MK party 'cost ANC majority'

POLLS: RAMAPHOSA ADMITS CORRUPTION, UNEMPLOYMENT, POOR SERVICE DELIVERY FUELLED LOSSES >>> Party's decline forces reflection on citizens' anger.

- Eric Mthobeli Naki

TOP LEVEL. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and President Cyril Ramaphosa at Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni.

(Nigel Sibanda)

In a rare moment of candour, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party siphoned support from the ANC, directly contributing to its electoral decline and underscoring Zuma's enduring role as a destabilising force within the movement.

He also admitted that citizens' anger over endemic corruption, unemployment and poor service delivery played a decisive role in the ANC's record electoral loss.

Opening the ANC national general council (NGC) and delivering his political report as party president yesterday, Ramaphosa described the May 2024 general election, in which the ANC received 40% of the vote, as a severe strategic setback.

"We received only 40% of the national vote. This was the first time since the advent of democracy that our share was less than 50%," he said.

"While the ANC remains the most supported party, with almost twice as many votes as the next party, we suffered our greatest drop in support since 1994."

Ramaphosa noted the ANC lost its majority nationally and in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, in particular due to the MK party.