Pretoria - While DA leader Mmusi Maimane has claimed victory for his party in the Tshwane metro in the local government elections, he did not want to make the same projection for the City of Johannesburg on Friday evening.
“I will wait a bit till I have a clearer picture,” he told reporters at the IEC’s chief counting centre in Pretoria.
Maimane was excited about his win in Tshwane, saying all projections made by the DA thus far had been correct.
He said that while the final votes were still being tallied, it was positive news.
“We are the largest party here and I would like to congratulate the DA for having successfully beat the ANC here in Tshwane. We will be working hard to form the government here. Thank you to everyone and congratulations to mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga for having run such a successful campaign.”
The DA was not willing to commit to what coalitions it would form with smaller political parties to run the capital city. But he said his party was ready to govern.
“We have got to do everything within our power to make sure that where we govern, we govern well.”
Meanwhile earlier on Friday the ANC admitted defeat in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro to the DA. The opposition also took Cape Town. It is the first time the DA will run more than one metro.
The IEC said that the final results would be announced on Saturday evening. By Friday evening 97% of the results had been counted. But verification must still happen.
The ANC is currently sitting at 43.02 percent with the DA at 41.5 percent for the Tshwane metro. While in the City of Johannesburg currently has the DA is leading with 42.21 percent and the ANC at 41.31 percent
Elections Bureau