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By Jarryd Westerdale

Digital Journalist


Election results: ANC maintains dominance in North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga

Voters in the three rural provinces resoundingly backed the ruling party to lead them through the next five years


Away from the urban centres and economic hubs, the ANC remains the party of choice.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party suffered heavy losses in this election but it still earned a majority share in the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.

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Along with the Free State, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, the ANC will still have absolute control over 66% of the provincial legislatures.

Small drop for ANC in Limpopo

The party still has loyal support in the northernmost province, collecting a resounding 74.23%. However, it is down fractionally from 77% in 2019.

The opposition parties had very little left to fight for, with DA earning 6.8% and the Freedom Front Plus failing to reach a full percent, with 0.95%. In 2019, the two parties registered 5.37% and 1.59%, respectively.

Julius Malema would have hoped for greater gains in his home province, but the EFF took a small step backwards in 2024. They dropped to 12.95% from 13.14% five years ago.

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The MK Party was the fourth largest in the province but the figure illustrates the nature of the party’s geographical support. They claimed just 1% of the vote in Limpopo.

ANC sneaks home in Mpumalanga

Outside of KZN, Mpumalanga was the next best performing province for the MK party. It is no surprise then that the southernmost voting districts that border KZN mostly went to Jacob Zuma’s party.

The party finished with 17.24% but it was not enough to end the ANC’s majority, as they took 51.89% of the vote. That figure is significantly down from 72.23% in 2019.

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The EFF and DA both saw incremental gains, with the red berets up to 12.71% from 11.51%. Likewise, the DA moved to 11.84% for their previous showing off 9.12%.  

Comfortable win in North West for ANC

The North West election race was as undramatic as the province’s sprawling landscape.

Much like neighbours Limpopo, they backed the ANC in much the same fashion as 2019. Then, they reached 63.69% and clocked 58.53% this time around.

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The EFF remain the second largest party with 16.4% of the vote, although they are down form 17.09% in 2019.

The DA moved to 13.48% from 11.31%, with the Freedom Front Plus heading the other way with 2.17%, down from 4.05%. The MK Party debuted in the province with an acceptable 2.2%.

The IEC has announced that it plans to announce the official results at 6pm on Sunday.