ANC loses hold in Mpumalanga as coalitions loom

The ANC in Mpumalanga will for the first time since the dawn of democracy need a coalition to govern in 13 municipalities after winning only three outright in the province.

The party lost control of Victor Khanye local municipality to 10-month-old Service Delivery Party (SDP) led by former ANC Youth League provincial treasurer Thabo Motau and former MEC and ANC treasurer Mandla Msibi.

MK Party, meanwhile, has taken the lead in Mkhondo municipality.

The ANC also lost control of the province’s capital, Mbombela municipality. The only municipalities it won outright are Chief Albert Luthuli, Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge.

After the 2021 local government elections, the ANC attained 58% in the province and only needed coalitions in Steve Tshwete, Govan Mbeki and Lekwa local municipalities. In 2026, however, its support dropped to 43.6%, the lowest in history, and left it seeking coalition partners in 13 municipalities.

Residents of Delmas, where SDP attained 39.53% of the votes, said they only had SDP to vote for after going without water and struggling to find employment under the ANC.

A resident said Motau had initially called the party Delmas First, and they had loved it.

“So this year when he registered it as SDP contesting elections, we had no choice but to vote for his organisation, because he had employed people in his companies and sent some to school while he was not in government.

“We believe now he will fix employment and also give us reliable running water, which the municipality was failing to provide for years,” said Themba Mtsweni, a resident of Delmas.

In Mkhondo, MK Party elections manager Siphiwe Mathebula said they are not keen to work with the ANC, saying that would be a betrayal to the voters.

“We are in talks in almost all the municipalities where we can work together with parties, where if we give our seats to the ANC, they will be the majority to rule.

“But nothing comes for free; it’s a give-and-take situation now going forward as the ANC lost numbers in all the 13 municipalities.

“But in Mkhondo, there’s no way we can work with the ANC. The voters rejected them and voted them out, so aligning with the ANC would be a betrayal of the people of Mkhondo,” said Mathebula.

SDP spokesperson Fukie Mofokeng told Sowetan that though they have not started coalition talks, they are open to anyone to work with at Victor Khanye municipality as long as their agreement will be to deliver services to the people.

“Our aim is not to lead but to serve the people as the organisation. The ANC was rejected by the people of Victor Khanye municipality, but we cannot shut the door for it too,” said Mofokeng.

Mkhondo residents said all they need is water, electricity and permanent jobs regardless of the political party leading the municipality.

“What happened to the ANC was a long time coming because they were disrespectful towards us; now we want to see how the MKP is going to lead, and if they fail, we will remove them too,” said Thabo Mngomezulu.

Rasodi Manyaka from the University of Mpumalanga said the decline of ANC support was due to poor sevice delivery, corruption and the party not telling voters who their mayors would be should they win.

“The inability of the ANC to name exactly who was going to be their mayoral candidates demonstrated to the voters that the organisation was doubtful of the leaders they were putting forward.

“Mpumalanga and other provinces such as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape have traditionally been considered strongholds of the ANC.

“However, the emergence of parties like MK, ActionSA and SDP, including the EFF, has shaken that narrative. The rapid decline of the ANC is reverberating in all provinces, including those once considered to be strongholds of the ANC.”

According to ANC provincial secretary Muzi Chirwa, they will be guided by the national executive committee on how the coalition talks much go.

“We will engage with all the parties and determine the best way forward in favour of community development,” said Chirwa.