ANC likely to lose local vote in major cities: Polls

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) looks likely to lose major urban areas it has held since coming to power in 1994 at the end of apartheid, opinion polls ahead of next week’s local elections showed.

The economic hub of Johannesburg, the capital Pretoria and Nelson Mandela Bay on the east coast, could all fall to the main opposition party, Democratic Alliance, on Aug. 3, according to polls published last week by Ipsos.

The ANC’s support looked set to slip to 31 percent in Johannesburg from 59 percent in the 2011 local elections, and in Tshwane municipality, which includes the capital Pretoria, to 23 percent from 55 percent. In Nelson Mandela Bay, support was just 28 percent, from 52 percent last time, the Ipsos polls said.

With its reputation bruised by accusations of corruption against President Jacob Zuma, and high unemployment as Africa’s most industrialized country teeters on the edge of a recession, voters are disenchanted, Ipsos and other polls showed.