The African National Congress (ANC) party has lost its parliamentary majority, putting South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of Apartheid 30 years ago.

With nearly 99 per cent per cent of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40 per cent in the election on Wednesday, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended Apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela.

The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent electoral commission that ran the election.

While opposition parties hailed it as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained the biggest party by some way but will now need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa, president, for a second and final term.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.