Indeed, as of Thursday evening, with the results of just over 34% of the districts in the elections, which saw a turnout of 58.6% of registered voters, counted, the ANC is ahead with approximately 43% of the vote.

In a distant second place is the conservative Democratic Alliance (DA), which, although dominant in the southern Western Cape province, with regional support so far counted at just over 52%, nationally that figure is, according to these partial results, 25%.

Next, as expected, are the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), with a provisional 9%.

The EFF managed, if current trends continue, to go above the national average in northern Limpopo and North West, although even in those departments it lags far behind the ANC.

And, as expected, the relatively new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party has a large lead in the south-eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, where it was formed, with just over 43%, ahead of the ANC which has so far only managed around 20% in that region.

At the national level, MK has thus become one of the four most voted political parties in the country with 9.3% of the vote.

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