The ANC’s drop in support in the Eastern Cape can be attributed to problems at local municipal level.This is the view of political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana after the ANC’s majority win in the province, though with a drop in percentage support.The Electoral Commission declared the ANC had won the province by 68.74%, a drop from the 70.09% it received at the 2014 provincial elections.Ndletyana said this highlighted the crisis the province had at municipal level.“At a local level this election highlights a crisis we know is there, especially in Grahamstown [Makhanda] because the ANC’s performance there has been outright shameful.“They have run that municipality into the ground, literally. They don’t deserve to be in power.“There is nothing that they can say they have done positively in that municipality.“Their drop in support is really an indication of their poor performance.“Makana has been deteriorating for a number of years and they’ve made a lot of interventions, some of which were never completed and sometimes sabotaged because of in-fighting.“It’s not as if no-one knows what to do there but they’re just too comfortable with power,” Ndletyana said.Even though the ANC retained the Eastern Cape, support had dropped in municipalities often faced with service delivery protests such as Makana, Sundays River, Nelson Mandela Bay and Amahlathi.During the 2014 provincial election, the ANC received 66.44% in Makana while it received 62.24% in 2019.In Sundays River, it received 74.55% in 2014 while it got 71.34% in 2019, and for Amahlathi in 2014 it got 83.55% while retaining its majority with 80.93% in 2019.Amahlathi experienced five months of intense service delivery protests that left Stutterheim’s streets buried in heaps of filth.Eskom had threatened Makana with bulk electricity disruption after it breached its payment agreement. Makana owed Eskom R90m. Makana also faces a water crisis as some parts of Makhanda go for days without water.Nelson Mandela Bay, where the ANC is in a coalition with the UDM, AIC and United Front, faces constant service delivery protests and growing land invasions.Meanwhile, ANC provincial spokesperson Gift Ngqondi said the results were a sign that the ANC continued to be the most trusted party in the province.“The regular elections are an affirmation that our democracy is alive, as well as a practical expression of our commitment to the Freedom Charter demand that the people shall govern; no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.“We do not take for granted the confidence the people have once again demonstrated in their movement, and commit ourselves to redouble our efforts to work with them to solve the problems they face,” Ngqondi said.