane admitted that low voter turnout in key strongholds and a split opposition vote severely crippled the party’s performance in critical metropolitan councils.
Speaking to reporters at the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) national results perations centre (ROC) in Midrand this afternoon, Mokonyane conceded that while the ruling party retained a heavy footprint in individual ward victories, depressed participation cost the party vital proportional representation (PR) seats.
The admissions come as national vote capturing inches past the 90% mark, revealing a dramatically altered municipal landscape defined by political fragmentation and a record surge in hung councils.
Addressing the ANC’s decline across South Africa’s economic heartland, Mokonyane rejected claims that the party failed to engage voters, pointing instead to unequal turnout dynamics between wards.
“The challenge has been on voter turnout in our constituencies, and we definitely have to go back, look at the results, and see how best we then defend the base and also reach out to where the voter did not come out,” Mokonyane said.
Illustrating how low turnout eroded the party’s overall seat tally in metropolitan councils, Mokonyane cited severe variances in candidate support across Johannesburg.
“If you look at the number of votes that our ward councillors got, we should have actually increased the turnout to support the candidate so that we are able to have proportional representation.
“As one of the wards here in Johannesburg that we won with 6,644 [votes], but because of the other wards that we won with 1,000 or 2,000, that proportional representation that could have come with three seats from that ward got affected by the lower voter turnout.”
The electoral bleed has hit the ANC hardest in major urban centres. Key metros including Buffalo City Metro, the City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and the City of Tshwane are now firmly anchored in hung territory, forcing political parties to contemplate complex coalition building.
While the IEC’s national map in Midrand remains visibly dominated by the ANC’s traditional green across non-metropolitan municipalities, the party’s national vote share has tumbled to just under 52%—a sharp decline from the 62% benchmark achieved in 2016.
Despite facing executive displacement across Gauteng’s economic hub, Mokonyane indicated that the party would not rush into backdoor power-sharing arrangements without explicit mandate from its highest decision-making bodies.
“We were in coalitions, both in Ekurhuleni and also the City of Johannesburg, as well as in Tshwane
“Our numbers do actually indicate that we may not be the ones who are in control of those municipalities, and therefore, we’ll have to go back to the National Executive Committee (NEC) and get direction as to what the way forward should be.
“We accept the outcome so that we are able to contribute towards accelerating service delivery, fixing local government, and growing the economy,” she said.
Open to broad talks, but no automatic DA pact
Responding to statements from the DA regarding opposition outreach, Mokonyane confirmed that formal coalition discussions between the ANC and DA had not taken place, despite informal approaches from various political actors.
“Everybody is calling us, typical of the ANC, but there’s never been any discussion until now, until we go through the processes within the party,” Mokonyane said.
She pushed back against the notion that coalition discussions would pivot around a two-party arrangement between the ANC and the DA in key metros.
“The Democratic Alliance is not the only party that we would want to work with.
“We would want to work with any party that has been given a mandate by South Africans, but we would also not impose ourselves where the electorate has not identified the ANC as a leading party,” Mokonyane said.
The dramatic shift in voter sentiment has rewritten local governance structures nationwide. The number of hung councils – where no single political party holds an absolute majority has skyrocketed from 27 in the previous electoral cycle to over 100 councils.
Out of the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, seven are now headed for complex coalition governance, leaving Cape Town as the sole metro governed by an outright majority winner.
Mokonyane also dismissed suggestions that the ANC suffered due to its strategy regarding mayoral candidate announcements, maintaining that regional leadership was deployed effectively to mobilise communities.
“We were not disadvantaged. We pronounced who these mayoral candidates are. We said they must go and work and bring out the voters, and now it is time to reflect as to whether they did perform.”
As final vote capturing concludes in Midrand, political parties across the spectrum are now convening emergency national executives to navigate an unprecedented era of multi-party local governance.