The Independent Electoral Commission has declared the 2021 municipal elections free and fair as they announced the final results last night.
The announcement was made at IEC’s national results operations centre in Pretoria, where President Cyril Ramaphosa also made an appearance.
Nationally, the ANC limped to the finishing line with 46% of the vote, translating to 4538 seats.
They are followed by the DA, who as the official opposition, garnered 22% of the vote, and 1492 seats.
Commenting on the results, DA leader John Steenhuisen said: “It was always a question of when, and not if, South Africa would outgrow its liberation movement government.
“And now, after 27 years in power, the ANC has finally been brought below 50% for the very first time.
“If this were a national election, they would no longer be in government.”
The EFF took 10% of the seats, the IFP 6%, the FF-Plus 2.37%, and ActionSA 2.36%.
In the Western Cape, the DA managed to retain the province with 54% (403 seats).
The ANC remains the official opposition with 20% (177 seats), followed by GOOD who garnered 4% (39 seats).
The EFF has 3.42%, the FF-Plus 2.95%, the Patriotic Alliance 2.35% and the ACDP 1.94%.
While the City of Cape Town metro remains securely in the DA’s grasp, there are 16 councils in the province where no party received a majority, resulting in a hung council, and coalition talks will be entered into in the next two weeks.
DA Western Cape interim leader Albert Fritz said the FF-Plus could be the kingmaker in five hung municipalities.
These include Langeberg (DA claimed 43.37%), Saldanha Bay (DA won 46.34%), Breede Valley (the opposition secured 47.09%), Cape Agulhas (DA won 44.04%) and George (DA leads with 46.44%).
Fritz said: “We only need one party in those municipalities. Nothing is final as we are busy with negotiations. The FF-Plus can be the kingmaker in these municipalities.”
The Patriotic Alliance showed tremendous growth and is set to have councillors in 19 councils, and the FF-Plus 17 councils.
ANC provincial spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said they had noted that the DA had lost its majority in no fewer than 15 municipalities.
“We are beginning to see a shift in terms of electoral support for the ANC in those municipalities and also votes that were apportioned to smaller parties,” he said.
Mtsweni said they had won 12 new wards directly from DA strongholds in Cedarberg, Breede Valley, Knysna, Delft and Oudtshoorn.
President Ramaphosa thanked the IEC for organising a successful municipal election.
He added: “The people have spoken. Those in whom they have placed their trust – the elected councillors – now need to get down to work.”