The African National Congress appeared on course to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, partial results from South Africa's national election showed, in what would be the most dramatic political shift since the end of apartheid.

With results in from 13.9% of polling stations, the ANC's share of the vote in Wednesday's election stood at 42.6%, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) on 25.8% and the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on 8.5%, data from the electoral commission showed.

If the final results were to resemble the early picture, the ANC would be forced to make a deal with one or more other parties to govern - a situation that could lead to unprecedented political volatility in the coming weeks or months.

"There will be checks and balances on the ANC power, but the ultimate risk is that the infighting could make governance ineffective," said Simon Harvey, head of foreign exchange analysis at Monex Europe.

He added that the speed at which a coalition could be formed would be an indication of what was to come.

"If it is protracted, you may start to worry about a political gridlock going forward," he said.

The uncertainty weighed on South African markets.

The rand slipped more than 1% against the U.S. dollar to hit its weakest level in four weeks while the wider equity index (.JTOPI), opens new tab dropped more than 2% in its worst day in six weeks and the country's international bonds lost as much as 1 cent in the dollar.

The ANC has won national elections held every five years since the landmark 1994 election, which marked the end of apartheid and the ascent of Nelson Mandela as president.

But since those heady days the ANC's support has declined because of disillusionment over issues such as high unemployment and crime, frequent power blackouts and corruption.

Based on the early results, the ANC is projected to have roughly 42% of the vote when the count is over, according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research which was providing projections to the state broadcaster SABC.

In the previous election in 2019, the ANC won 57.5% of the vote, with 20.8% for the DA and 10.8% for the EFF, on a turnout of 66% of registered voters, which the commission has already said is likely to be higher this time.