South Africans vote Wednesday for municipal government leaders amid widespread complaints about water shortages, power outages, sewage in streets and poor local services. The election will test whether the African National Congress, the dominant party in the national government, can halt its electoral decline.
Water infrastructure has become a flashpoint. Parts of Johannesburg have faced rationing for weeks. In Tshwane, which includes the administrative capital Pretoria, a recent water treatment failure sickened more than 400 residents. Ferrial Adam, executive director of water rights NGO WaterCAN, told DW that almost 70 percent of South Africa's wastewater treatment works are in critical condition and spewing sewage into rivers and streams. Despite these conditions, candidates have offered only transactional promises without detailed budget plans, according to Sanusha Naidu, an analyst at the Institute for Global Dialogue.
The ANC's support has declined sharply. In 2016, the party won 53.91 percent of the overall vote and held outright majorities in 161 of 213 councils. By 2021, that fell to 45.59 percent with majorities in 122 of 213 municipalities. Ipsos predicts support could fall as low as 30 percent in Wednesday's election, leading to more coalition-run municipalities. Naidu said the party has struggled to meet expectations of younger voters, particularly Millennials and Generation Z who now make up the bulk of the electorate.
Immigration has emerged as a secondary campaign issue. Murmur Intelligence, a digital analysis firm, found that Action SA, the MK Party and the Patriotic Alliance have campaigned on immigration. Aldu Cornelissen, Murmur Intelligence co-founder, predicted Action SA could capture between 6 and 8 percent of the vote through anti-immigration messaging, though he called those margins relatively low in an increasingly fragmented political landscape.
The Independent Electoral Commission is investigating more than 700 complaints of disinformation, including AI-generated content and a prominent false claim that the ANC plans to mobilize asylum seekers to vote for it. Asylum seekers, refugees and permanent residents cannot legally vote in South African elections.