After losing its majority, 'unhappy' ANC accepts NC election outcome

KIMBERLEY - Though not satisfied, the African National Congress (ANC) in the Northern Cape has accepted the outcome of the provincial election in which they got 49.3% of the vote and lost their majority.

ANC provincial chairperson, Zamani Saul, said on Friday that they would do an in-depth analysis to see where they went wrong.

He did, however, blame low voter turnout and the perceived political arrogance in the ranks.

Some breakaway members could also not accept the ANC’s renewal agenda and its stance against corruption.

Saul said that the poor performance “was just a little setback" and the party still had the popular mandate and therefor there could only be an ANC government.

He added that the party would recover, strengthen its branches, and look forward to the 2026 municipal elections.

Because it is a hung vote parliament, the ANC will engage in coalition talks with other parties to constitute the seventh administration.

The ANC would, however, not budge on the position of the premier as the party had the popular vote, Saul said.

"That's what we are raising, that we are not happy with the outcomes. We expected better outcomes. We earned the guarantee and assurances that we had given to our supporters that we are going to turn things around. For us, this is a rude awakening and have to turn things around."

Saul said that he was still the premier and that he would ensure stability for the seventh administration.