Cape Town – The Western Cape ANC has hailed the party’s by-election win in Ward 9 in the Witzenberg municipality as another sign that the ANC is pushing back the DA in the province.
This after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced the results of the hotly contested by-elections held on December 5.
The IEC had turned to the Electoral Court last month after political parties had complained that their members were denied access to campaign on a farm belonging to an agricultural investment company.
Electoral Commission spokesperson Kate Bapela said the ANC retained the seat won in the 2016 municipal elections.
“The new councillor for the ANC is Mxolisi Joseph Ndaba in Ward 9 in Witzenberg Municipality. The party retained the seat it won in the 2016 municipal elections, with 49.57% of the votes cast, compared to 48.90% in the 2016 municipal elections. Voter turnout yesterday was 37.37%."
ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs said Ndaba increased the ANC’s voter support by 6% and won by 638 votes against the 529 ballots cast in favour of the DA.
“We are back. Clearly, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s vision of the dawn of a new era in South Africa is resonating with voters. The people in Witzenburg have shown that they’re tired of the DA’s negative politics,” he said.
Jacobs said Ndaba beat off the DA's Koos Goeieman, Cope's Johannes Mars and the EFF's Isak Swartz.
A defiant DA Western Cape leader, Bonginkosi Madikizela, said the by-election showed promising growth for the party to 37.7%.
“This is a 4.4% increase from the 33.3% that we garnered in the 2016 local government elections. The ANC saw a meagre increase of 0.6% among voters in the ward, receiving 49.5% in the by-election, after having received 48.9% in 2016,” he said.
Madikizela said the results showed that despite the challenges the DA faced in recent months, voters knew that they are the only party that can take the country forward.