ANC Election results metros

Photo: Flickr / Abayomi Azikiwe

ANC bloodbath continues: Party LOSING support in seven metros

Almost every metro in Mzansi has distanced itself from the ANC at the 2021 Local Elections – and the amount of votes they’ve lost is shocking.

ANC Election results metros

Photo: Flickr / Abayomi Azikiwe

Are we witnessing something incredible unfold before our very eyes, here? We knew that the ANC getting less than 50% of the national vote would be a watershed moment for South Africa, but the break-neck speed of their decline at the 2021 Local Elections is truly something to behold – especially in our city metros.

Metros say no to ANC

In seven of our eight metros, the ANC has LOST support from 2016. That’s according to projections released by elections expert Dawie Scholtz on Wednesday. There has been a significant rejection of the ANC across the country, and the party is only on course for a majority of 50% or more in two metros.

Buffalo City and Manguang are safe territories for the ANC as it stands, but it’s likely they will need convoluted coalition agreements to take control of other metros. The biggest losses for the ANC since the last round of local elections come in eThekwini and Johannesburg, where support for the ruling party has been tanked.

Where has the ANC lost votes? Almost everywhere…

In fact, the KZN-based metro reflects the mood of the province: The ANC saw their poll numbers slashed here this week, with regional voters largely flocking to the IFP and EFF instead.

Residents of Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay have also gone off Ramaphosa and his colleagues, as Cape Town’s anti-ANC landscape remains untroubled. In some places, support for the 109-year-old organisation has dropped by a quarter in the past 10 years – something Scholtz sees as ‘big, consequential numbers’.

African National Congress: Election Results for 2021 vs 2016 and 2011

MetroPercentage in 2021Percentage in 2016Projected percentage in 2011Vote share lost
Cape Town18%25%33%– Down 7% from 2016
– Down 15% from 2011
Nelson Mandela Bay39%42%52%– Down 3% from 2016
– Down 13% from 2011
Buffalo City60%60%70%– No change from 2016
– Down 10% from 2011
Mangaung51%56%65%– Down 5% from 2016
– Down 14% from 2011
eThekwini44%56%62%– Down 12% from 2016
– Down 18% from 2011
Ekurhuleni38%48%62%– Down 10% from 2016
– Down 24% from 2011
Johannesburg33%45%59%– Down 12% from 2016
– Down 26% from 2011
Tshwane34%40%56%– Down 7% from 2016
– Down 22% from 2011