JOHANNESBURG, Nov 12 (Reuters) – The leader of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), President Cyril Ramaphosa, is not under pressure to resign, the ANC’s spokesperson said on Thursday, after the party’s share of the vote plummeted in last week’s municipal elections.
• “The president is going nowhere,” ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu told reporters before a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee to decide on its approach to coalition negotiations
• “There is no pressure on the part of this leadership collective for the president to leave,” Bhengu added
• The ANC’s share of the vote fell to about 31% in last week’s elections, down from 46% at the last municipal vote in 2021 and a new low for the once-dominant party
• In many of the country’s major cities like Johannesburg no political party secured a majority, meaning coalitions will be needed to run local government there
• Bhengu dismissed as a “fabrication” a report by local news website TimesLive that Ramaphosa had considered stepping down as party leader after the election drubbing
• Former president Thabo Mbeki, in an interview on a local podcast, criticised Ramaphosa over the ANC’s performance in the election, saying it would be right for him and other ANC leaders to resign
• Mbeki has criticised Ramaphosa’s track record before, and the pair have been at odds for decades since Mbeki was chosen over Ramaphosa as Nelson Mandela’s successor
• The ANC is due to elect its next leader in December 2027, when Ramaphosa will make way after two five-year terms at the helm of the party
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton;Additonal reporting by Nilutpal Timsina;Writing by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander Winning and Ros Russell)
