The African National Congress (ANC) has stood by President Cyril Ramaphosa after its worst local election result, with no member of its National Executive Committee (NEC) calling for him to resign at a marathon meeting in Boksburg on Thursday, 12 November 2026.

Four sources present at the meeting told Business Day that, by 5pm, nobody had stood up to call for Ramaphosa to step down or for the NEC to be dissolved. Instead, the discussion stayed focused on coalition options and on giving the party's negotiators a mandate for talks in the many municipalities where no party won an outright majority.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu had set the tone earlier in the day, telling reporters at the Birchwood Hotel that Ramaphosa was staying in place. "The president is going nowhere. There is no pressure on the part of this leadership for the president to leave," she said. She also dismissed as a fabrication a report that Ramaphosa had offered to resign, and said the party should treat that claim as such, according to the African News Agency.

The election result behind the meeting

The NEC was called after the ANC's bruising performance in the local government elections held on 4 November 2026. Its national vote share fell from 45.59% in 2021 to 30.76%, leaving it negotiating from a weakened position across dozens of hung councils, Business Day reported. The party also failed to win an outright majority in any of South Africa's large cities.

The scale of the setback had prompted open debate about accountability. Former president Thabo Mbeki urged the national leaders to take responsibility for the result and to go into opposition while they reflected and rebuilt the party. The NEC did not take up that call, turning instead to who should govern the metros.

Three coalition options on the table

According to Business Day's sources, three broad options were discussed. The first, which faced stiff resistance from many NEC members, was to replicate the grand coalition model by partnering with the Democratic Alliance (DA) to secure stable majorities in the metros. The DA, which the ANC met on Wednesday, is pushing for a grand coalition, but sources said the ANC would not accept the DA's opening proposal to lead most South African metros.

The second option discussed was teaming up with ActionSA, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the MK Party and the Patriotic Alliance to retain control of metros such as eThekwini. Many NEC members dismissed that route, warning it would lead to "transactional politics". The third option was to step back from municipal power altogether and go into opposition, a course its supporters presented as the only way to rebuild the movement.

Rather than adopting a rigid national formula, the ANC is expected to revise its 2024 coalition framework in favour of municipality-by-municipality deals.

Left-wing parties meet separately

While the ANC met in one part of the Birchwood Hotel, left-wing parties including the South African Communist Party, the EFF and the MK Party held their own talks at the same venue. The grouping, calling itself the Conference of the Left, warned it would not support ANC-led coalitions with the DA in hung municipalities and dismissed claims that its members would return to the ANC if Ramaphosa resigned, the African News Agency reported.

What happens next

The parties are racing against a strict timetable. Publication of the election results in the Government Gazette on Wednesday triggered a 14-day window requiring all municipal councils to hold their inaugural sittings and elect office-bearers by 26 November. To prevent instability while the Municipal Coalitions Bill remains before parliament, Co-operative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has issued interim coalition guidelines urging parties to sign binding written agreements and warning against handing mayoral chains to minor "kingmaker" parties.

Thursday's NEC meeting was expected to continue late into the night and to deliver a formal response to the DA. The decisions taken in Boksburg will shape who runs South Africa's biggest cities — and, with the ANC due to elect a new leader in December 2027, when Ramaphosa is expected to step aside after two terms, they will also shape the party's path to that contest.

Frequently asked questions

Did anyone at the ANC NEC call for Ramaphosa to resign? No. Four sources at the meeting told Business Day that by 5pm nobody had called for the president to resign or for the NEC to be dissolved.

What was the ANC's vote share in the 2026 local elections? The party won 30.76% of the national vote, down from 45.59% in the 2021 local government elections.

When must new municipal councils be formed? Councils must hold their inaugural sittings and elect office-bearers by 26 November 2026, within 14 days of the results being published in the Government Gazette.

Sources: Business Day; African News Agency.