DA national spokesman Mmusi Maimane. Picture: SOWETAN
DA national spokesman Mmusi Maimane. Picture: SOWETAN

Related articles

In this article

THE African National Congress (ANC) on Friday morning appeared to be poised to retain South Africa’s economic heartland, Gauteng, however the party’s grip on the province appears to be slackening as votes continue to trickle in.

With the counting of 95% of the votes from polling stations countrywide finalised, the ANC looks to have received 62.5% of the national vote.

However, it has only secured 52% of the national ballot in Gauteng, trailed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) at 30%.

This means that the party has dropped 12 percentage points in Gauteng, which is the epicentre of the ANC’s political machinery.

The DA funnelled major resources into its Gauteng campaign, with the party not only eyeing the benefits of a reduced ANC majority but also focusing on building the brand of DA Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane.

However, according to the most recent election results in Gauteng’s major metros, the DA may now have to look to the 2016 local government elections to take power in a metro in the province.

Speaking at the DA command centre on Friday morning, leader Helen Zille said she was pleased with the party’s performance.

"We have increased our vote (to) 30% in the province. On Wednesday night it seemed the ANC would struggle to get above 50% and we (DA) were looking at possibly getting just on 50%.

"The ANC has reached just over 50%. However, they have still taken a big hit, which should be a wake-up call to them," she said.

In depth: Election 2014

Election poll 2014News, views and analysis of South Africa's national and provincial elections

Political analyst Prof Steven Friedman said on Friday that a rough analysis of the early results pointed to an underperformance by the DA when compared with the results of the 2011 local government elections, but in comparison with the 2009 elections, the DA had improved.

The DA received 16% of the vote in 2009, but in the 2011 local government elections the party received 22%.

By 9am on Friday, the ANC’s share of the vote for the national ballot in the City of Johannesburg stood at 45.8%, while the DA had 38.55%.

In 2009, the ANC received 63% and the DA 20.8%, and in the 2011 elections the parties received 58% and 34% in the City, respectively.

However, 984,985 votes were cast, representing less than half of the city’s registered voter population of 2,184,484.

In Tshwane, however, with 996,982 votes cast out of a registered population of 1.4-million, the ANC had 52% of the vote and the DA 30%. The EFF had 11% of the vote in the metro.

In the Ekurhuleni Metro, about 1-million votes had been counted by 9am out of a registered population of 1.5-million. By 9am the ANC’s share of the vote in the metro stood at 55.79%, while the DA had received 28.06%.

Elsewhere in the country, the ANC remained more stable, including in the Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. The ANC’s share of the national ballot from that metro stood at 49% on Friday while the DA had 40%.

These results are, however, not too different from the 52% the ANC received in the 2011 election, or the roughly 50% result for the party in the 2009 and 2004 elections.

In eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC received 65% for the national vote count, compared to 23.3% for the DA and 3% for the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The ANC received 67% in Durban during the 2009 elections, the DA 18% and the IFP 6.8%.

The DA, which is in power in the City of Cape Town, received 58% of the national ballot share in the metro.

With Paul Vecchiatto