South Africans voted for municipal officials on Wednesday in a poll seen as a test of the ruling ANC’s popularity, with voter enthusiasm tempered by rising anger over lack of basic services, graft and joblessness.
President Thabo Mbeki was among the first to cast a ballot in the country’s third local election since his African National Congress first won the 1994 poll that ended apartheid.
He urged the 21 million registered voters to come out and vote “because we want strong and legitimate local councils."
Voter turnout a key barometer
Voter turnout is a key barometer of support for the party because it is at the local level that most South Africans will deliver their verdict on government performance — particularly poor black voters desperate for housing and other amenities.
They would be unlikely to vote for the opposition as they are largely loyal to the ANC for ending apartheid. So a no show at the polls would be seen as a protest at government inaction.
“Staying away is a soft version of a protest vote,” said political scientist Keith Gottschalk of the University of the Western Cape.
Pollsters suggested turnout of as high as 60 percent, way above the 48 percent seen in the 2000 municipal vote.
But reports from polling stations indicated voter interest may not be so strong — a reflection of rising frustration and disaffection almost 12 years since the end of apartheid.
Electoral officials in Western Cape province, a key political battleground, said they saw early turnout of only about 30 percent while in coastal KwaZulu-Natal province they said they expected turnout of 40-50 percent.
Official turnout figures will take several days.
Anger in townships
South Africa has seen an outpouring of grassroots anger in recent months over the government’s failure to deliver basic services including electricity, water and sewage to many of the poorest areas which were ignored under white rule.
In the black township of Khutsong, 45 miles from Johannesburg, where residents exploded in violent protests over government plans to redistrict them into a poorer province, a poll boycott kept most voters at home.
“We are trying to send a message to this government,” said Pepsi Moutlwatsi, a Khutsong resident who said he would not vote. “There is no deliverance [of services] here. How can we vote?”
A police helicopter hovered overhead as residents burned tires in the streets, Reuters witnesses said, while local media reported minor clashes between protesters and police.
Wavering suport for party that ended apartheid
Political analysts say the ANC, which has triumphed in each election since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the 1994 poll in which the black majority voted for the first time, looks set for a win this year — although they will be watching closely for signs of wavering support.
The poll is the last major election before the presidential vote in 2009.
Mandela, frail at 87 but exuberant, alluded to the key issues of the campaign after voting near his Johannesburg home.
“One of our challenges here is to ensure that we deal with poverty, lack of education and also to make sure that our people enjoy good health,” he said.
Challenges in Cape Town
The ANC has been further wounded by internal factional struggles following Mbeki’s sacking of his popular deputy Jacob Zuma last year — expected to cost the party votes or at least dampen voter enthusiasm.
Voters were selecting local councils for 277 municipal regions and six major cities across the country.
Cape Town was a tight race as the ANC faced a challenge from the Democratic Alliance (DA), which has stepped up criticism of the ruling party after almost two weeks of power blackouts all but paralyzed South Africa’s main tourism center.
Polling closes at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT). The government declared Wednesday a national holiday.
