By Doreen Mokgolo
The ANC has failed to win an overwhelming majority in the Northern Cape after all the province’s votes were counted by Friday afternoon.
The ANC received 49.47% of the votes, the Democratic Alliance came second with 20.94% and the EFF third with 13.23%.
This is the second province in which the ruling party has lost outright control of in these elections. Umkhonto Wesizwe has been in the lead in KwaZulu-Natal since the beginning of the vote count.
As it stands, the ANC will need to start coalition talks with various political parties at national level – a reality they did not believe would materialise in these elections.
Speaking at the Results Operation Centre in Midrand, first deputy general secretary of the ANC, Nomvula Mokonya, said that though they didn’t win an outright majority as planned, they are still leading and hold a majority in the province.
“We have not resolved anything as far as coalitions; once the leadership of the ANC meet tomorrow, we will release a statement,” she said.
Meanwhile, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said they will not “commit suicide” over their poor performance in the elections.
“We didn’t get the kind of results we wanted, but that’s life. Only the MK and PA are happy with their performance.
“The performance of MK has negatively impacted our performance; we didn’t expect their emergence,” he said.
Mashaba said ActionSA expected to achieve 1.1% of the regional votes and 1.5% of the national votes and he believes they will reach that figure by the end of the vote count.
With results from just 9,000 voting stations still outstanding on Friday afternoon, mostly in the metros where the party has a big presence, ActionSA expects to improve its performance.
“We are still looking to deliver four to five seats in the national assembly,” Mashaba added.
Pictured above: ActionSA president Herman Mashaba.
Image source: Doreen Mokgolo
