The African National Congress has lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of  apartheid, with voters angry at joblessness, inequality and power shortages.

Nearly 99 per cent of votes had been counted by Saturday night and the once-dominant ANC – the party Nelson Mandela led to power at the end of apartheid – had received just over 40 per cent.

The nosedive from its 57.5 per cent share in 2019 comes after years of economic mismanagement and corruption that led to widespread poverty, extremely high levels of unemployment and a failure in government services.

Despite being Africa’s most advanced economy, South Africa’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world, at 32 per cent, while millions have…