Johannesburg - The ANC retained most wards in Wednesday's by-elections, except for a victory by an independent candidate in the Eastern Cape, according to results released by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
The ANC retained 10 out of 12 wards in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Western Cape, and North West, according to the results released on Thursday.
Three of the ANC's wards, Ward 19 in the Nkonkobe (Alice) municipality, Eastern Cape, Ward 19 in Moses Kotane (Mogwase) municipality in North West, and Ward 16 in the Drakenstein (Paarl) municipality, in the Western Cape were uncontested.
In the Eastern Cape, the party retained Ward four in Mbhashe (Idutywa) municipality and Ward 46 in the Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) municipality.
Nelson Mandela Bay's Ward 42, was claimed by Andile Phillip Gqabi, an independent candidate. He represented the ANC as the previous councillor but, according to the party, was expelled after he refused to resign.
African National Congress spokesman Zizi Kodwa said in a statement on Wednesday that the Eastern Cape High Court, in Port Elizabeth, on Tuesday dismissed with costs an application “by a former ANC councillor” to stop the by-election in the ward.
“The ANC trusts that the ruling... communicates a clear message to all deployees of the organisation on the importance of subjecting oneself to the discipline of the organisation and that no single individual is bigger than the ANC,” he said at the time.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC retained Ward 12 in the Umzumbe municipality and ward 16 in the Newcastle municipality.
It retained Ward 29 in the Thulamela (Thohoyandou) municipality and Ward three in the Bela-Bela municipality, both in Limpopo, and Ward eight in the Dr JS Moroka (Mdutjana) municipality, Mpumalanga.
In the Western Cape, the Democratic Alliance retained Cape Town's Ward 23.
Sapa