Provisional results show a 46,72% poll with just more than 14-million votes cast from a pool of 21 054 957 registered voters.
The North West showed the lowest turnout with 20,74% of 1 178 903 registered voters. This was followed by Limpopo with 21,03% of 1 549 461 registered voters.
Mpumalanga and the Free State both had just more than 22% turnout.
In KwaZulu-Natal, with 2 106 421 voters, there was a 25,11% poll with the highest turnout in Estcourt at 59,31%.
The Northern Cape had a provisional 26,82% poll and in the Eastern Cape 28,61% of voters cast their ballots.
A relatively low 30,15% of Gauteng’s 2 112 397 voters made their mark.
Some of the highest turnouts in the country were in the Western Cape with a 64% poll in the Central Karoo and a 63% poll in Bergrivier.
In Cape Town itself, there was voter turnout of 47,51%.
Results
The counting of votes was past the halfway mark at 10am.
The African National Congress had swept the board in the Northern Cape by 9.45am on Thursday, winning 21 out of the 27 municipal results available.
Independent Electoral Commission provisional results showed the ANC had so far won a majority in the results reported.
None of the five district municipalities had reported results, and neither had the main urban centres of Upington and Kimberley.
The Independent Democrats may have surprised itself with a good showing in the Northern Cape, doing well in most municipalities where it competed, and kicking sand in the Democratic Alliance’s face in some.
Western Cape
The DA’s worst fear seems to have come true in the Western Cape with the ANC carrying many municipalities on the back of a split opposition vote. By 8am, the ANC had captured 13 of the 20 counted municipalities and the DA three. Four municipalities and the Cape metropole were still outstanding.
The ANC had captured one of the five district councils to have reported and the DA one.
In Beaufort West, the ANC tied with controversial former mayor Truman Prince’s Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (Icosa), each winning five seats. The DA won two seats and the ID one.
The DA and ANC also tied in Prince Albert with three seats each on a six-seat council.
In Laingsburg, the ANC, DA and Laingsburg Gemeenskapsparty each took two seats and will now have to find an accommodation with each other.
The ID has the whip-hand in Bergriver (Velddrif), where the DA and ANC tied with six seats each on a 13-seat council.
The ANC won in Stellenbosch, long seen as the intellectual heart of Afrikanerdom, gathering 16 seats against the DA’s 15. The African Christian Democratic Party won two seats, the ID two and the Kayamandi Community Alliance one.
Icosa arguably cost the ANC control of Mossel Bay, where the DA won 10 seats, the ANC eight, Icosa three, the ACDP one and the ID one.
Councils the ANC can provisionally claim are Knysna (ANC seven, Icosa one, DA five, Knysna Community Forum two, ID two), Bitou (Plettenberg Bay: ANC seven, DA three, ID one) and Oudtshoorn (ANC eight, DA seven, ID six, Oudtshoorn Civic Organisation two).
In Hessequa (Heidelberg-Riversdale), the ANC won nine of 15 seats and the DA the rest. The ANC also won Swellendam with four seats, from the DA with three, the ID two and the ACDP one.
There was also a split vote in Cape Agulhas (Bredasdorp) where the ANC won five seats, the DA four and the ACDP one.
Theewaterskloof (Caledon) was also narrowly taken by the ANC, which won 10 seats to the DA’s nine, the ID’s two and one each for the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and ACDP.
In Breederiver (Robertson), the ANC won nine seats to the DA’s six, with three for the ID and one each for the People’s Democratic Movement and the Western Cape Community.
In Witzenberg (Ceres), the ANC took 10 seats, the DA six, the ID three, the United Independent Front (UIF) one and the First Community Party of South Africa one.
The ANC took six seats in Cederberg (Citrusdal), the DA four and the ID two. Matzikama (Vredendal) also went to the ANC with six seats, followed by the ID with four and the DA with three.
The Swartland (Malmesbury) voted DA, giving the party 12 seats, the ANC six and the ID and ACDP one each. Overstrand, or Hermanus, stayed DA, with the party taking 10 seats, the ANC seven and the ID and ACDP one each. The DA holds George, where it won 18 seats against the ANC’s 17, the ID’s two and one each for the ACDP and Freedom Front Plus.
On the district municipal front, the ANC won three seats each on the Central Karoo and Overberg councils. Icosa won two seats and the DA one in the Central Karoo and the DA four and the ID one in the Overberg.
Further results are awaited. — Sapa