ELECTIONS WRAP | ANC moves crucial post-elections meeting to Sunday

November 5 — 14:35

ANC moves crucial post-elections meeting to Sunday

The ANC has cancelled its special extended national working committee (NWC) meeting which was scheduled for Friday.

Participants in the meeting were due to analyse the party’s poor performance in this week’s local government elections.

The party will instead hold an all-day special national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Sunday.

November 5 — 14:25

Western Cape ANC Youth League blasts parent body for election collapse

The Western Cape ANC Youth League on Friday strongly criticised its parent body after the party's poor municipal elections results.

The ANCYL said in a statement it noted with “concern the steep decline of the ANC support in the 2021 local government elections, including the reduction to below 50% at national level”.

The results reflect “voters’ discontent with the ANC and an outcry for a thorough and urgent renewal process”, it said.

November 5 — 14:11

ANC cancels NWC meeting to discuss elections flop

The ANC has cancelled a special meeting of its extended national working committee scheduled for 2pm on Friday.

The meeting, cancelled at the 11th hour, was scheduled to dissect the party’s poor performance in this week’s local government elections. The party has instead decided to convene a special meeting of its national executive committee (NEC) on Sunday to discuss a way forward after it failed to obtain a majority in many municipalities this week.

November 5 — 13:56

Election apathy 'just shocking'

November 5 —13:38

POLL | Do you support Mmusi Maimane’s presidential aspirations?

One SA Movement leader Mmusi Maimane says he is ready to kick off his bid to run for president of SA. 

Maimane, who spoke to TimesLIVE this week, said he plans to run for president because he has “an agenda for change”.

November 5 — 13:15

ANC NWC meeting to discuss election flop

The ANC’s national working committee is due to hold an extended meeting on Friday afternoon to dissect the party’s poor performance in this week’s local government elections. This comes after the ANC’s electoral performance fell to below 50% for the first time since 1994.

The ruling party’s national electoral support in the municipal elections held on Monday came in at 46.05%, while it lost control of the key metro municipalities Johannesburg, eThekwini and Ekurhuleni.

The poor electoral showing was expected to be the subject of intense debate when ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula presents his report on the party’s performance. The meeting was also due to be attended by provincial leaders from all nine provinces.

November 5 — 12:42

Bruised Ramaphosa faces coalitions minefield

President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to spend a bit more time in front of the mirror. He needs to take a hard look at himself – and see the ANC’s performance in Monday’s elections as his scorecard. He has been the head of the party for four years and is failing to reverse the downward spiral. He was Jacob Zuma’s deputy for five years – and blaming only the Prince of Nkandla and the “nine wasted years” is only half the story.

It is evident that the ANC will fall below 50% in 2024 and will need a coalition partner to retain control of SA. This week’s elections confirmed that the ANC is a rural party and has lost appeal in urban SA. (There are more voters in the cities.)

Fortunately for him, his credibility and mass appeal will save his bacon at the 2022 ANC elective conference. There is nobody else the ANC can put up as a presidential candidate and still have a decent showing at the 2024 elections.

November 5 — 12:36

Angry Durban residents went on rampage because they couldn’t vote

Police are investigating a case of public violence after about 300 residents from a Durban hostel burnt tyres, set a vehicle alight and damaged a tertiary institution on Monday night because they were unable to vote.

"The reason for the protest was that the community was aggrieved because their names did not appear on the voter’s roll, even though they had registered. They were unable to cast their votes on Monday," said police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo.

November 5 — 12:27

Five things you need to know from a wrapped-up municipal election 

The 2021 local government elections have wrapped up and there are some key political take-aways from the outcome. TimesLIVE Video has compiled a wrap of what you need to know, ranging from coalitions to party performance.

November 5 — 11:58

The DA's local government coalition agreement

All coalition partners will have to sign this agreement which very clearly sets out non-negotiable principles, says the DA.

November 5 — 11:49

If ANC could work with the National Party, why not the DA? — Holomisa

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa should give DA federal chair Helen Zille “a call and meet up for coffee” to discuss a possible coalition between the parties. 

Holomisa, speaking at the IEC’s national results centre in Tshwane on Thursday, said the ANC and DA should stop politicising local governance and agree on coalitions, adding that a non-partisan approach was needed for the benefit of service delivery.

November 5 — 11:40

SA's big three lack humility: Eusebius

November 5 — 10:30

EDITORIAL | Welcome to power, small parties. SA’s fate is in your hands

The people have spoken in the local government elections, but it’s not at all clear what they’ve just said. The upshot of this is that we will have more hung councils this time round than in 2016 and that in many municipalities no one party has captured the loyalty or allegiance of voters in large enough numbers to serve as an acting majority.

Potentially, it is a moment of great danger for SA — especially if one accords with the view that a widespread and growing disillusionment with politics could in the future give rise to populist “saviours’’, who reawaken these sleeper-voters. On the other hand, it is a moment of great potential.

November 5 — 10:15

IN QUOTES | Everyone has an equal chance to run for public office: Cyril Ramaphosa on LGE

The contestation of local government elections by more than 300 political parties and independent candidates was an indication that all South Africans have an equal opportunity to run for public office.

President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke at the Electoral Commission’s national results operations centre in Tshwane on Thursday night and called on politicians to improve the lives of South Africans by keeping the promises they made in the lead-up to the elections on Monday. Here are five quotes from his address:

November 5 — 09:44

'This feels like democracy' — reactions pour in after LGE results

Political parties and the local government elections have topped the trends on Twitter since the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) announced the final results on Thursday night.

While some have expressed satisfaction with the results, others are sharing their opinions about factors that may have influenced the outcome.

