From reactions to results and complaints against the IEC — 5 must-read stories about the LGE

South Africans woke up to a new reality on Friday after the announcement of the local government elections results by the Electoral Commission (IEC) on Thursday evening.

The elections held on Monday were the sixth since the dawn of democracy.

The IEC said the elections, which it declared free and fair, were contested by 325 political parties and nearly 95,000 candidates, of whom more than 1,500 were independent candidates. 

A total of 12.3-million South Africans cast their votes in the elections.

The provision of basic services, job creation and tackling load-shedding were some of the promises made by politicians in the weeks leading up to the polls.

President Cyril Ramaphosa thanked South Africans for ensuring peaceful elections across municipalities in the country.

From reactions to the results to complaints about the IEC, here are five must-read stories about the elections: 

ANC wins in Soweto despite protests 

Senaoane and Dlamini residents in Soweto voted the ANC back into power despite preventing the party from holding its final campaign, the Siyanqoba rally, last Friday.

They blockaded roads leading to Thokoza Park where the rally was to be held.

The residents were complaining about persistent power outages, an issue Ramaphosa addressed in several campaigns.

The ANC, EFF and IFP won the most votes in the two wards. 

Here’s the breakdown of results in ward 15, which includes Senaoane: 

• ANC: 52.95%  
• ActionSA: 17.92%
• EFF: 12.76%.

Ward 37, which includes Dlamini:

• ANC: 45.2%
• IFP:  21.02%
• EFF: 14.02%.

KwaZulu-Natal ANC reflects on poor showing

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said on Thursday the party needed to self-correct so it does not lose outright majority governance in the 2024 general elections. 

The party lost its majority in eThekwini, managing to win only 42.02% of votes. 

TimesLIVE reported that provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said the results were an indication of what could happen in 2024 if the the ruling party did not address internal issues. 

“Losing our majority in eThekwini forces us into deep reflection about the future of the ANC in the province. The immediate implication is, if we do not address the challenges we will not come back in 2024. We have lost the ability to govern. If we do not arrest the decline we will be in trouble,” he said. 

EFF’s mission accomplished

EFF leader Julius Malema said on Thursday the party had done a commendable job in hurting the ANC, which won 46.05% of the votes nationally but suffered significant losses.

He seemed unfazed by those who have criticised the pace of the party’s growth, saying he and deputy president Floyd Shivambu had time to grow their support base.

He said the party was willing to negotiate with any party on coalitions, provided there was an agreement on the terms of service delivery and discipline. 

DA’s John Steenhuisen unhappy with the IEC 

The elections did not proceed without complaints from politicians who accused the IEC of failing to adequately prepare and handle polling.

DA leader Steenhuisen told journalists on Wednesday the party wanted the commission to account for reported failures of voter management devices, which he said led to voters being turned back “in significant numbers”, while some discouraged citizens decided not to vote. 

Steenhuisen said the IEC must account in parliament about the glitches. 

Herman Mashaba proud of ActionSA’s ‘historic’ performance 

ActionSA leader Mashaba said on Wednesday he was happy with the party’s performance in its first elections since it was founded in August last year.

The party contested  in six targeted metros and municipalities, namely Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Newcastle and KwaDukuza.

He said the performance demonstrates that ActionSA was not a small party, as claimed by some politicians. 

Like Malema, he said their party’s objective was to collapse the ANC.

Mashaba said ActionSA was open to coalition talks with political parties other than the ANC. He said the party had approached him in informal talks, but he would not be drawn to name the individual, only saying he was in the ANC top six. 

The final results released by the IEC show ActionSA won 2.36% of votes.