Cape Town – The DA suffered a blow when it lost Ward 4 in Vredendal, Matzikama, to the ANC in by-elections this week.
The party retained Ward 82 (Tafelsig) with 64.02% and Ward 19 (Wesbank) with 49.28% in Wednesday’s by-elections.
The ANC, which won 35.75% of the vote in 2016, increased its share of the poll to 51.30% to take the seat from the DA.
ANC interim provincial committee co-ordinator Ronalda Nalumango said: “We are exhilarated to take a ward from the DA.
“This victory and also our strong performance in two other by-elections in the Western Cape show we are recovering from our setbacks in the 2016 local government election.
"We want to thank all those who made this victory possible.”
DA provincial leader Bonginkosi Madikizela, who withdrew recently from the race for the party’s interim federal leader, to be elected this weekend, because he was too busy with by-elections, said the loss in Matzikama had further motivated them to intensify their work in Vredendal to show residents the party’s commitment to bring good governance.
“We had worked hard to retain this ward in order to strengthen the party’s fight to reclaim control of the council,” he said.
He said residents of ward 82 and ward 19 had put their support and trust behind the DA to deliver quality services.
“The DA received good results for ward 82, which reconfirms our support in Mitchells Plain. Equally encouraging are the results for ward 19, which comprises various communities from Highbury, West Bank, Camelot and Wembley,” said Madikizela.
Good Party secretary Brett Herron said the rate of their party’s growth continued to astound and encourage.
He said that in Matzikama, Good support had grown from 2.3% in the 2019 national elections to 5%.
“In Ward 19, Good support has grown from 6% in the 2019 national elections to 20.6%.
“In Ward 82, Good support has grown from 6% in the 2019 national elections to 13.03%.
“In all three wards which Good contested, the two major parties, the DA and ANC, lost votes.
“The drop in their results shows that these are parties of the past and that people are looking for a Good and viable alternative,” Herron said.