ANC leaders meet to set coalition plan after poll slump
Ongoing: Elections Hot
The ANC's national working committee and national executive committee are set to meet on Thursday. They will decide how to approach coalition talks after the party won 30.7% of the national vote, its worst result in a local government election.
The 2026 local government elections left hung councils in many municipalities. The DA won 24.24% of the national vote, MK 9.76% and the EFF 6.22%. The DA took 56.42% in Cape Town, which gives it an outright majority there.
The ANC said its internal structures recommended that the party take the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to the Electoral Court. The challenge concerns the results in Emfuleni, in Gauteng. In Emfuleni the DA had 40.9% of support and the ANC 23.9%.
ActionSA won ward 6 in Thembisa, Ekurhuleni, from the ANC. It took 38.84% of the vote, or 4,587 votes, a lead of 6.2 percentage points over the ANC. The ANC had won the ward with 64.3% in the 2021 local elections.
Key facts
- Who
- Cyril Ramaphosa (President of South Africa); Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri (ANC national spokesperson); Fikile Mbalula (ANC secretary-general); Nomvula Mokonyane (ANC deputy secretary general)
- What
- The ANC's leadership is set to meet this week to decide its approach to coalition negotiations after the party's worst electoral performance yet in the 2026 local government elections, with hung municipal councils across South Africa. Separately, the ANC says its internal structures have recommended a challenge to the IEC over Emfuleni results, and ActionSA has taken Ekurhuleni ward 6 in…
- When
- 9 November 2026
- Where
- South Africa, Midrand, Emfuleni
- Status
- Reported