An election with more twists and turns than a scripted drama. The ANC has lost its monopoly on power, three decades after ushering in the democracy, now at play in its demise. The verdict is in, and the decades of ANC dominance has come to an end, and all of these smaller parties who've been relegated to the opposition bench could now be a part of a coalition government. The ANC has fallen well short of a parliamentary majority, with a 17% plunge from in the 2019 elections.

It is a deep, and it is also a sign that democracy is at work in South Africa.

The largest party will still have to negotiate with some of its rivals to form a coalition government.

We want to work with the ANC. If there's any party that we can work with and work properly is the ANC. Because ANC, when compromised is not arrogant.

But negotiations won't be easy, especially with the main opposition party watching.

We will do what we can to prevent what I've called, since April last year, from this very room, a doomsday coalition, a coalition between the ANC and the radicals in the EFF or the Enquanto Eseizwe Party, because those policies will take South Africa down the same road to Zimbabwe.

The ANC isn't just suffering from declining support, but the wild card of their former leader and President Jacob Zuma's party, Mkonto-Oasiswe, splitting votes. To survive the blow of this election, the ANC may have to turn to Zuma's MK Party to form a coalition. The ANC has presided over South Africa's 30 years of postapartheid democracy, but its President, Cyril Ramiposa, may not see another term.

It will be a lesson for them because when they are there, they're just doing things the way they like. They don't care about the people on the ground anymore.

The sun is setting on South Africa as we know it, and the days that come will bring a new era in its democracy, for better or for worse. Yusril Bágar, Sky News, Johannesburg.