South African elections: ANC loses support in three cities

Urban South Africans dealt the ANC its biggest political blow since the end of apartheid on Thursday, knocking the ruling party off its perch in three cities as voters vented anger at corruption, high unemployment and poor public services.

The African National Congress – which ended white-minority rule when it won power in the first democratic national election in 1994 – held a big lead in the overall count in nationwide municipal elections. But it was trailing the opposition Democratic Alliance in Port Elizabeth, which it has previously held virtually unopposed for the last two decades.

The ANC was also unlikely to make it to a 50 per cent outright majority in the capital Pretoria and economic-hub Johannesburg. A significant loss of support for the ruling party in these areas could mark a watershed in South African society and politics as the country shifts from what has effectively been a one-party system in the era immediately post-apartheid.

It could reshape the political landscape ahead of the 2019 national election, and may also embolden President Jacob Zuma’s rivals within the ANC to challenge him. The municipal vote comes as Africa’s most industrialised country teeters on the edge of a recession after a string of corruption scandals surrounding Zuma.

The ANC also failed to take control of Mr Zuma’s hometown of Nkandla, a symbolic blow to the scandal-tinged president.

Mr Zuma survived an impeachment vote in April after the Constitutional Court said he breached the law by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent on renovating his private home in Nkandla, located in a poverty-stricken rural area of Kwa-Zulu Natal province.

"Nkandla" has become a household word in South Africa that is almost synonymous with graft.

Sternest test

The loss, in local polls that are the sternest test the ANC has faced since the end of apartheid in 1994, will also smart because it was at the hands of the

Inkatha Freedom Party

(IFP), a Zulu nationalist party, which widened its tally in the area to 54 per cent from 46 per cent in 2011. The ruling party garnered 44 per cent.

Mr Zuma, a traditional Zulu with four wives and an earthy style, has helped deliver the Zulu vote in the province for the ANC in elections, and cast his own vote in the area on Wednesday.

The IFP, which mostly appeals to Zulus, had almost 5 per cent of the national vote with most of the tally completed, compared to 3.6 per cent in the last local elections in 2011.

– (Reuters)