ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula has conceded the party does not appear set for a clean sweep in all municipalities, citing time constraints, internal battles and grievances about candidate selection.
Speaking to TimesLIVE on Tuesday at the national results centre in Pretoria, Mbalula said despite declining electoral support which has put the ANC below 50% in the country’s widely contested metros, they were happy with the numbers because it could have been worse.
“It is still early days but we’re confident we will retain most wards in the country despite lower voter turnout. It was an epic and very difficult election to execute and we did that in a short space of time. It was frightening thinking the low voter turnout will affect us badly, but it is clear we are making new inroads, retaining most of our wards,” he said.
Mbalula, however, conceded that to remain in power it must go into coalitions and would do so in a principled way. The party had been hard at work campaigning for votes, pleading with disgruntled voters to give it another chance and help it return to its former glory — a position of governance in most of the country’s metros.
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