Tuesday, August 23, 2016

South Africa: Governing ANC loses mayoral post in Johannesburg

[Africanews/AFP] South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has won a crucial seat in the heart of the country as the party continues to gather popularity following the recent local government elections

Herman Mashaba is the new mayor of Johannesburg, after the African National Congress ruling party failed to win an outright majority in the city.

He defeated ANC’s candidate, Parks Tau, who’d been the mayor since 2011.

The DA united with the Freedom Front Plus, Congress of the People, United Democratic Movement and African Christian Democratic Party who won support of the Economic Freedom Fighters.

The EFF holds a decisive 30 seats in the city and despite misgivings about Mashaba’s commitment to the poor it backed the DA in order to oust the ANC.

Four of the six largest cities in the country are now governed by mayors from the opposition party. This also includes Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

The DA came in at second place after the ANC party, during the municipal elections winning 104 seats out of the total 270 seats. The ANC won with 121 seats.

The municipal elections are considered the worst electoral performance for ANC since the end of apartheid.

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