South Africans Vote in Local Elections with ANC Facing Major Test

South Africans are heading to the polls on Wednesday in local elections that will determine the leadership of the country's nearly 300 municipalities, the bodies responsible for basic services such as water, electricity and refuse collection. More than 500 parties are contesting the vote, which follows a campaign season marked by colourful stunts, including politicians spinning cars, watching grannies knit and wading through giant potholes. The elections represent a critical test for the African National Congress (ANC), which suffered a disastrous showing in the last national election, losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994. Support for the party has fallen steadily amid public anger over corruption, unemployment and crime. At its peak in 2004, the ANC won 70% of the vote in the general election; two decades later its share had dropped to 40%. Polls and pundits have predicted further losses in these elections. An Ipsos survey put the ANC's support at 30%, down from the 46% it received at the last local elections in 2021. President Cyril Ramaphosa, however, rejected suggestions that his party was in a downward spiral. "What I'm seeing here is that the ANC is going higher and higher and on the 4th [of November] we will show those naysayers," he told supporters at the party's final election rally on Sunday. In townships such as Alexandra, north-east of Johannesburg, where the ANC has traditionally enjoyed strong support, poor governance and voter apathy are eroding that base. The BBC spoke to residents a week before the vote. Sanele Ntombela, an 18-year-old first-time voter, said he was excited to make his voice heard, noting that the township struggles with rubbish, electricity and water problems. Most of his friends, however, said they had not registered to vote, citing a lack of change and deteriorating services. Others were more disillusioned. Zandile Mncube, 33, said she would not vote despite being registered. "It makes no difference [whether I vote or not]. Things have gotten worse over the years," she said. Alexandra sits a stone's throw from Sandton, Africa's richest square mile, yet the contrast is stark: while Sandton boasts skyscrapers and well-maintained roads, Alexandra's streets are marked by uncollected rubbish, raw sewage and potholes. Similar patterns of neglect are visible across Gauteng province, including in Soweto, where resident Mduduzi Makhubo, 45, described daily struggles with water and electricity. "Every Monday we know we won't have water after 2pm," he said. The problems reflect a broader crisis in local governance. Years of reports by the auditor-general have highlighted the dire state of most of South Africa's 257 municipalities, with a recent report awarding only 39 clean audits between 2024 and 2025. None of Gauteng's three metro cities, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, made the list. Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke warned lawmakers earlier this year that Johannesburg "needs ongoing attention", cautioning that without it, financial health would continue to deteriorate and service delivery would remain compromised. The city has been labelled "effectively bankrupt". The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) is hoping to gain ground, particularly in Johannesburg, where Ipsos predicts it will win 25% of the vote, up from 22% in 2021. DA leader Helen Zille, a former Cape Town mayor vying for the mayoral chain, has run an eye-catching campaign that included swimming in crater-sized potholes, ziplining over sinkholes and riding into her final rally in a classic BMW 325i known locally as a "Gusheshe". She told radio station 702 that "towns and cities that work best are under DA governance". Political analysts expect coalition governments to remain the norm. Of South Africa's eight metros, only three are governed by a single party, and all three Gauteng metros are currently run by coalitions with the ANC as the largest party. Melanie Verwoerd, a former ANC MP and ambassador to Ireland, said the elections would be a "verdict ... and judgment" on the ANC, which she expected to perform at its worst ever. She argued the most stable coalitions would replicate the arrangement the ANC and DA have struck nationally, where the historic rivals share power. She also predicted the DA would retain control of Cape Town, widely regarded as the country's best-performing metro, which it has run since unseating the ANC in the late 2000s. In KwaZulu-Natal, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, founded by former president Jacob Zuma, is projected to perform strongly in Ethekwini, which includes Durban, but polls suggest it will fall short of an outright majority. Verwoerd said forming a government there would be "very messy" given the party's refusal to work with either the ANC or the DA. A confident Zuma vowed to his supporters on Sunday that the party would take control of a number of municipalities. Analyst Dr Levy Ndou agreed that an ANC-DA coalition seemed unavoidable in most metros, while questioning whether the national government of unity could influence how the metros are run. Both analysts also flagged declining voter turnout, particularly among young people, despite more than 29 million registered voters. Ndou attributed the trend to the calibre of candidates and the limited visibility of local councillors during campaigns. The electoral commission has seven days to announce the results, after which parties will have 14 days to form governing structures.