2021 ELECTIONS The biggest winners and losers of South Africa’s local government polls By REBECCA DAVIS becsplanb
The 2021 South African municipal elections were held on 1 November 2021. Here are the real winners and losers:The IFP looks set to lead at least 16 councils and control nine in KwaZulu-Natal, while taking some 539 seats nationally: a sterling result that has confounded some analysts. But party spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa told DM168 that anyone who is surprised simply hasn’t been paying attention.
The EFF, meanwhile, came in for some ribbing on Twitter. The Fighters often present themselves as the “government-in-waiting”, and leader Julius Malema had previously predicted a result of 65% of vote share, but they ended up with about 10.42%, a respectable development from 2016’s 8.19% –especially in an election in which the two bigger parties took major hits.
It’s the latest great adventure in the already storied life of 62-year-old Richards, a former clothing factory worker who grew up on the Cape Flats, earned a PhD in religious studies, worked for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, helped found the Scorpions, has published eight books, and is now a commercial citrus farmer in Clanwilliam.
“No longer will a coloured be treated as nothing in this country,” McKenzie told EWN, which sums up the party’s major promise to voters. It pledged to raise the status and political power of coloured people, who the PA says have been treated like “stepchildren” for too long. It has also positioned itself as strenuously opposed to “illegal foreigners”.
Pappas already has a 100-day plan for his municipality, kicking off with “a full audit of infrastructure and assets” to assess the state of play after “two decades of poor governance”.Herman Mashaba’s new party was up against it going into these elections after an error during registration meant that ActionSA could only print its logo rather than its name on some ballots.
Sewshanker told DM168 that “nerve-racking” doesn’t come close to expressing her experience. “I watched the vote-counting in real time. It was 4.30am, the ANC was leading by 200 votes with two voting districts to count…” Analyst Dawie Scholtz noted on Twitter that some number-crunching revealed that the DA lost more than half its 2016 support in Joburg townships. In 2016 the party enjoyed 77% support among coloured voters; in 2021, it is hovering around 54%.
“Something has gone horribly wrong in KZN,” ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli admitted to DM168 this week.
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