SA stands on the verge of a new political era as political horse-trading has begun in earnest to shape the country’s new government after a watershed general election failed to produce a clear winner.
The ANC suffered its most humiliating defeat at the polls in 30 years as its share of the vote plunged almost 17 percentage points, from 57% in 2019 to 40% this year.
The situation will force the party to make big compromises in the days to come if it wants to remain at the helm of political power for the next five years.
High-level talks, including past and present leaders of SA’s biggest political parties, including former president Thabo Mbeki and former DA leader Tony Leon, are expected to begin on Monday.
While the ANC bled votes, the DA retained its status as SA’s official opposition party with 3.4-million votes, or 21.75%, while the new political kid on the block — the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party led by former president Jacob Zuma — became the third-largest party with 2.3-million votes, or 14.6%.
The EFF received 1.5-million votes, or 9.52%, IFP 3.85% (617,995 votes), Patriotic Alliance 2.05% (329,060 votes), and Freedom Front Plus 1.36% (or 217,496 votes).
The results mean the ANC will now be represented by 159 MPs in the National Assembly down from the 230 MPs in 2019, DA 87 (84 seats in 2019), MK 58, EFF 39 (44 seats in 2019), IFP 17, PA 9, Freedom Front Plus 6, ActionSA 6, ACDP 3, UDM 3, ATM 2, Al Jama-ah 2, Bosa 2, NCC 2, Rise Mzansi 2, GOOD 1, PAC 1, and UAT 1.
IEC chair Mosotho Moepya declared the results free and fair, and so did President Cyril Ramaphosa, who cast the elections as a victory for the constitutional order and the people of SA. Ramaphosa declared the elections “free, fair, credible and peaceful”, saying that the results were indicative of the will of the people.
“As we take our seats in [parliament] and provincial legislatures, let’s appreciate the seats we occupy do not belong to us, but [to] the people of SA as we represent them,” he said.
Civil society movement Defend our Democracy said a preliminary analysis of observer feedback “suggests that electoral processes, where observers were based, were largely free and fair. This is despite the administrative issues that have been flagged”.
Meanwhile, the ANC’s national working committee (NEC), which is responsible for the daily affairs of the party, is meeting on Monday ahead of the national executive meeting on Tuesday.
The ANC’s top seven officials met on Saturday when the preliminary results showed that the party was on its way to losing its electoral majority.
ANC chair Gwede Mantashe confirmed that he was opposed to a coalition with the DA because “we are different on many things”.
But the official party line is expected after the NEC meeting.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is set to lead the negotiations with other parties.
Cosatu acting national spokesperson Matthew Parks. said: “We will engage the ANC and the SACP on developing a common stance and the way forward. If invited to the NEC, we would attend.”
DA leader John Steenhuisen said that his party’s federal executive had on Sunday unanimously adopted a resolution to initiate “exploratory talks with other political parties that share a commitment to the South African constitution, to identify options for the formation of governments at national and provincial level where no party has obtained an outright majority.
“To facilitate this process, the federal executive has appointed a negotiating team composed of Helen Zille, Ivan Meyer, Siviwe Gwarube, Alan Winde, Tony Leon and Ryan Coetzee to facilitate the engagement with other parties,” said Steenhuisen.
“The purpose of these initial talks is to gather information on the options that are available to the DA as we seek to rescue SA from doomsday. This talented and experienced team will report back to myself and to the federal executive, whereafter the party will decide on the way forward,” he said.
“I want to assure the people of SA that the DA will always act in the interests of the people throughout this unprecedented moment in our country’s history,” said Steenhuisen.
Update: June 2 2024
This story has been updated with new information.
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