Cape Town - Western Cape DA and ANC leaders hurled insults at each other after the provisional results were made known on Friday.
“The ANC's efforts over the last few years to make the Western Cape ungovernable failed miserably,” said Democratic Alliance provincial leader Ivan Meyer during a victory speech at the Electoral Commission of SA's (IEC) Western Cape results operations centre in Belville-South.
“Not the ANC's race-based divide and rule tactics, especially in vulnerable communities like De Doorns, nor their efforts to bribe DA councillors, nor their outrageous so-called faeces war could unseat the DA in this province.”
Meyer's comments contradicted his earlier calls for unity and co-operation after the pre-election mudslinging.
When Meyer spoke after the provisional results were announced, he said: “May this election be the beginning of the end of confrontational politics in the Western Cape towards constructive yet critical dialogue in the interests of all citizens...”
Meyer's party won 59.2 percent of the provincial vote, increasing its outright majority in the Western Cape.
The African National Congress improved its support base somewhat and garnered 33.04 percent of the vote.
Taking the podium after Meyer's criticism, ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman responded in kind by accusing the DA of running a racist campaign.
“Every time an election happens, the Democratic Alliance push the 'swart gevaar' tactics,” Fransman said.
“What you see now, unashamedly so, is the DA has gone out... in the media saying that the ANC does not care for coloured people.”
Fransman will return to the Western Cape legislature as the official opposition leader after spending the last five years on the national political stage.
The former deputy international relations minister said he was excited about returning to the province and building the ANC structures ahead of the 2016 municipal elections.
The ANC and DA will be joined by the Economic Freedom fighters, which will get at least one seat in the legislature.
Sapa