JOHANNESBURG — South Africans are voting in local elections Wednesday, with polls indicating a significant setback for the ruling African National Congress. The party, which Nelson Mandela led to power in 1994, faces deep voter discontent over persistent water outages, power cuts and crumbling infrastructure across municipalities.
Pre-election surveys suggest the ANC will secure less than a third of the national vote, marking a sharp decline from its 45.6 percent share in the 2021 municipal elections and 40.2 percent in the 2024 national elections. Despite the projected drop, the ANC is still expected to emerge as the largest single party.
Residents in Kensington, a diverse Johannesburg suburb, reported repeated water and power outages in recent weeks. Tshepiso Makotse, a 26-year-old call center worker, said service delivery is "bad, it's horrible" because of water and electricity problems. She split her vote, backing a Democratic Alliance local councillor and casting her party vote for the leftwing uMkhonto weSizwe party, associated with former ANC president Jacob Zuma. "I want change," she said.
Terrence Pieters, a 72-year-old retired boilermaker, said "The infrastructure in Johannesburg is shot." He predicted no single party would gain outright control, describing the outcome as "a circus" requiring a coalition.
Johannesburg, a city of 4.8 million residents, has experienced water shortages for over a week and cycled through 10 mayors in as many years. The current mayor, Dada Morero of the ANC, leads a coalition government that includes the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Patriotic Alliance.
The neighboring municipality of Ekurhuleni has had three mayors since 2021. In Tshwane, which encompasses the capital Pretoria, the mayoralty has rotated four times since 2020. In October, more than 800 people in Bronkhorstspruit, east of Tshwane, contracted a gastrointestinal illness from contaminated water.
Vote fragmentation has destabilized South Africa's municipal landscape, where unstable coalitions already characterize many of the 257 municipalities. Analysts attribute poor service delivery to the high turnover within these local coalition governments.
The ANC's national leadership has expressed openness to collaborating with the Democratic Alliance in Gauteng province, according to South African media reports, mirroring the national government of unity where the two parties hold the largest shares. However, local ANC leaders reportedly oppose a partnership with the DA. The ANC currently participates in various coalitions across Gauteng's three metropolitan areas, including one in Tshwane led by an ActionSA mayor.
