South Africa’s ruling ANC celebrates election victory

JOHANNESBURG

Supporters of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Sunday gathered outside their party headquarters in Johannesburg to celebrate the party’s election victory.

“We are here to say thank you to the people of South Africa for returning the organization that can take South Africa forward,” ANC president and head of state Cyril Ramaphosa told thousands of supporters.

“We thank you for investing your confidence in the ANC once again. We thank you with humility,” he said.

“They thought that the ANC is going to lose power. We have shown them that the African National Congress is a victorious organization of our people,” Ramaphosa said.

He pledged to fight corruption saying graft, which is rife in the country, will become history.

Supporters dressed in party regalia waved flags as they danced off the evening to loud music on the streets of Johannesburg.

The ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the end of white minority rule in 1994, faced stiff competition in Wednesday’s general election.

The ANC was reelected after getting 57.5% of the votes in Wednesday’s general elections.

It was followed by the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party and the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.

The ANC got 230 seats in the 6th National Assembly and won eight provincial legislatures out of the country’s nine provincial parliaments.

Forty-eight political parties contested in Wednesday’s national and provincial elections.