Former president Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto we Sizwe party came in a surprisingly strong third in the May 29 election, which saw the ANC lose its majority.
The ANC has lost its outright majority in parliament for the first time since it came to power after apartheid. In the previous election in 2019, the party won 230 seats.
For the first time in South Africa's democratic era, the African National Congress (ANC) will have to seek one or more coalition partners to govern with after it fell well short of a majority in last week's national election.
The party and country will now have to enter a period of coalition building unprecedented in the democratic era, with potential partners ranging from the pro-business Democratic Alliance to insurgent parties led by former ANC figures who fell out with the party.