As results from the 2026 Local Government Elections trickle in, showing the liberation movement losing wards to the DA, ActionSA and the Patriotic Alliance, the ANC insists it is not on its deathbed.
This is the assertion of the party’s First Deputy Secretary-General, Nomvula Mokonyane, who was speaking at the National Results Operations Centre in Midrand.
Mokonyane likened the ANC to left-wing movements in Central and South America that lost power, regrouped and returned stronger.
“Critics must look at Brazil, look at Nicaragua. This is not going to be the demise of the ANC. It is, in actual fact, part of our renewal process, where we didn’t just take our branch chairpersons and make them candidates. We went to communities and asked for their endorsement of our candidates, and it doesn’t end there. Our manifesto itself is a product of extensive engagements with communities about the issues they need the ANC to prioritise,” said Mokonyane.
She argued that, despite the decline in support, the ANC was recovering from the losses it suffered during the 2024 elections.
“If 2024 had been a local election, things could have been worse for us. But now, if you check the numbers for Soweto, where the MKP had pushed us out, we have pushed back, completely wiping them out. So the ANC is not ready to be condemned. This is part of our renewal programme, and renewal is not instant,” she said.
Despite the decline in support, the ANC continues to lead nationally, with 31.7% against the DA’s 31.0%, with 15% of the votes counted, even as more municipalities are expected to end up with hung councils.
Mokonyane dismissed suggestions that the ANC was in terminal decline, saying the party was undergoing a period of renewal and rebuilding rather than collapse.