South Africans are voting in local elections widely seen as a verdict on the African National Congress (ANC), the party that led the country out of white minority rule in 1994 but has steadily lost support over the past decade. Polls opened at 7am ( ) on Wednesday and close at 9pm ( ). A record 29.2 million people are registered to vote at 23,696 voting stations, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
More than 1.4 million special votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday. Voters are electing councils for the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district councils and 205 local councils. Those councils then choose mayors.
The ANC fell below 50 percent in municipal polls for the first time in 2021. In the 2024 national election, it lost its parliamentary majority and was forced into a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other parties. Polls suggest the ANC’s support could drop below 40 percent this time.
Ramaphosa is due to vote at Hyde Park High School in Johannesburg, the presidency said. Johannesburg is the biggest prize in this election. The country’s financial capital has had five mayors in four years.
The DA has fielded its 75-year-old former leader, Helen Zille, for the city’s top job. Her campaign stunts included snorkelling in a mud-filled trench that was flooded by a burst municipal water pipe. A News24 poll put Zille at 36 percent, meaning she would need coalition partners, particularly the ANC, to govern.
Zille told the news agency that the ANC was “in free fall”. This is the first local vote for former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which is mounting a strong challenge in the coastal city of Durban. Durban has become a centre of anti-migrant sentiment, a prominent theme in the campaign.
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