ANC retains its majority in Mpumalanga Legislature following 2024 elections
Mpumalanga is one of five provinces in the country in which the ANC gained a clear majority of votes, keeping its control. The others include Limpopo, the Free State, the Eastern Cape and the North West.
Even though it has dropped in numbers during the recent national and provincial elections, the Mpumalanga ANC has retained its majority.
Mpumalanga is one of the five provinces in the country where the ANC won outright majority of votes, thus retaining power.
It scooped 51% of the votes, performing below Limpopo, the Free State, the Eastern Cape and the North West respectively.
Of the five provinces, Limpopo received the highest number of votes, getting 73%, followed by Eastern Cape with 63% and North West with 58%. The Free State received 52% of the votes.
In the Northern Cape, the ANC received 49% of the votes, and 35% in Gauteng, meaning it will have to form a coalition government in those two provinces. They lost KwaZulu-Natal to the newly formed MK Party, who attained 45% of the votes and will also have to form a coalition.
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The ANC also lost the Western Cape to the DA, who narrowly won majority with 55% of the votes.
On the national front, the ANC will also have to work with other political players after they only managed 40% of the votes.
In Mpumalanga, the ANC’s 51% majority will see them occupying 27 seats at the Provincial Legislature, followed by the MK Party, who have overtaken the EFF to become the main opposition after finishing with 14% of the votes.
The MK Party will have nine seats, while the third-placed EFF will now have seven seats. The DA, who finished in the fourth spot, will occupy six seats. The new kids on the block, ActionSA, and the FF Plus will both have one seat each.
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“We accept the results and respect the will of the people. We are just happy that we managed to get the majority and we will not have to form a coalition with anyone in the province,” said the ANC’s provincial chairperson, Mandla Ndlovu.
“We actually knew all these political parties were plotting to remove us from power, but we are happy that our people on the ground have given us another term to serve them, because they still believe in us. We will work to deliver on our promises.”
He said they ran an intense campaign in the province because they were aware of the threat posed by parties such as the EFF and MK Party.
“We will go back to the drawing board and polish our machinery so that the ANC government can best serve the people,” Ndlovu said.
