Leaders of political parties that are participating in their inaugural election are relying on the urban vote to swing the electoral balance in their favour once vote counting has been completed in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
By 4pm, with nearly 22% of the votes counted, the new entrants such as Rise Mzansi, Build One SA (Bosa) and ActionSA appeared on course for a disappointing performance, suggesting they were unable to capitalise on the youth vote on which they pinned their hopes.
Only the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, seemed to be doing well, mostly in KwaZulu-Natal, leading established parties such as the ANC, IFP and DA.
Before the election, several opinion polls indicated the ANC was set to lose its majority, and early results on Thursday seemed to confirm that.
In Gauteng the ANC was leading with 36.35%, followed by the DA at 29.55% and EFF at 11.06% by 4pm. New kid on the block Rise Mzansi recorded 0.75%, while ActionSA polled 2.62% and Bosa 0.64%.
In KwaZulu-Natal MK was leading with 43.63%, with vote counting completed in 526 of the province’s 4,974 voting districts. MK was trailed by the ANC with 21.34% and IFP with 16.82%.
Rise Mzansi collected 0.11%, Bosa 0.12% and ActionSA 0.25% in the province.
In the Western Cape, the DA was leading with 49% in the early afternoon, followed by the ANC with 22.13% and the Patriotic Alliance’s 11.29%. At the time, counting had been completed in 472 of the 1,572 voting districts, translating to a 30% completion rate. In the DA-run province, Bosa and Rise Mzansi are both sitting at 0.42% and ActionSA at 0.32%.
ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said: “Certainly at this stage the numbers coming are very preliminary ... very [few] are coming from the urban centres around the country and in Gauteng.
“We anticipate those numbers coming in are going to make a great change and certainly in favour of ActionSA.”
Rise Mzansi national spokesperson Gugu Ndima said the party was “optimistic” the numbers would change, stressing that Rise Mzansi’s campaign was nationwide. “There is still a lot of time. As the numbers come through ... [Rise Mzansi] numbers will increase,” Ndima said.
Bosa spokesperson Roger Solomons said: “The metropolitan areas are our market. That’s our pool where we spent most of our time campaigning. We are expecting a shift when results from these urban areas start coming through.”
At 2.31pm, vote counting had been completed in 4,755 of the 23,293 voting districts across the country, translating to a 20.41% completion rate. The ANC was leading with 43.39% (948,678 votes), the DA had 24.83% (542,851 votes), EFF 8.81% (192,700 votes), MK 8.05% (175,992 votes), Patriotic Alliance 4.09% (89,499 votes), IFP 1.96% (42,865 votes), and Freedom Front Plus 1.85% (40,487 votes).
Speaking to Business Day, analyst Wayne Sussman said the results so far were a “dramatic outcome” for the ANC. It would have to pin its hopes on its traditional voting bloc of the largely rural provinces, “where they can win some support back”.
“But as things stand, it’s a tough day in the office for the ANC,” Sussman said.
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