Expert: Support for ANC still strong
With the final results of the 2016 local government elections expected later today, political expert, Erwin Schwella says the ANC has suffered major setbacks in urban areas of South Africa.
Schwella, from the School of Public Leadership at the University of Stellenbosch, says although ANC support has shown a decrease, with less votes in urban areas, the party's support in rural areas across the country is still fairly intact.
He added that the ANC faces a challenge of being eroded from both the DA in urban areas and to some extent the EFF in rural areas.
"They will now have to decide, in some ways, which of these two sets of constituencies - who have different needs - are more important," he said.
Schwella added that it is going to be more difficult for the ANC to find some consensus based on policy as urban people have a different take on life than people living in rural areas.
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He says this leaves the ANC in a future predicament and it will be surprising if the party is able turn around their seaming decline over time.