The people of South Africa have made their wishes known in free and fair elections and we must respect them.

This is the sentiment expressed by the ANC in a statement issued at midday.

“While we still await the formal announcement of the results by the IEC, it is clear that the ANC has won the most votes and remains the most popular party in South Africa,” said ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.

In the media briefing that followed the release of the statement, he said that former president Jacob Zuma is a ‘force to be reckoned with’ in SA politics. His uMkhonto weSizwe party, despite being only six months old, surpassed the EFF, but added ‘nobody has surpassed us’.

While the ANC secured just over 40% of the votes and thus lost its absolute majority, Mbalula said the party still achieved the most votes. He added that their research had ‘told us we would be at 43%’.

Commenting on the ANC’s results in Gauteng (36.5% to the DA’s 26.5%), he said the outcome would be analysed. “Did the middle-class walk away from us in Gauteng?” he asked. He said that at ‘face value’, the voter turnout in the ANC’s base areas worked against them. “Our people did not come out in their numbers to vote.”

He said the ANC will conduct a deep analysis of the outcomes of the elections.

What now?

Mbalula said that as he was addressing the media, the ANC was talking to other parties about the way forward. “We are talking but we are not begging,” he said.

In a post on X, he said: “If you come to us with the demand that Ramaphosa must step down as the president of ANC, that is not going to happen.”

ON COALITIONS: If you come to us with the demand that Ramaphosa must step down as the President of ANC, that is not going to happen.#ElectionResults pic.twitter.com/Q0f3GsAoqH

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) June 2, 2024

During the briefing, ANC Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane told the media: “We will engage everybody who seeks to contribute towards the stability of our country, the respect for the Constitution and, most importantly, the tolerance of diversity of the South African nation.”

Mbalula added that the ANC would engage with any party willing to engage them, but will be ‘guided by the leaderboard’ because it ‘reflects the will of the people’.

The ANC stated that they are committed to the formation of a government that reflects the will of the people, that is stable, and that can govern effectively. Mbalula said there was even the option of the ANC ‘working from the benches’.

When questioned about which parties the ANC would negotiate with, Mbalula said that ‘circumstances with your ideologies force you to even work with people who do not necessarily share the same perspectives as yours’.

He said the party would not be finger-pointing, even though in KZN ‘we were betrayed by one of our own’.

Rather, he said, the party would be focusing on ‘working together for the stability of the country’.

He said one question must be asked by the ANC: “How do you satisfy the interests of the ANC constituents that voted – those six million people and more; how are they going to be served by the working relations between parties?

“You’ve got to think deep and hard, and that is what we are doing.”

We will engage with any party willing to engage us, but will be ‘guided by the leaderboard’ because it ‘reflects the will of the people’.

Immediate future

Mbalula said that President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the president of the country, will be at the IEC’s briefing tonight, when it is expected to announce the result outcomes.

As president of the ANC, Ramaphosa will speak on Tuesday at Luthuli House, to ‘thank all the people who voted for the ANC and all our volunteers’.

“The Tuesday event will not be a celebration because there is nothing to celebrate in terms of the performance of the ANC,” he said.

By midweek, Mbalula said the premiers of the provinces the ANC won outright will be announced and the country will be briefed on the ANC’s way forward.