The ANC was heading for major losses in municipal elections, results showed on Friday, setting the stage for multi-party coalition battles to control Johannesburg and other major conurbations.

With 81% of votes counted by 1130 GMT, the ANC had 32% against 25% for its main rival, the DA.

If that holds, the party that has dominated South African politics since the end of apartheid would shed about 14 percentage points from the 2021 municipal election, which was, at the time, its worst local result on record.

It would mark a further erosion in the ANC's grip on power after it lost its national parliamentary majority in 2024.

The party of the late anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has seen its support dwindle amid high unemployment and crime, corruption scandals and anger over failing water, electricity and other services.

The DA was on course for an outright majority in Cape Town, and has emerged in stronger positions elsewhere, setting up complex negotiations in which smaller parties including ActionSA could hold considerable sway.

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said his party had already begun contacting potential coalition partners.

"We will approach the next few weeks with respect for the mandates those parties have received from their voters, and humility, and a commitment to trying to put together governments that get those towns and cities working,” he said.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the DA's most straightforward path to stable governments could be deals with the ANC, its partner in the national government, but that risked alienating voters who had just punished the ANC.

"I think if voters wanted the ANC to be back in municipalities, they would have voted for the ANC," Mathekga said.

ActionSA, a party founded in 2020 by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, is also positioning itself as a potential kingmaker, particularly in Gauteng Province.

It says it is prepared to negotiate across the political spectrum if parties agree on improving basic services, stabilising councils and fighting corruption.

"Ultimately, I'm quite convinced no government is going to be formed without us," its national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said.

As vote tallying enters the final stages, the outcome remains unclear in eThekwini, the municipality centred on the port-city of Durban, where former President Jacob Zuma is hoping his party — a splinter from the ANC — can seize a majority.