He is not known for his modesty, having confidently predicted recently that he would soon rule South Africa, but as the results from the country's national election come through, the Hlaudi Motsoeneng-led African Content Movement (ACM) is facing an uphill battle just to secure a single seat in the National Assembly.

Shortly before 9am on Thursday, with just over three-million votes counted, the ACM had garnered 795 votes, or 0.03% of the tallied votes. Parties need to obtain around 35 000 votes to qualify for a seat in Parliament.

Motsoeneng, the controversial former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief operating officer, formed the ACM in December 2019 with grand designs to address issues, including poverty, land, unemployment and education.

On the campaign trail in the North West province in February he dismissed the ruling African National Congress as "old testament", while proclaiming the ACM the future.

Motsoeneng also boldly stated he was aiming for nothing other than the presidency and warned incumbent head of State Cyril Ramaphosa that his days as president were numbered.