Gauteng expected to be hotly-contested during 2024 elections

Johannesburg

Cape Town — With the general elections just two days away, political parties have wrapped up their campaigns and will now battle to win provincially and nationally.

There is one province where it appears there is no clear and outright winner – Gauteng. As South Africa’s most populated area, there are plenty of votes up for grabs. This past weekend, the African National Congress (ANC), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Build One South Africa (Bosa), ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) all hosted gatherings in the province, The Citizen reported.

According to political analyst, Professor André Duvenhage, the ANC is currently in the most difficult position in the province.

“There’s no doubt there’s strong resistance and strong competition against the ANC. “There have been several challenges in Gauteng regarding water provision, electricity and so on, and people are dissatisfied. “I think the populist line of [premier] Panyaza Lesufi didn’t work in their favour.” he said.

The ANC’s support has dwindled in the province, with the party only securing 50.19% of votes in 2019, and only 46% in 2021, which meant it  had to form coalitions in Joburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.

Among the parties who have targeted Gauteng include the main opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and ActionSA. New parties, uKhonto weSizwe (MK) and Rise Mzansi, have also set their sights on the province,.

Duvenhage predicted Rise Mzansi and Maimane’s BuildOne South Africa (BOSA) would struggle and said the province would likely be dominated by the major parties, and said MK, ActionSA and possibly the Patriotic Alliance (PA) could provide the biggest oppostion.

Duvenhage said Rise Mzansi and BOSA are not expected to make big inroads in in Gauteng.

Political analyst, Levy Ndou, said coalitions are likely to happen at the provincial level and emphasised that the ruling party would not perform as badly as it did in local elections. Ndou also said the smaller parties would have an impact depending on which party it decides to align with in a coalition.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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