ANC to review 2026 LGE performance, hung council strategies: Mbalula
The African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says party officials are expected to analyse the party’s performance in the 2026 Local government elections in the coming week. Meanwhile, the National Executive Committee (NEC) will deliberate on strategies for forming governments in hung councils.
With almost all votes counted, the ANC has secured just over 30% of the national vote, marking a significant decline from the 45.59% it received in the 2021 municipal elections.
Mbalula says the party has been humbled by the results of the 2026 Local government elections, and will introspect on the message South Africans have delivered to it.
“This movement will do what it has always done in its finest moments it will be humble, it will listen to the voices of our people loudly and respect them. We will go back and fix our house , our branches and our conduct in government. We will work harder not for the next election but for the grandmother waiting for water ,the young person waiting for work and the family waiting for a street light that works the promises of our manifesto to build better communities together remain our bond and we intend to fight for them stewardly where we do not,” says ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.
LGE 2026 | ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula thanks all citizens who turned out to vote, saying exercising their democratic right is important. https://t.co/WmQgXBsTPY
— SABC News (@SABCNews) November 7, 2026
On coalition negotiations, Mbalula says the ANC is open to engaging with any political party.
“We have a mandate from now. On Monday, we’ll finalise through the officials a detailed analysis of this election, and then on Thursday there will be an NEC meeting, and on Friday we will call you again and tell you what is the final position of the ANC.”
He adds, “So don’t ask us about who are we going to work with and all of that and so on. We’ve got hung municipalities. The NEC will guide our perspective about the ANC approach to these hung municipalities.”
