Early trends indicate ANC in trouble in KZN, PA making gains in Western Cape

JOHANNESBURG - While only 0.94% of the ballots had been captured onto the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s leaderboard at the National Results Operations Centre by early morning on Thursday, analysts say it’s already clear to see that the African National Congress (ANC) is in trouble in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) is doing exceptionally well in the Western Cape.

Forty-six thousand valid votes had been counted by around 7 am on Thursday, with the ANC still leading the pack with well over 24,000 ballots cast in its favour.

As results continued to trickle in, former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party emerged as one of the early front runners.

“Exceptionally well”, these are the words several forecasters here have used when it comes to both the PA and the MK Party, with the former apparently signalling trouble for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape and the MK Party likely to give the ANC a headache in KZN.

In the case of the ANC, these suggestions show that its “invasion of KZN” in recent weeks might have simply been inconsequential or just a case of too little too late.

The University of Johannesburg’s Professor Theo Venter:

“Two clear trends already at this early stage – ANC is in trouble in KZN, I think we can say that without doubt and the PA is doing exceedingly well in the Western Cape.”

The ANC continues to lead the pack, with well over 24,000 votes, while the DA is currently on 9,000, the EFF is just hovering under 4,000 and the MK Party is approaching the 3,000 votes mark but with less than 50,000 ballots counted this remains a long game that will shift multiple times over coming days.