Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said although the party believes the elections were not fair or free, it is the larger electoral system that is the core of the issues.

She says that the process is undemocratic and this is evident in the results where the corrupt has still maintained power.

These issues with the larger electoral process, said Hlubi-Majola, cannot be rectified through the courts.

Smaller parties are seemly breaking ranks.

At least eight parties will allegedly withdraw from the court case lodged against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to contest the 2019 national and provincial elections.

On Friday, a group of about 30 smaller parties who have contested this year’s elections took their concerns to court, saying the results are not correct and their own results had not yet been reflected in their voting districts.

Speaking to some parties at IEC’s National Results Operations Centre, a rumour had been doing the rounds that some parties were going to pull out of the case.

These parties confirmed they got wind of parties who no longer wanted to participate.

Currently, a meeting is being held to discuss this after which some parties will brief the media.

The ANC has retained Gauteng, one of the most hotly contested provinces in this year’s general election.

The DA hoped that opposition parties will force the ANC to under 50% and that a coalition government could take control of the country’s richest province, but a poor showing by the party put paid to any hopes it might have had.

The EFF continued on its growth trajectory and it, as well as the Freedom Front Plus, will have bigger representation in the provincial legislature.

The final percentages (with 2014 figures in brackets) are:   

ANC: 50,19% (53,6%)   

DA: 27,45% (30,8)   

EFF: 14,69% (10,3%)   

FF Plus: 3,56% (1,2%)

The attorney acting on behalf of 35 small political parties that are threatening the IEC to force a rerun of the election, has withdrawn as attorney of record.

Hans-Jurie Moolman, who is also a DA councillor from Tlokwe in Potchefstroom, was helping the smaller parties find new legal council after withdrawing on Saturday.

This was confirmed by James Selfe, the DA's federal executive chairperson.

Selfe previously told News24 that they were currently in discussion with Moolman because they believed he was conflicted.

Moolman also confirmed that he had withdrawn as the attorney of record, but maintained that he does not agree that there is a conflict of interest.

However, holding to professional ethics, “even a perception of bias that would impact on my integrity is enough for me to stand back,” he told News24.

The Independent Electoral Commission announced that the Stats General would conduct audit from a sample size of 1020 voting stations after grievances were laid resulting to voting irregularities on Wednesday.

According to a lawyers letter by the IEC, the meeting was supposed to take place at 12:00 on Saturday, however the meeting has been delayed according to some of the smaller parties involved in the dispute.

A number of parties have formed a coalition and threatened to interdict the declaration of the election results.

The coalition’s lawyer has written to the IEC about their intentions also asking that a full audit be done on the elections by an independent body.

The group of small parties, who didn’t do well in the elections, have claimed that the elections have not been free or fair.

The ANC retained its traditional heartland, the Eastern Cape, with 68.74 % of the vote on the provincial ballot when the final voting station was captured at around 23:30 on Friday evening.

However, it saw a slight drop in support, as it obtained 70.09% of the vote in 2014.

The DA, with 15.73 % is in second place, and the EFF in third with 7.84 %.

Through a lawyer's letter seen by News24, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has said there is no basis in law to interdict the declaration of the election results and that it will oppose any legal action.

This formed part of a response by the IEC to a number of smaller parties which have threatened to approach the courts to stop the results from being announced.

The group of disgruntled parties is also calling for a full audit conducted by an independent firm and for the elections to be re-run.

While the ANC has taken North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga as expected, the Economic Freedom Fighters will feel they have scored crucial victories in these provinces, growing their support to either maintain or ascend to the official opposition for the next five years.

The ANC has taken the Northern Cape with 57.54% of the votes, the North West with 61.87%, Mpumalanga with 77.23% and Limpopo with 75.49% of ballots cast.  

While the governing party has retained control of these provinces, support for the black, green and gold has dropped across the board.

Meanwhile, the EFF has not only made inroads at a national level, but the party has grown across all provinces and is now the official opposition in three provinces surrounding Gauteng to the east, north and west of the province - Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West.

Snapshot of Gauteng at 11:46am:

Only two voting districts out of 2771 are outstanding.

Total votes case: 4 353 429

Voter turnout: 68.29%

ANC – 50.19%

DA – 27.46%

EFF – 14.68%

FF Plus – 3.56%

IFP – 0.88%

ACDP – 0.71%

The ANC looks set to retain control of the Gauteng provincial government as counting of votes creeps closer to completion.

The governing party inched across the 50% mark early on Saturday morning and cleared the threshold to form a provincial executive.

The IEC's Results Operational Centre on Saturday morning was largely deserted as battle-weary party agents, IEC officials and journalists made their way back to the cavernous hall with the casino-like atmosphere where the coup de grace was about to be delivered.

But whatever happens in the next five years, it will all be based on events at the ROC over the last couple of days.

READ HERE:

Gauteng, the richest prize in provincial politics, remains in the balance as the ANC early on Saturday morning breached the electoral threshold of 50% support.

With only a fraction of Gauteng's 2 727 voting districts still outstanding, the state of play at 08:15 was:         

ANC: 50.05%        

DA: 27.63%

EFF: 14.61%

Freedom Front Plus: 3.61%

IFP: 0.87%

The only parties that have increased their support since 2014 are the EFF and the FF Plus, which will both have more members in the provincial legislature than before.

The ANC (minus 3.6 percentage points) and the DA (minus 4.09 percentage points) have both lost support.

Voting counting for the 2019 national election is at 99.9% with no major shocks reported.

By 08:00 on Saturday, the EFF had exceeded 1.8 million votes, up from 2014's 1.1 million.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2019 election was the Freedom Front Plus which had a voter tally that exceeded 413 000 votes on Saturday morning. 

Meanwhile, the IEC has conducted an audit of a sample of votes at the behest of smaller parties.