ANC members express frustration with election results

Down on votes and morale – and well below anticipated pre-election predictions – the ANC has only itself to blame for the position it finds itself in, if you listen to some of its members and supporters.

While all votes were not in at time of going to press, as the remaining counts were still to be tallied last night, it hasn’t been a good election for the ruling party, which has lost ground across the country, especially to former ANC member and president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

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ANC stalwart Mavuso Msimang believed the poor ANC electoral performance was because of how angry people were at how the party had failed to listen to their cries for help so many years.

Msimang, who had been critical of the ANC failures and at one stage resigned his membership of the party in protest before he changed his mind and returned to the fold, said it was a question of chickens coming home to roost.

Asked about the poor national results, where the party was heading towards losing its majority – and the KwaZulu-Natal outcome where the MK party was leading – Msimang said: “I don’t want to give you a garbled answer, but people are demonstrating their unhappiness.”

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ANC representatives at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s main results centre at Gallagher Estate in Midrand included national chair Gwede Mantashe, first deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane, NEC member Nkenke Kekana and national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, who all remained grumpy, staring and talking less and less throughout the day.

The ANC will, in all likelihood, not reach the 50% plus one majority threshold. Some estimated the party will receive between 42% and 44% when the final results are announced tomorrow.

It is set to lose its stranglehold on KwaZulu-Natal to MK and in Gauteng, where the difference to the Democratic Alliance is predicted to be small.

Action SA president Herman Mashaba said all political parties had been affected by the MK party contesting the elections, including ActionSA.