BUSINESS NEWS - The 2016 local government elections has seen the ANC’s worst showing ever in both national and municipal elections – delivering a very strong message to the ruling party, says financial services firm, Citadel Advisory.
Although the party has still come in with a majority, at under 54% it is substantially below expectations of around 58% and puts it in the weakest position we have seen, said Maarten Ackerman of Citadel Advisory.
In addition, the ANC failed to secure a majority in five of the country’s eight metros, a significant loss which includes the economic powerhouse of Gauteng, the seat of parliament Cape Town and the hotly contested Nelson Mandela Bay. “Quite clearly, people on the ground are unhappy with the status quo and have voted to show this,” he said.
The investment strategist pointed to suggestions that the outcome of the elections was more an anti-Zuma vote than an anti-ANC vote, a demonstration of dissatisfaction with party leadership rather than with the party itself.
“However, we will need to wait and see how the ANC will react to this possibility. Cyril Ramaphosa has already made moves to allay fears and has indicated that the party will ‘do its own analysis of its performance, listen to the people and self-correct’.”
This business friendly election result has been welcomed by the investment community with the rand reaching R13.67/$ on Friday. It traded at R13.71 on Monday morning.
Ackerman put the rand’s strength into context. Bumper US employment figures were published on Friday, revealing an additional 255,000 jobs and boosting the US dollar. In spite of this, the rand rose against the dollar and was also stronger against the cross rates.
