South Africa’s Ruling ANC Facing Election Challenge

The exercise which has widely been regarded as a key barometer on the nation’s mood ahead of the 2019 general elections, will see South Africans choose mayors and councillors for some 278 municipalities.

(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam).

“Municipal elections are expected to be a bellwether for South Africa’s political landscape”, Manji Cheto, senior vice president at consulting firm Teneo Intelligence, said in a note. The ANC remains the party to beat, having won more than 60 percent of the vote in every election since the end of apartheid.

Zuma survived an impeachment vote in April after the Constitutional Court said he breached the law by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent on renovating his home.

Divisions along racial lines remain strong in the country 22 years after Nelson Mandela came to power and vowed to achieve national reconciliation following the end of white-minority rule. The government, which had declared Wednesday a national holiday, said turnout was good.

The polls were scheduled to close at 7 p.m., with final results expected to be announced on August 6. The opposition Democratic Alliance already runs the city of Cape Town.

While the DA’s pledge to make it easier to do business is diametrically opposed to the EFF’s call for the nationalization of mines, banks and land, both parties have said they are open to forming coalitions with each other but not the ANC, increasing the likelihood of municipalities falling into opposition hands.

Regardless, many black South Africans remain loyal to the ANC, crediting the former liberation movement for improving their lives, since it led the transition to democracy more than two decades ago. The South African economy has stagnated since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by firebrand Julius Malema, Zuma’s one-time protege and former ANC youth leader, is another challenger. By contrast, local elections use a mixed system.

Lawmakers of the Economic Freedom Fighters have disrupted parliamentary sessions several times to protest the scandal over Zuma’s private home, which has hurt the ruling party’s popularity.

Many South Africans are also concerned over allegations that Zuma is heavily influenced by the Guptas, a wealthy business family of immigrants from India. The president has denied any wrongdoing.

More than a dozen political candidates and party activists were killed in the run-up to the election, mostly in KwaZulu-Natal province, a stronghold of the ruling party. Campaigning elsewhere was mostly peaceful.

Lihle Spani, a voter in Johannesburg, recalled that black South Africans were unable to vote during apartheid and that voting was a kind of tribute to those who had lacked basic rights.

“I have just voted so that whoever is elected can enrich themselves, maybe one day I’ll be lucky and they can look after me”, said a 27-year old man in Vuwani, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals from residents calling for a boycott.

Associated Press videographers Nqobile Ntshangase and Renee Graham contributed.