At a Glance

• South Africans voted Wednesday in local elections across the country.

• The ruling ANC faces a difficult test after years of declining support.

• Voters cited poor basic services as a key motivation.

South Africans went to the polls Wednesday in local elections expected to challenge the African National Congress, the party that led the country out of white minority rule but has seen its support steadily decline over the past decade.

Key Statements and Focus Area

• Ramaphosa on the Turnout: "My view is that we've never really, in years, had a local government election like this, where we have so many parties." — Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.

• First-Time Voter on Services: "When I got my first opportunity to vote, I didn't think it mattered. But this was important for me, you can see the kind of place we live in. Nothing works here." — Karabo Mogano, 21, Alexandra township voter.

• Focus Area: The local elections as a test of the ANC's support and of voter anger over declining public services.

Ramaphosa cast his ballot in Johannesburg and praised what he called a great turnout, pointing to long queues nationwide. The vote will decide who leads the country's eight main city municipalities, along with 44 districts and 205 local councils, with 546 political parties competing.

Voters do not directly elect mayors but choose council members, who then select them. Polls were due to close at 9 p.m.

In Alexandra township, voters reached the polling station along roads marked by potholes, leaking sewage, and uncollected waste. In Ekurhuleni, people queued at a church voting station, with parts of the city having gone without water for days before the vote.

Raymond Selepe, 65, a Tembisa resident who has voted since 1994, said his vote is changing along with the times.

The ANC won under 50% of the vote in the 2021 local elections for the first time since 1994, then lost its 30-year parliamentary majority in 2024 and entered a national coalition with the Democratic Alliance and other parties.

Though partners in the national unity government, the two are fierce rivals locally. Veteran DA politician Helen Zille is seeking to become mayor of Johannesburg, testing whether the DA can expand beyond its traditional base in Cape Town.

The vote is also the first local contest for the MK Party of former president Jacob Zuma, which became the third-largest party in Parliament in 2024 and draws strong support in KwaZulu-Natal.

FYI

Zuma resigned as president in 2018 over corruption allegations and was expelled from the ANC in 2024 for founding the MK Party.

The ANC's 1994 victory ended apartheid-era white minority rule and made Nelson Mandela the country's first democratically elected president.

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