South Africa's governing African National
Congress has been defeated by the opposition
Democratic Alliance in local polls in the capital
Pretoria.
The DA took 43% of the vote compared with the
ANC's 41% in Tshwane, the municipality that
includes Pretoria.
The DA will need to form a coalition in order to
secure control there.
In the country's largest city, Johannesburg, the
ANC beat the DA but fell short of an outright
majority, with 44% of the vote.
The ANC has also lost Nelson Mandela Bay
metropolitan area in the Eastern Cape, which
includes Port Elizabeth, to the DA.
End of racial politics?
It is the ANC's worst electoral performance since
it was elected to power at the end of apartheid
and the replacement of white minority rule by
democracy in 1994, and the first time since then
that it has lost control of the capital.
The DA has won 93 seats in Tshwane while the
ANC is second with 89 seats in the 214-seat
municipal council.
Click to see content: SApolls
Observers say a host of corruption scandals and
internal party squabbles are to blame for the
ANC's decline.
The South African economy has stagnated since
2008's global financial crisis, and the country has
one of the highest rates of economic inequality in
the world.
Revelations that upgrades to President Jacob
Zuma's private home were funded with $20m of
public money caused an outcry. The
Constitutional Court recently instructed Mr Zuma
to reimburse the state $507,000.
ANC's influence in decline: Milton Nkosi, BBC
News, South Africa
The municipal election result is probably the
biggest wake-up call the governing ANC has
received since it ushered in democracy in South
Africa in 1994.
Clearly the ANC still commands huge support
across the country but that support is waning. It
can no longer take it for granted that the black
majority will blindly follow it.
A good example is in the Nelson Mandela Bay
municipality, won by the DA, which has a rich
history of anti-apartheid struggle. Its new DA
mayor is Athol Trollip, who is white.
Twenty-two years after the end of apartheid,
black people are now voting on issues and not on
race. Mr Trollip, who speaks fluent Xhosa, would
not be where he is if the vast majority of black
people had not voted for him.
The party of late President Mandela, the icon of
the struggle against apartheid, still commands
strong support with about 54% of the national
vote.
The DA has received about 27%, while the radical
Economic Freedom Fighters party - contesting
local elections for the first time - has taken about
8%.
The DA's leader, 36-year-old Mmusi Maimane,
told reporters: "For far too long, the ANC has
governed South Africa with absolute impunity."
He added that the idea that his party - which has
its roots in the non-ANC opposition to apartheid -
was a white one had been "completely shattered".
The ANC said it would "reflect and introspect
where our support has dropped".
In a brief address before the final results were
announced, 74-year-old President Zuma praised
the conduct of a vote he called largely peaceful,
free and fair.
"Our democracy is maturing," he said. "Let us get
back to work and build our country together."
Congress has been defeated by the opposition
Democratic Alliance in local polls in the capital
Pretoria.
The DA took 43% of the vote compared with the
ANC's 41% in Tshwane, the municipality that
includes Pretoria.
The DA will need to form a coalition in order to
secure control there.
In the country's largest city, Johannesburg, the
ANC beat the DA but fell short of an outright
majority, with 44% of the vote.
The ANC has also lost Nelson Mandela Bay
metropolitan area in the Eastern Cape, which
includes Port Elizabeth, to the DA.
End of racial politics?
It is the ANC's worst electoral performance since
it was elected to power at the end of apartheid
and the replacement of white minority rule by
democracy in 1994, and the first time since then
that it has lost control of the capital.
The DA has won 93 seats in Tshwane while the
ANC is second with 89 seats in the 214-seat
municipal council.
Click to see content: SApolls
Observers say a host of corruption scandals and
internal party squabbles are to blame for the
ANC's decline.
The South African economy has stagnated since
2008's global financial crisis, and the country has
one of the highest rates of economic inequality in
the world.
Revelations that upgrades to President Jacob
Zuma's private home were funded with $20m of
public money caused an outcry. The
Constitutional Court recently instructed Mr Zuma
to reimburse the state $507,000.
ANC's influence in decline: Milton Nkosi, BBC
News, South Africa
The municipal election result is probably the
biggest wake-up call the governing ANC has
received since it ushered in democracy in South
Africa in 1994.
Clearly the ANC still commands huge support
across the country but that support is waning. It
can no longer take it for granted that the black
majority will blindly follow it.
A good example is in the Nelson Mandela Bay
municipality, won by the DA, which has a rich
history of anti-apartheid struggle. Its new DA
mayor is Athol Trollip, who is white.
Twenty-two years after the end of apartheid,
black people are now voting on issues and not on
race. Mr Trollip, who speaks fluent Xhosa, would
not be where he is if the vast majority of black
people had not voted for him.
The party of late President Mandela, the icon of
the struggle against apartheid, still commands
strong support with about 54% of the national
vote.
The DA has received about 27%, while the radical
Economic Freedom Fighters party - contesting
local elections for the first time - has taken about
8%.
The DA's leader, 36-year-old Mmusi Maimane,
told reporters: "For far too long, the ANC has
governed South Africa with absolute impunity."
He added that the idea that his party - which has
its roots in the non-ANC opposition to apartheid -
was a white one had been "completely shattered".
The ANC said it would "reflect and introspect
where our support has dropped".
In a brief address before the final results were
announced, 74-year-old President Zuma praised
the conduct of a vote he called largely peaceful,
free and fair.
"Our democracy is maturing," he said. "Let us get
back to work and build our country together."
0 Comments