Black Voters Now See DA as Better on Service Delivery

A poll conducted in late 2025 by the Social Research Foundation* points to a political shift with long-term consequences for South Africa’s governing landscape.

When black voters were asked which political party they most strongly associate with the phrase “best at service delivery”, a quarter named the Democratic Alliance (DA), while 22% selected the African National Congress (ANC). In numerical terms, the margin is modest. In historical terms, it is extraordinary.

For the first time black voters are more likely to associate service delivery with the DA than with the ANC.

Service delivery has always been the ANC’s central claim to governing legitimacy. Water, electricity, roads, clinics, refuse removal, and functioning municipalities formed the practical foundation of its dominance. This data suggests that foundation is now cracking. The question does not test ideology or protest mood. It tests lived experience. Voters answer it based on whether government works in their daily lives.

That black voters are now tilting toward the DA on this measure signals that governance failure is no longer being treated as temporary, localised, or forgivable. It is now being associated with the ANC brand.

The pattern among all voters reinforces the scale of the shift. Nationally, 39% of respondents associate better service delivery with the DA, compared with just 17% for the ANC. No other party reaches double digits. The ANC’s score places it closer to voter scepticism than to its main opposition rival, with 14% of respondents saying that they do not associate any of the parties with service delivery at all.

That sceptical bloc matters. It reflects a growing share of South Africans who no longer instinctively trust any political party to deliver basic services. But it also tightens the pressure on the ANC. As the largest party in the country and the one that still governs most provinces and municipalities, when the ANC fails at service delivery, it is felt more widely. Failures in water systems, electricity supply, and municipal administration are linked directly to the ANC in the public mind.

For the DA, the implication is equally significant. Its long-standing reputation for administrative competence has moved beyond a niche appeal. It now dominates nationally on service delivery and has edged ahead of the ANC among black voters on the same measure. That does not automatically translate into electoral victory, but it fundamentally alters the terrain. The ANC is no longer the default party of delivery, and the DA is no longer perceived merely as a capable opposition in isolated pockets.

This is not a routine polling fluctuation. It is evidence of a structural shift in how voters judge governing credibility. Once the automatic link between political identity and trust in service delivery breaks, South African politics enters a very different phase.

*The Social Research Foundation’s Q4 2025 Market Survey was commissioned by the Foundation and conducted by Victory Research among 1 002 registered voters between 27 October and 14 November 2025 using telephonic CATI interviews. A single-frame random digit-dialling design was used, drawing from all possible South African mobile numbers to ensure that every number had an equal probability of selection, with national sim card penetration exceeding 250%, more than 90% of adults owning a phone, and mobile networks covering 99.8% of the population, giving universal practical coverage. The sample was fully weighted to match the national registered voter population across all key demographics, including language, age, race, gender, education, income, and urban or rural location. Turnout modelling assigned each respondent a probability of voting based on questions measuring their likelihood of participation, with the primary turnout model set at 52.8%. The poll carries a 4.0% margin of error at a 95% confidence level, with a design effect of 1.762.