This is where the ANC has the biggest support in every province

With the 2016 Municipal Elections three months away, BusinessTech looks at the results of the 2014 National Elections to see where the country’s ruling party – the ANC – has the strongest lead over the opposition.

The African National Congress has been South Africa’s ruling party since the dawn of democracy in the country in 1994. The party is credited with liberating the disenfranchised and oppressed majority from minority white control, and toppling apartheid.

In many respects, the ANC is at the forefront of democracy and liberation – after the fall of apartheid it sought reconciliation in the country rather than war, and established the Constitutions and the Bill of Rights, which protects every citizen, irrespective of race, gender or sexual orientation.

The party’s politics is rooted in democratic socialism, where it seeks to empower all people through its governance, while also participating in free market capitalism. It has strong ties to both the South African Communist Party and the trade union, Cosatu.

However, over the past decade, the party’s image has been blemished by widespread corruption, and accusations of enriching a “black elite”, while leaving the majority it liberated in a mire of poverty.

This image problem has not been lost on the electorate, with the party seeing a decline in controlled votes since 2009, when current party president Jacob Zuma took over.

Despite the decline, the ANC still commands the majority support of all South Africans across all provinces except the Western Cape, which remains in control of the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance.

The ANC’s strongest support base is found in Limpopo, with Mpumalanga a very close second. The most concentrated ANC support is found in the Umzimkhulu municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, however, where 91% of all voters swing in favour of the ANC.

The following table shows the provinces – and municipalities in each – where the ANC has the most support.

Province	% of the vote	Municipality	% of the vote
Limpopo	78.97%	Greater Giyani	89.21%
Mpumalanga	78.80%	Nkomazi	89.43%
Eastern Cape	70.75%	Ngqushwa	88.84%
Free State	69.71%	Maluti a Phofung	80.77%
North West	67.79%	Greater Taung	80.64%
KwaZulu Natal	65.31%	Umzimkhulu	90.96%
Northern Cape	63.38%	Joe Morolong	77.86%
Gauteng	54.92%	Emfuleni	69.00%
Western Cape	34.00%	Laingsburg	52.30%