SOUTH AFRICANS VOTE IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS SEEN AS TEST FOR ANC

South Africans voted in municipal elections on Wednesday, widely seen as a test of support for the African National Congress, which led the country out of white minority rule in 1994. Polling stations opened at 7am and closed at 9pm, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa recording more than 29 million registered voters at 23,696 stations. More than 1.4 million special votes were cast in the two days beforehand. Voters elected councils for eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district councils and 205 local councils, which will select mayors. Many voters cited high crime rates and failing basic services, including water shortages and unreliable electricity, as concerns.

The ANC's support has declined over the past decade, falling below 50 percent in municipal elections for the first time in 2021. In the 2024 national election, it lost its parliamentary majority and was forced into a coalition with the Democratic Alliance and other parties. Opinion polls suggested ANC support could fall below 40 percent this time. President Cyril Ramaphosa, writing in his weekly newsletter, said: "Municipal failures have contributed to declining public trust and confidence in democratic governance." He cast his vote at Hyde Park Secondary school in Johannesburg.

Johannesburg, the country's financial capital, is the biggest prize, having had five mayors in four years. The Democratic Alliance fielded its former leader, Helen Zille, as its candidate for the city's mayoralty. Her campaign included snorkelling in a mud-filled trench flooded by a burst municipal water pipe. A News24 poll put her support at 36 percent, meaning she would need coalition partners, potentially including the ANC, to govern the city. Zille told the Associated Press that the ANC was "in free fall."