It was a tumultuous night in the penultimate round of by-elections before the national elections on 29 May as five of the 11 wards changed hands.
The Patriotic Alliance gave the DA and the ANC much cause for concern in the Western Cape when it won wards off both parties in by-elections, and came close to shocking the ANC in Clanwilliam as well, in a ward that was won by a local party, Cederberg Eerste . The ANC took a Polokwane ward off the EFF, while the DA won a ward off the ANC in the small town of Pearston in the Eastern Cape.
The DA won 14/23 seats, shedding two to the FF+. The ANC remained the official opposition with five seats, down from six. It lost a seat to GOOD. EFF retained its seat in the council.The two-term ward councillor died after a short illness. The DA fielded octogenarian, former ward councillor and former deputy mayor Maude Goliath as its candidate. The PA was quick out of the starting blocks, knowing it came very close to shocking the DA in a recent Swartland by-election.
The FF+ came third here in 2021 but did not contest this by-election. There were two independent candidates on the ballot who will not feature in the general election.Residents of Ward 9 in Oudtshoorn on their way to vote for a new councillor on 24 April 2024. Heins and the CE won this ward off the ANC to give the CE a historic achievement, its first ward gain in a by-election. It did not have it easy as the PA almost ran the party very close in this by-election. The CE beat the PA by 92 votes, with the ANC falling to third place.
The ANC had comfortable wins in the two densely populated Dysselsdorp voting districts. Advies Kantoor shared one of the two rural voting districts with the ANC. The PA has had many impressive by-election wins in the past couple of years. It has won in Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. This win in Dysselsdorp will count as its most impressive performance. The party registered just 1% support here in 2021. It came close to winning two-thirds of the vote in Dysselsdorp in the by-election, sweeping all four districts. It won 68% of the vote at Kolping House, the most-populous district in the ward. Advies Kantoorvotes.
The EFF won the by-election by largely consolidating what it achieved in 2021. It got its supporters out in Blood River where it made small gains, with the ANC losing ground there. At the Molautsi Secondary School district in Blood River, the ANC’s percentage vote share declined from 38% to 31%, with the EFF creeping up from 57% to 59%. ActionSA won 9%. There was a differential turnout in the EFF’s favour when comparing Blood River with the more competitive Makgofe voting districts.
The ANC retained its outright majority in the municipality, winning six out of 11 seats, down by one from the seven it won in 2016. The DA retained its four seats while the EFF won a seat for the first time in the municipality.Veteran councillor Mncedi Mali resigned. The ANC was joined on the ballot by the DA and the EFF. The voters’ roll grew by 7% since the last local government election.
The EFF won the Pelamosa Primary School voting district, growing from 37% to 53%, while the ANC fell from 44% to 31%. The EFF was unable to replicate the result in the other voting districts. It lost small bits of ground in the three other districts.The parties expected to feature in the ward are all on the ballot in the by-election. The caveat is that the independent candidate will not be contesting the general election.Gauteng accounts for almost one in four of the country’s voting population.
The ANC emerged as the largest party with 31 of the 77 seats, down seven from the 38 it won in 2021. The DA was the second-largest with 25, down two seats from its 27 in 2016. The EFF grew from nine seats to 11. The FF+ tripled its seat allocation from two to six to finish fourth in the municipality.
The Cradle Food Market district again provided the most nail-biting vote count, as the DA matched the ANC this time round, overturning the two-vote deficit from 2021. The EFF fell away here, finishing 56 votes behind both parties.Greenhills is a suburb close to the town centre of Randfontein, and the seat of power is Rand West City. Rand West City is centred on Randfontein, Bekkersdal and Westonaria. Famous sons in this municipality are soccer player Ace Khuze and photographer David Goldblatt.
The ANC retained its outright majority in Emthanjeni, winning nine out of 15 seats. It did not lose any seats. The DA lost one, falling from five to four, while the EFF retained its seat and the PA won a seat on the council.Young ANC ward councillor Sandile Makhandula resigned as councillor and as a member of the ANC and defected to the EFF.
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