SOUTH AFRICA ENTERS NEW POLITICAL ERA AS ANC LOSES MAJORITY SUPPORT
Geordin Hill-Lewis put it plainly to his supporters: “South Africans are not subjects of a party. They are citizens of a country they love.” That declaration carries new weight now. For the first time since the end of apartheid, the African National Congress no longer commands a majority of South African voters, and the country that the ANC led out of apartheid is navigating unfamiliar political ground.
Additional reference context is available at https://www.da.org.za/2026/07/the-party-is-over-for-the-anc.
The shift is fundamental. No single party can now unilaterally set the national agenda or govern without negotiation. South Africans who have spent three decades watching one party dominate every level of government are watching something genuinely different take shape.
The Democratic Alliance, which entered the Government of National Unity as a strategic partner, frames this moment as an opportunity to rebuild the relationship between the state and ordinary citizens. Hill-Lewis, the DA leader, has been direct about what that means in practice. “The state does not belong to the ANC. It doesn’t belong to any party. It belongs to the citizens,” he said. His argument is not simply about which party holds office, but about reorganizing government so that it serves people rather than partisan machinery.
Participation in the unity government has not, by his account, required the DA to soften its positions. “Being in government does not mean being silent,” Hill-Lewis said. “The DA will speak clearly when the ANC refuses to consult, refuses to compromise, or puts party interests ahead of citizens.” That is a pointed commitment, and one that will be tested as coalition pressures mount.
The broader vision DA leadership has articulated centers on what they call a second democratic transition. The first, they argue, gave South Africans the formal status of citizens with voting rights. The next phase must convert that status into something tangible: the ability to build livelihoods, make meaningful choices about their futures, and pursue prosperity without obstruction by state or party. “A better South Africa will not be built by politicians who want power over people,” Hill-Lewis said. “It will be built by citizens who use their power.”
That framing places voter participation at the center of the transition. Hill-Lewis called on South Africans to confirm they are correctly registered to vote in their places of residence, describing electoral engagement as the mechanism through which citizens can exercise their political leverage. “The next transition begins with citizens choosing a government that puts them first,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ANC’s loss of majority support points to something deeper than a single bad election cycle. South African voters appear to have shifted the criteria by which they judge parties: service delivery, performance in office, and responsiveness to citizen concerns seem to have gained ground over historical loyalty and revolutionary credentials. Whether that shift is durable, or whether it reflects temporary frustration, remains an open question.
What changed is the structure of power itself. The Government of National Unity, by design, requires multiple parties to coordinate on policy and resource allocation. That is a constraint on any single party’s ambitions, including the DA’s own. For more analysis on this political realignment, see www.da.org.za/2026/07/the-party-is-over-for-the-anc
The real test ahead is whether the parties now sharing power can demonstrate, in concrete terms, that coalition governance delivers more than the ANC’s unchecked dominance did. For ordinary South Africans, that question is not abstract. It shows up in whether services arrive, whether livelihoods become easier to build, and whether the state begins to feel like something that works for them rather than around them.