Eastern Cape residents have become the butt of jokes on social media for delivering the ANC what looks like, during the early vote-counting phase, a landslide victory despite the province facing chronic service-delivery issues.
The province has seen the ANC on its way to an overwhelming victory, unlike in a province like KwaZulu-Natal, where the party is taking a beating from the former president Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe Party.
On Friday morning, according to the score boards of the Independent Electoral Commission, with 66% of the votes counted, the ANC was leading with 66.4%, while the DA came in second at 11.8% and the EFF at number three.
The United Democratic Movement and Patriotic Alliance completed the top five in the province at 3.6% and 2%, respectively.
Eastern Cape voters lambasted
Zwide ka Langa on X questioned why the African Transformation Movement leader was not voted for in the province.
“The Eastern Cape missed a good chance to free themselves. All they had to do was vote for Vuyo Zungula.”
Some users chose to show pictures of schoolchildren studying under trees or crossing dangerous rivers in school uniform, while others showed schoolchildren in pit latrines.
There were also those who depicted patients being carried in wheelbarrows and children studying in mud schools.
Mlungisi Ntshangase joked: “Where can I find a woman who will be loyal to me, the way the people of the Eastern Cape are loyal to the ANC?”
@NiisherPu posted: “The ANC can only fool grannies from the Eastern Cape, not KZN. The KZN grannies are not fooled by Mandela’s face. They can’t be manipulated emotionally.”
@NkomoSthembile wrote: “KZN gogos know the problem their children are faced with, unlike those of the EC [Eastern Cape].”
Premier thanks ANC voters
However, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane, who is also the chairperson of the ANC in the province, assured residents that their vote will not be in vain.
“Your votes are not wasted; the ANC has a clear plan. We are on the right path; yes, there are challenges,” Mabuyane said.
“We are navigating our way forward to resolve issues; we are bringing solutions.”
Andrew Whitefield, the DA leader in the Eastern Cape, was pleased with how well his party had performed in Kouga municipality, the only DA-run council in the province.
“If this was a local election, which we know it’s not, we would have won Kouga municipality again,” said Whitefield.
He added that this was good for the opposition party heading into the local government elections in 2026.
“It is so important that we keep making progress. This national and provincial election has been an endorsement of what the DA is doing in areas such as Kouga,” he said.
