S. African ruling party remains people's choice: chief whip

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) remains the people's choice though with a reduced majority, the party's Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu said on Tuesday.

Out of the 4,392 wards in the country, the ANC won 3,435 amounting to 78.2 percent of the total wards, whereas the opposition combined could win 957 wards, or 21.8 percent of the total wards, Mthembu told MPs in Parliament on the outcome of the August 3 local government elections.

The positive attitude of South Africans during elections makes it clear that the national democratic project led by the ANC in the country is succeeding, he said.

Mthembu, however, expressed regret that the ANC could not get governing majorities in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Tshwane (Pretoria) Metro, and Johannesburg Metro.

He said losses the ANC has suffered are "not because any other party is better than the ANC, but self-inflicted".

The ANC, he said, will definitely change its behaviour and posture including that of being perceived as being aloof, inward-looking, self-serving and arrogant.

"We will also deal decisively with any perceptions of us being soft on corruption, whilst at the same time acting without any delay against those who manipulated our candidate selection processes for their narrow selfish ends," said the chief whip.

"We are confident that we will be able to correct our weaknesses, and when we have corrected our weaknesses, we will regain the confidence of our people in these Metros and increase our electoral support everywhere in the country," he added. Endit