The DA is the only party that draws real support from all four of South Africa's main population groups. Marius Roodt and Gabriel Makin discuss Gareth van Onselen's breakdown of the 2026 local government election vote.

About a quarter of the DA's votes came from black South Africans, roughly a million voters. Just under half came from white voters, about 20% from coloured voters, and 7% from Indian and Asian voters. The ANC, the MKP, and the EFF each drew about 95% or more of their votes from black South Africans.

Among black voters, the ANC won 52%, the MKP 17%, the DA 11%, the EFF 10.5% and ActionSA 9.5%, meaning the DA is more popular among black voters than the EFF. .

Marius argues that joining the Government of National Unity showed many voters the DA was not what its opponents claimed. But the ANC still won more than half of the black vote, and he warns that you write off the ANC at your peril.