Summary

  • The ANC, once led by Nelson Mandela, hit by worst election result since apartheid ended 30 years ago

  • It is now official that the party has lost its majority in the National Assembly for the first time

  • The distribution of seats in the 400-member parliament directly reflects the vote share

  • In his first comments, President Cyril Ramaphosa says 'our people have spoken whether we like it or not'

  • With an eye on coalition talks he adds that the voters want the parties to find common ground

  • The centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) remains the second-largest party in parliament

  • The new MK party, led by ex-President Jacob Zuma, is in third place. It has refused to work with President Ramaphosa

  • The DA leader makes a pitch to work with the ANC, calling an ANC alliance with the MK and EFF a 'doomsday coalition'

  • The MK party had wanted the announcement postponed

  • The country's police minister has warned that instability will not be tolerated

Live Reporting

  1. Zuma heartland spurns ANC as local issues bite

    Nomsa Maseko
    BBC News, Durban

    A tap is used to fill a big water bottle.Getty Images

    There's been no tap water in parts of KwaZulu-Natal for 10 months

    The political wildcard in this election has been the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party led by former President Jacob Zuma.

    There's no doubt he's preparing to flex his muscles as the kingmaker here in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal where the MK party has wrestled a huge chunk of votes from the ANC.

    Formed just a few months ago, results so far show that for the national election it has taken the largest share of the vote in the province - 44% to the ANC's 19%.

    Local issues could have been a big factor in that shift with some community members telling me they were turning their backs on the ANC party because it had failed to fix acute water shortages.

    Parts of this province, such as Trenance Park which is a mere 20 minutes' drive from the main city of Durban, have had no tap water for 10 months.

    Residents rely on water tankers that sometimes don't deliver water on time.

    People in KwaZulu-Natal hope that whoever wins the election will fix the problem for good.

  2. Results so far

    The result board at the National Results Operation Centre of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), which serves as an operational hub where results of the national election are displayed, in Midrand, South Africa, May 30, 2024Reuters

    The results are being displayed on a giant board at the results centre

    The electoral commission has announced almost 60% of the count. Here are how the top five parties currently stand:

    • ANC - 42%
    • DA - 23%
    • MK - 12%
    • EFF - 9%
    • IFP - 3%

    The seats in the 400-member National Assembly directly reflect the share of the vote that each party receives.

    The new MPs then go on to elect the next president. As things look now, some form of coalition will need to be agreed in order for a president to be elected.

  3. ANC chairperson jokes with DA representatives

    Catherine Byaruhanga
    BBC News

    ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe

    ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe at a DA desk at the results centre

    As thoughts now turn to which parties could come together in a coalition all eyes are on what the two largest parties - the ANC and DA - could do.

    At the national results centre, we spotted the ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe stop by the opposition DA desk.

    The start of talks? No.

    He shook hands with the party representatives and made a few jokes.

    All the real talking will happen behind closed doors.

  4. Zuma clobbers ANC

    Farouk Chothia
    BBC News, Johannesburg

    Former South African President Jacob Zuma gestures after voting during the South African elections, in Nkandla, South Africa May 29, 2024.Reuters

    South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma leads a party that split from the governing ANC

    South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma has made a huge impact in this election.

    His new party, uMkonto weSizwe (MK), which translates as Spear of the Natioon, has captured votes from the African National Congress (ANC), bringing down its parliamentary majority.

    It's performing so strongly that it is currently in third spot - ahead of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

    MK's growth is extraordinary. It was registered only last September, with the 82-year-old Mr Zuma, a member of the ANC since the age of 17, announcing in December that he was joining it as he could not vote for a Ramaphosa-led ANC.

    Since then, MK has shaken up South African politics in a way no party has done in such a short period of time - at least not since the end of the racist system of apartheid 30 years ago.

    And Mr Zuma has achieved this despite the fact that he is a convicted criminal, barred from taking a seat in the new parliament.

    He was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt after he defied a court order to appear before an inquiry looking into corruption during his nine-year presidency.

    He was released by President Cyril Ramaphosa after he served three months of his sentence.

    Mr Ramaphosa is bound to regret the decision as Mr Zuma has now clobbered his party - the ANC - in the election.

    You can read more here: Who's up, who's down in South Africa's election - and why.

  5. We won't contest election outcome - ANC

    ANC (African National Congress) member of the national assembly, Gwede Mantashe, address the media iReuters

    It looks like the ANC will require the help of other parties to form a government

    The ANC says it will accept the final election results when they are officially announced.

