LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: ANC losing wall-to-wall support as ActionSA, DA show growth

While results were still being counted on Wednesday afternoon, the signs are dire for the ANC in both cities and rural areas.

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As the vote counting progresses, the picture is only looking worse for the ANC – and not just in the cities but across most of the country. The party is losing support in rural municipalities and provinces where it once enjoyed wall-to-wall support.

In Mpumalanga, the party is in danger of losing majorities in Thaba Chweu and Victor Khanye municipalities. In KwaZulu-Natal the ANC is being wiped out in Endumeni and Impendle, and in the Eastern Cape, the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality could be lost by the party to a DA-led coalition. 

The ANC has sustained heavy losses across Gauteng, not just in the three metros. From Lesedi to Mogale City and Emfuleni, the ANC is at risk of losing wards and municipal control. The party is also vulnerable in wards across Soweto, Atteridgeville, Soshanguve and Tembisa – areas that used to be the ANC’s bread and butter. 

The CSIR’s election model is just heaping more pain on the beleaguered party, with the model also forecasting declines for the MK party and EFF at the national level. The models also predict significant declines for the ANC in the Free State and North-West provinces – the very areas where the party is looking to shore up its urban losses.

The DA and ActionSA continue to have a good day, eating into the ANC’s and EFF’s vote share without seemingly affecting each other’s success. 

Speaking at the National Results Operations Centre at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Thursday, ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe said it was too early to draw firm conclusions from the results, arguing that several major areas, including townships, were still to be counted, and that the party could improve from 32%, its share of the national vote at the time.

“At this point, 32% is not the final result. We may improve, we may go up to 40%, we may go beyond 40%. We are at 32% now. And major areas and township areas have not been counted yet. So it is premature to have a concrete outcome out of what you see now,” he said. DM

This is a developing story. Follow Daily Maverick’s live updates for more.

Additional reporting by Reitumetse Pilane.

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Local Elections 2026

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