South Africa’s ruling party is today facing the most serious test of its voters’ loyalty since the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 ended minority white rule.
Polls suggest that the majority of voters could, for the first time, spurn the African National Congress, leaving it with less than 50 per cent of ballots cast in municipal elections to decide who runs the country’s cities and towns.
Faltering supplies of water and power, potholed roads and piles of uncollected rubbish are expected to take centre stage as more than 25 million registered voters decide whether to stick with Africa’s oldest liberation movement or not.
“The apartheid government used to be bad but at least it delivered services to the people,” Samuel Mahlaule, a 55-year-old Uber driver and father of four, said as he queued to vote in Soweto, on the edge of Johannesburg. “Our ANC leaders haven’t really delivered. They make too many empty promises.”
President Ramaphosa’s name is not on the ballot sheet but he and other senior ANC figures have campaigned relentlessly for weeks. His party’s poor showing at the last local elections in 2016, when a sharp drop in support lost them control of the economic hub Johannesburg and other major cities, proved politically fatal for Jacob Zuma, Ramaphosa’s predecessor, who was forced out before his term ended.
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Throughout the campaign Ramaphosa, 68, has been trying to convince voters that they are “cleaning up the party”. Zuma and other party figures are facing allegations of corruption.
Of the country’s 278 municipalities, most are in “financial distress” and delivering only patchy services. A record number of candidates are standing as independents reflecting the soaring mistrust in mainstream parties.
About 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to potential hot spots to discourage disruptions to the vote, four months after the worst civil unrest in recent memory left least 354 people dead. The polls will close at 10pm and final results must be released within seven days, although the count has previously take three or four. Voter turnout is likely to be a factor in the final results with the ANC relying on its traditional rural and older supporters to prevent a dire result.
A poll released on Sunday by the broadcaster eNCA and research company Ipsos South Africa showed the ANC pulling in 43.4 per cent of the vote overall, down from 54 per cent in 2016. The main opposition Democratic Alliance is expected to win the backing of 24 per cent, down from 26.9 per cent, the survey showed, while the radical left Economic Freedom Fighters looked likely to be the poll’s biggest winner with 14.8 per cent, up from 4.3 per cent.
