Johannesburg/Durban - The ANC has conceded defeat in the hotly contested Nelson Mandela Bay metro, while a major shift in the balance of power in the country’s key Gauteng metros is in the offing.
While the ANC remained significantly ahead across the country, cementing its dominance in KwaZulu-Natal, 17 hung municipalities have emerged and the party was likely to be forced into difficult marriages of convenience with other parties.
In Tshwane and Johannesburg, the ANC and DA were neck-and-neck on Friday morning, with opposition parties capitalising on voter disillusionment as the “aura of liberation” faded.
Vote counting was likely to be concluded on Friday, with 91% of the votes having been counted at the time of publication.
ANC chief whip, Jackson Mthembu, confirmed the ANC had decided to withdraw its dispute over the outcome of the Nelson Mandela poll after consulting with party structures in the region.
According to Mthembu, the party had lost because the DA had managed to get its supporters to go out and vote.
“We are not happy about the turnout in ANC strongholds, we did not manage to get our people and our voters to come out in their thousands and vote.
“That explains the phenomenon of Nelson Mandela Bay. We have more wards there, but we still lost,” said Mthembu.
With the DA and the EFF having made it clear they would not go into a coalition with the ANC, numbers trickling in are suggesting an ideologically inconceivable marriage between the two parties may be on the cards to dislodge the ANC in the biggest metros.
The counting of votes continued throughout the night.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, the DA was ahead with 46.65%, followed by the ANC with 40.99% and 5.07% for the EFF.
The DA was also leading in Tshwane with 43.36%, the ANC coming behind at 42.03% and the EFF third at 10.6%.
Johannesburg also saw a narrow lead by the ANC, which was at 41.79%, while the DA was at 41.72%.
The EFF was at 10%, which would see them integral to any coalition to form an executive council if the numbers remained close to what they were at the time of publication.
In Ekurhuleni the ANC was leading the pack with 47.26% and was followed by the DA at 36.2% and the EFF with 11.11%.
While it appears to be shaken in some of the metros, the ANC remained significantly ahead across the country, with an overall vote of 54.8%. The DA and EFF had 26.51% and 7.94% respectively.
The ANC was leading the rest of the pack in terms of the number of seats won across the country with 3 657 ward and PR seats, with the DA trailing behind with 1070 seats.
The EFF had a total of 340 seats across the country, but had only managed to win five wards.
Also making a relatively strong showing was the IFP, which was fourth overall, with a total of 296 seats.
As the voting continued this morning, the ANC was leading in 125 councils, followed by the DA which was leading in 21 councils.
There were also 17 hung municipalities, which would need a coalition to form an executive council.
Political analyst, Imraan Buccus, said the DA had run an “incredible campaign”, capitalising on the “corruption narrative”.
“The DA realises people are disillusioned and that these are uncertain times on a global scale,” he said.
“The aura of liberation is fading and this may contribute to a steady decline of the ANC – the metros in Gauteng are evidence of this,” he said.