A group of former ANC councillors who were expelled after exposing alleged corruption in Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality could remove the ANC from power after it failed to get an outright majority.
The Map16 Civic Movement (Map16) has gained 28.55% of the vote while the ANC’s support dropped drastically to 39.2%.
The organisation was formed by 16 councillors after they were expelled by the ANC in 2018.
The latest results showed that Map16 gained ground and could remove the ANC in a coalition.
Other than Map16 and the ANC with most of the votes, the EFF has received 9.84% votes in the municipality.
The municipality has been in trouble and was recently affected by a spate of protests leading to the blockage of the N3 highway that connects Johannesburg and Durban.
Maluti-a-Phofung was facing protests over poor service delivery.
Hlaudi Motsoeng’s African Content Movement received 2.02% of the votes. The Dikwakentla Party of South Africa received 4.31%.
The DA’s support in the area was sitting at 7.2%.
The ANC has always been in charge of the municipality, but Map16 has launched a challenge and cut its support to below 40%.
This would force parties to get into coalition talks on who governs the troubled municipality.
The ANC’s drop in support in the municipality is a serious blow for the ruling party in the Free State as it struggles to retain municipalities it controls.
POLITICAL BUREAU