ANC in landslide victory

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has taken a clear lead in the country’s first “born free” elections where a new generation of South Africans who never experienced firsthand apartheid, voted for the first time.Results released by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) showed the ANC with 59.7 percent of the vote after about a third of ballots was counted.

Its nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance, held 26.7 percent, in line with predictions the party would improve on the 16.7 percent it won five years ago as it gradually sheds its image as the political home of privileged whites.

The leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters, led by Julius Malema, who was expelled from the ANC, was in third place with 4.3 percent.
While voting in the fifth election since the end of apartheid ran smoothly, an IEC spokesman said it was investigating the killing of what the ANC said was one of its members.

The ANC, which led the fight against apartheid, has dominated politics since Nelson Mandela was elected as South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

Pre-election polls had put ANC support near 65 percent, a little below the 65.9 percent it won in the 2009 election that brought Zuma to power.

Jabulani Radebe, an educator and staunch ANC member who has lived in both Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, told Al Jazeera that the results were not surprising.

“I am not surprised because even though people have criticised President Zuma, we as members separate the leaders from the party. It means that even if Zuma is gone tomorrow, it shows the ANC is still strong and will go on,” he said.

“It seems the opposition spent a lot of time attacking the ANC rather than offering alternatives and maybe this benefited us,” Radebe added.

The country’s economy has struggled to recover from a 2009 recession — its first since 1994 — and the ANC’s efforts to stimulate growth and tackle 25 percent unemployment have been hampered by powerful unions.

South Africa’s top anti-corruption agency accused Zuma this year of “benefiting unduly” from a $23m state-funded security upgrade to his private home at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal that included a swimming pool and chicken run.

Zuma has denied any wrongdoing and defended the upgrades as necessary for the protection of a head of state. He confidently announced on Monday the Nkandla controversy was “not an issue with the voters”.

Meanwhile, the EEF said yesterday it was too early to comment on election results.

“It’s still early days to say the picture is clear or not,” Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said at the election results centre in Pretoria.

He said the numbers were telling a story of what South Africans thought and believed in as a collective.

“Most of us want to be part of running this country so it is very important that we listen attentively to what they have to say,” he said.

By 10.55 the EFF had 318,132 votes, putting the party in third place nationally so far. The party, which was formed less than a year ago, was also holding its own in the provincial polls.

The EFF was second in Limpopo, where leader Julius Malema comes from, as opposed to being third in most provinces.

“There will be a time when these numbers reach a stage and we will say how we feel. For now we are calm,” Ndlozi said.

The IEC headquarters, Gauteng premier candidate for the Economic Freedom Fighters, Dali Mpofu, expressed his confidence on the EFF standing a good chance in being listed in the top three leading parties in the 2014 elections.

In Pretoria, the Congress of the People will be returning to the drawing board following a disappointing showing in the fifth general elections.

Spokesperson Johann Abrie said at the elections result centre: “We will wait for the results to be in and see where to from here.

“We will wait until the end and see how many seats we have and see where we need to make changes moving forward.” He blamed the party’s poor performance on lack of media coverage. He accused the media of focusing too much on the Economic Freedom Fighters.

“Unfortunately without proper coverage you can’t compete in the election,” he said.

He added that the media had portrayed an image of infighting within the party that was also a contributing factor.

By midday, the party had 59,124 votes nationally, meaning they were at least guaranteed a seat in Parliament.

“We will not lose hope…the founding principles of Cope are stronger than before,” he said. — AP