Pretoria – Politicians from various parties were sitting around and chatting on Wednesday night at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) national results centre, waiting for the results in the 2016 Municipal Elections.
African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe went to shake the hands of Democratic Alliance (DA) national spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme and Federal Executive Chairperson James Selfe after the first results were announced.
DA Leader Mmusi Maimane arrived at around 9.20pm.
Sitting at the Economic Freedom Fighters’ desk waiting for results were national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, secretary general Godrich Gardee and chairperson Dali Mpofu.
The IEC announced the first results on Wednesday night, just before 9pm.
“We have reached the moment that we have all looked forward to and it is a moment of pride for us as a nation,” Independent Electoral Commission SA (IEC) Chairperson Glen Mashinini said, briefing the media and political parties at the results centre in Pretoria.
With three large screens erected on the wall behind the podium, the results went up. One screen showed fireworks as the main screen in the centre showed the results of Ward 6 of EC123 in the Great Kei, Eastern Cape.
From the information on the screen it showed 22 people voted. The Democratic Alliance (DA) received 10 votes, the African National Congress (ANC) seven and an independent candidate received five votes.
Mashinini said these were the first audited results from the Local Government elections.
Cheers came from the DA as the results indicated they had secured 45.45 percent and the African National Congress 31.82 percent.
IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said they still expected “many, many results” to come in throughout the night.
As the results trickled in, politicians were doing media interviews as journalists discussed the results.
Other politicians at the centre on Wednesday evening included the ANC’s Jackson Mthembu, the ANC’s Jesse Duarte and Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota.
African News Agency