November 5 — 09:26

Buffalo City metro ANC bigwigs out in the cold

Several senior Buffalo City metro ANC councillors who had served in outgoing mayor Xola Pakati's mayoral committee find themselves in the political wilderness after they failed to make the cut in the metro's proportional representation list.

November 5 — 09:05

FF+ candidate Godfrey Skosana may have lost his ward but 'must still deliver' for those who backed him

Godfrey Skosana, from the agricultural village of Sephaku in Limpopo, shocked many when he began campaigning to be a councillor under the Freedom Front Plus (FF+). And on Wednesday told the Sunday Times Daily that while he didn't emerge victorious, the hard work started now in preparation for the next election. 

After weeks of campaigning and explaining how his party intended to serve and develop the rural and agricultural area, the FF+ ended up third in Monday's election, garnering 14.22% of the votes.

November 5 — 08:45

Tearful Emfuleni mother begs for fairness, improved roads and a safe place for her kids

Nomsa Khumalo is all nervous laughs and smiles as she tidies the interior of her humble home in ward 26, Emfuleni. Her “hung” municipality, a former traditional ANC stronghold, has seen the ANC lose outright control. 

Life in the area is difficult, according to Khumalo. The unwillingness of leaders to engage with residents and an inability to do right by their promises has left a disenchanted community in its wake. Leaking sewage, poor waste management disposal services, and dismal roads are some of the problems faced by the Emfuleni municipality.

“I feel that my children are not safe here,” the 48-year-old single mother of four says.

November 5 — 08:35

'These results are scandalous': Cosatu calls for introspection

November 5 — 07:41

All the election data and how the battlegrounds unfolded

As soon as the polls closed, our election website started displaying in real time with all the results and statistics as they are announced – a great way to stay up to date as the counting progresses.

You can also call up instant comparisons between elections to see how support for the various political parties in specific areas has changed over time.

November 5 — 07:33

A clear message to the ANC, plus five talking points from ‘Vrye Weekblad’

The voters have sent a clear message to the ANC: the party is no longer to be trusted, and it is likely to lose the general elections in 2024 if the status quo is maintained. 

The comprehensive stayaway vote and fragmentation of the ANC are symptoms of ordinary South Africans’ deep distrust of the political system. A recent Afrobarometer survey showed 67% of our citizens would be prepared to forgo elections if an unelected government could provide better security, houses and jobs. 

Nothing came of Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise 34 months ago to unite and transform the ANC. The divisions are as deep and as bitter as they were three years ago and very little has changed in the political culture of patronage, cadre deployment, corruption and poor management. 

November 5 — 07:12

Who will lead SA’s metros? Get out the calculators, it could get complicated

Horse-trading and negotiations will have to begin in earnest, if they haven’t already, after the official results from Monday’s local government elections showed coalitions will be needed in five of the country’s eight metros.

The metropolitan councils were always expected to be closely contested and that turned out to be exactly the case. In some of these councils, a two-party coalition will be enough to secure a majority, but in others the scenarios are incredibly complicated and politically fraught.

Sunday Times Daily breaks down the state of play in each of the metros after the IEC’s announcement of the results on Thursday, starting with the three metros with outright victors:

November 5 — 07:03

Who won what in KZN as dust settles on local government vote

The ANC has won outright just three out of the one metro and 10 district municipalities in KZN, in what is a significant blow to the party.

Provisional results announced by the IEC on Thursday revealed that while the ANC still held the majority of council seats across the province, it had only managed to win outright control in Ugu on the south coast, uMgungundlovu in the Midlands and Harry Gwala in southwest KZN. These are traditional ANC strongholds, which it was able to retain in what has been an otherwise bitterly disappointing election — in KZN and elsewhere.

This is the how the election played out in the province's 10 district municipalities:

November 5 — 06:58

Now starts the shovelling at the coalition face of SA politics

It’s tempting to call Monday’s election a train wreck, but train wrecks usually involve more people and you don’t see them coming from quite so far away.

A great deal has been written about the dismal turnout, with some pundits suggesting that it is a crisis for democracy in SA. If this is true, it’s a crisis that’s been brewing since at least 2019, when just over half of the country’s eligible voters stayed home.

Either way, we’re here now, heading towards 2024 with an electorate so gatvol and ready to give up and burn it all down that it gave the Cape Independence Party 8,000 votes.

November 5 — 06:53

From amandla to amen: Jesus is coming very soon for the ANC

It’s quite possible that in ascending the mount of democracy in 1994 we became bedazzled by our achievement, forgetting the words of Nelson Mandela when he said: “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more to climb.’’

We thought a new, liberal constitution would be enough to put SA irrevocably on a trajectory of democracy and, inevitably, prosperity. We forgot there’d be other, steeper, hills to climb. One of them is called reality.

In the 27 years — some of them great, others less so — that have intervened in the meantime, the novelty of being a democracy has worn thin.

November 5 — 06:47

The former faithful have spoken. The ANC must listen carefully

In the days ahead, there will be a deluge of words about how and why the mighty ANC was humbled by an electorate increasingly finding its voice.

The high priests of the congress movement will, however, quote from the good book: “We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We are crushed, but not destroyed. We are bending, but not breaking.”

It is what those loyal to the green, black and gold colours must say to each other to dust off the obvious rejection from the municipal polls. The ANC is in uncomfortable territory that’s becoming worryingly familiar. 

November 5 — 06:37

Is the DA really growing?

November 5 — 06:28

Who will control City Hall?

November 5 2021 — 06:25

Welcome to our rolling coverage of the 2021 local government elections for Friday. To view the previous days' live updates, please see the links below: