The 2024 National Elections may be in the rear-view mirror, but much uncertainty still remains about who will govern our beloved country.
This follows one of the biggest political upsets in our 30-year democracy, when the former ruling party, the ANC, failed to cling to its majority.
Its staggering defeat nationally surpassed even the best political experts’ prediction, falling from a 57,5% majority in 2019 to 40,18% in the 2024 national election.
The biggest upset was most probably losing its majority vote in KZN falling from a 54% majority in the 2019 provincial elections to a lowly 16,99% in 2024, being upstaged by former President Jacob Zuma’s newcomer MK Party followed by the IFP (18,75%). In Gauteng the ANC also lost its majority (50,19% in 2019, 34,76% in 2024) while the DA remained steady at 27,4%.
The DA managed to maintain its majority in the Western Cape despite a lower voter turnout (66,03% in 2019, 58,64% in 2024) and much criticism with the ANC and EFF losing much of its support in the Western Cape to Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) party, including on the West Coast where it experienced a rise in support, racking up 19,13% of the total votes.
Meanwhile, coalition talks have been underway nationally and in those provinces where no single party gained the majority vote. This after the IEC declared the 2024 election to have been free and fair on Sunday evening (2 June), despite 25 parties logging grievances of alleged irregularities. Most election analysts and political experts have been hinting at an ANC/DA-coalition nationally, stating it may well be “for the greater good in South Africa”.
However, many predict an ANC/MK or ANC/EFF coalition will be the most likely scenario.
But as we’ve come to learn from politics it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
