Africa Live this week: 5-11 September 2022

BBCCopyright: BBC

Election observers from both the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) say they saw political party tents camped in front of voting stations, which they said may have "intimidated voters or unduly influenced their decisions".

Both the AU and Sadc missions have raised concerns that failures and delays caused by voter management technology during the polls may have interfered with the integrity of the election, including disenfranchising voters in some polling stations.

Despite these challenges, the AU observer mission head Uhuru Kenyatta expressed optimism about the overall process, saying South Africans "have been very patient, they have been very understanding, and by extension, very peaceful".

Election observers are encouraging all complainants to formally log their grievances.

One of the most senior leaders in the ANC - Gwede Mantashe, the party's chairperson - has just been on Newzroom Afrika, a local TV station.

He was asked about the future of President Cyril Ramaphosa, if the party ends up with around 42% of the vote.

"I don't know," Mr Mantashe replied.

He went on to say that parliament will decide - either it will elect him for a second term, or it will not.

Mr Mantashe is a close ally of Mr Ramaphosa, and serves in the outgoing government as Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy.

BBCCopyright: BBC

If current trends bear out and the governing ANC fails to reach the 50% of votes it needs to govern alone, it will have no choice but to enter into coalition with another party.

And that's something that many people in South Africa would welcome, says the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga.

"They say this shows the maturity of South Africa's democracy after the end of apartheid," she reports.

Opposition parties believe - and hope - that the days of ANC parliamentary majorities are gone for good.

They anticipate that this will be the first of many coalition governments to come.

In the next few weeks, once the final results are announced, parties have 14 days to have a sitting in parliament and that's when they will be expected to elect the next president.