ANC faces major test in South Africa local council elections

South African voters queue outside a polling station outside a former hostel complex in KwaMashu, north of Durban, on August 3, 2016. South Africans vote in municipal elections widely seen as a referendum on President Jacob Zuma. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • There have been isolated reports of unrest and community protests affecting voting processes in a few wards in the Eastern Cape and KZN.
  • Poll officials stationed at Gcobani community hall in the Eastern Cape said they feared for their safety after the community tried to torch the hall.
  • President Jacob Zuma retains widespread support, especially in rural areas.

JOHANNESBURG, Wednesday

South Africans voted on Wednsday in closely-contested municipal elections that could deal a heavy blow to the African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled since leading the struggle to end apartheid.

Amid the exercise, the South African Electoral Commission (IEC) confirmed the deaths of two voters in KwaZulu Natal and Northern Cape provinces.

A presiding officer in the Northern Cape confirmed that a man died while in the queue to vote with KwaZulu Natal (KZN) Electoral commissioner Mawethu Mosery also confirmed a similar incident in that province.

The KZN woman died in a queue in Ingwe municipality outside Pietermaritzburg.

“We trust that the family will find strength that the voter died while doing this civic duty‚“ Mr Mosery said.

In both cases, the reason for the deaths is yet to be confirmed. The IEC’s Moosa Gom said they had escorted both the Northern Cape man and his wife to the front of the queue before he passed away.

“He didn’t look well and when I came back they told me he was sitting in the chair and that’s when we saw that he was dead,” Mr Goom said.

There have been isolated reports of unrest and community protests affecting voting processes in a few wards in the Eastern Cape and KZN.

Earlier, poll officials stationed at Gcobani community hall in the Eastern Cape said they feared for their safety after the community tried to torch the hall.

A small group of protesters ran away from police after they attempted to set the hall alight.

The protesting group came in through the backyard and pushed their way through a hole in the fence.

Officers from the Public Order Policing Unit had to be deployed to deal with sporadic unrest in Durban.

Nelson Mandela’s former party risks losing control of key cities including the capital Pretoria, the economic hub Johannesburg and coastal Port Elizabeth, according to some polls.

Development in South Africa has been patchy since Mandela won the first multi-racial elections in 1994, with many black communities still enduring poor housing, inadequate education and a lack of opportunities.

With the economy stalling and unemployment hitting record levels, the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) both hope to secure major gains.

In Soweto, the Johannesburg township where Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu once lived, residents queued to vote at a school. “We are tired of this self-serving leadership. People are tired, even grannies are sick and tired of this government,” Nathi Mulaudzi, a 40-year-old unemployed truck driver, said.

But President Jacob Zuma retains widespread support, especially in rural areas, and the ANC’s patronage network and deep coffers could help it maintain a hold in the majority of the 278 municipalities.

“I’m voting for the current government, I am happy with its work,” said 50-year-old Benedict Tuge in Soweto. “A lot of things have changed in this country since 1994.”

The vote is seen by some as a referendum on Zuma, who has been weakened by corruption scandals, court cases and dire economic data, including an unemployment rate of 27 per cent and zero per cent GDP growth.

The DA, which controls in Cape Town, is looking to take new cities and build momentum ahead on the 2019 general election.

“It is a historic day today, we have got to do everything in our power to vote for change."