    "What we are not going to do is to take [the electoral commission] to court and contest the election outcome, it is not for us to do that," the party's national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, told journalists.

    The ANC has the largest share of the vote with more than 55% of the ballots counted and checked.

    However, it is falling short of a majority.

  6. DA leader all smiles at results centre

    DA leader John Steenhuisen

    DA leader John Steenhuisen says his party is a "major player" in this election

    The leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), John Steenhuisen was all smiles after predictions that once the count is over the the African National Congress (ANC) will take less than 50% of the vote for the first time in 30 years.

    The DA is currently in second place, with nearly 23% of the votes counted.

    "This is democracy and that delights me from my head to my toes," he said.

    Thoughts are now turning to coalition maths.

    Mr Steenhuisen told the media that the DA is “very pleased” with the trajectory so far and the DA will continue to be a “major player”.

    Before the election, the DA has signed a pact with 10 other parties, agreeing to form a coalition government if they collectively get enough votes to dislodge the ANC from power. But this did not include the EFF or the MK of Jacob Zuma.

    And Mr Steenhuisen shut down the idea of a coalition with Zuma's MK party.

    "We will only do coalitions [with parties] that share our values and principles," he told the eNCA news channel.

    He added that Mr Zuma's MK party has "no respect for the constitution".

    The DA leader said a coalition with MK would be "unstable and incompatible".

  7. 'South Africans would welcome a coalition government'

    Catherine Byarunhanga at the official results centre, north of Johannesburg.

    The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga is reporting live from the election results centre

    If current trends bear out and the governing ANC fails to reach the 50% of votes it needs to govern alone, it will have no choice but to enter into coalition with another party.

    And that's something that many people in South Africa would welcome, says the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga.

    "They say this shows the maturity of South Africa's democracy after the end of apartheid," she reports.

    Opposition parties believe - and hope - that the days of ANC parliamentary majorities are gone for good.

    They anticipate that this will be the first of many coalition governments to come.

    In the next few weeks, once the final results are announced, parties have 14 days to have a sitting in parliament and that's when they will be expected to elect the next president.

  8. ANC suffers hammer-blow

    Farouk Chothia
    BBC News, Johannesburg

    Cyril RamaphosaGetty Images

    President Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC to its worst-ever election result

    The ANC has suffered a hammer-blow in this election.

    With results in from more than 50% of voting districts, its vote is hovering at around 42% - and projections by the respected Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) suggest that it will stay there when final results are announced at the end.

    If this turns out to be the case, it would be a catastrophic loss of support for the ANC - it won the last election with 57%.

    There are bound to be bitter recriminations in the ANC once the final results are out.

    These are the ANC's worst-ever results, and the possibility of President Cyril Ramaphosa coming under pressure from his rivals in the party to resign cannot be ruled out.

    But South Africans want political stability - and the quick formation of a coalition government.

    That could count in Mr Ramaphosa's favour, and his rivals may decide to bide their time, leaving him to spearhead efforts to form a new coalition government.

  9. Big drop in ANC support

    The party that has governed South Africa since the end of white-minority rule will now be trying to figure out its next steps.

    The ANC is set to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time, forcing it to enter into a coalition with one or more opposition party.

    It looks as if disgruntlement has grown with the way the party of liberation has governed the country over the last 30 years. Stubbornly high levels of unemployment, problems with the power supply and corruption allegations have eaten into its support.

    The graph below shows how the ANC’s share of the vote at general elections has been falling steadily since its high-water mark of 70% in 2004.

    Graph showing election results

  10. The story so far

    People stand around monitors as results come inEPA

    Journalists and officials are keeping a close eye on the count at the results centre

    • South Africans voted in a general election on Wednesday
    • As results were being declared throughout Thursday, the ANC share of the vote hovered around 42%
    • That has remained the case into Friday with 56% of the vote announced so far
    • Since it first came to power in 1994 after leading the struggle against the racist apartheid system, the ANC's vote share has never fallen below 50%
    • This means that in order to govern it will have to form some sort of coalition
    • The Democratic Alliance is in second place with 24% of the vote with a strong showing in Gauteng province - home to Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria
    • But the real breakthrough is the new MK party led by former President Jacob Zuma
    • It is in the lead in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal and third overall at this stage

  11. Welcome

    Welcome to our live coverage of the aftermath of South Africa’s general election. We’ll be bringing you reaction as results continue to be declared in what is shaping up to be an historic outcome.