Vote counting gets underway in critical South Africa local elections

South Africa voted Wednesday in local government elections dominated by anger over failures in water and power supply that are expected to result in a further slide in support for the ANC.

Control of the major cities is at stake in the vote for 257 councils that will gauge the political mood ahead of the next national elections in 2029.

Moses Mashaba, a 27-year-old street vendor from Johannesburg's Soweto township, said he voted because "things have been horrible".

"Sometimes we don't have water or electricity. There is also a high unemployment rate, which has been frustrating," he told AFP.

More than three decades after the first all-race election thrust the African National Congress (ANC) into power, South Africans are fed up with crumbling infrastructure, dry taps, persistent inequality, high crime and unemployment above 30 percent.

Polling stations began closing at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), after a 14-hour day, but authorities said anyone still in a queue would still be able to cast their ballot.

Counting would start at polling stations soon after the last votes had been cast, with final results due by Sunday, the election authority said.

Of 29.2 million registered voters, 12 million had cast their ballots on Wednesday by 5:00 pm, it said in its latest turnout figure.

Some 2.6 million people were allowed to vote early on Monday and Tuesday but only 1.4 million did so.

Ntando Sithole, 24, who makes a living washing cars, said he had chosen to stay away from the polls because "there won't be any changes" and "most of these political parties are led by old people".

"The streetlights in my area are just for decoration because they don't work. It gets very dark at night, making it unsafe to even walk home," he said.

- 'Democracy is alive' -

Voting was largely orderly across the country, although some logistical hiccups and confrontations between political party followers were reported.

After casting his ballot, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared "our democracy is alive", a reference to the first all-race elections in 1994 at the end of white-minority rule.

"We as government are determined to rebuild our local government structure to ensure that what was promised... becomes a reality," said Ramaphosa, who is also the ANC's leader.

"My life has improved since we were allowed to vote as black people," nursing aide Phumla Zikhali, 55, told AFP in the east coast city of Gqeberha.

"Things were tough before then. My vote is for more change," she said.

While the ANC, which installed Nelson Mandela as the first black president, is still projected to emerge as the largest party nationally, polls point to a further erosion of its support.

Once the dominant force in South African politics, it fell below 50 percent of the vote for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections.

It suffered further losses at the 2024 national vote, securing just over 40 percent and was forced into a power-sharing government with nine other parties.

The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party, is likely to maintain its control of Cape Town and has also set its sights on Johannesburg, an ANC bastion.

- Coalitions beckon -

Here and in many other centres, no party is expected to win an outright majority, forcing complex negotiations to form coalition councils.

"We will talk to everyone but I don't like to get into coalition negotiations before the votes have been counted," DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis told AFP.

The breakaway opposition uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, has mounted a strong challenge for the east coast port city of Durban in a campaign focused on Zulu identity.

Voters are likely to be influenced by "bread and butter issues" such as water, electricity, roads and sewage rather than political loyalties, political analyst Kingsley Makhubela said.

The expansion of coalition governments could foster political tolerance in an increasingly fragmented political landscape where, for years, "the language... has been political enemies", he said.

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