Cape Town - The ANC has hailed residents of ward 2 in Barrydale for coming out in their numbers to vote, following its victory in the Swellendam Municipality by-election on Wednesday.
The ANC won the ward with 910 votes for its candidate Isaac “Iky” Ferguson, while the DA, which previously held the ward, received 736 votes.
The victory has increased the party’s seats in the Swellendam Municipality to five from the previous four it held in 2021.
ANC head of communications, Sifiso Mtsweni, said the community of Barrydale had “unmasked the DA for what it is”.
“These results are quite significant because the ward was previously held by the DA in 2021. In just less than 18 months, the community has unmasked the DA for what it is – an organisation that does not care about our communities but uses them as voting fodder to serve the interests of the few who are in affluent areas.
“The community of ward 2 in Barrydale have shown overwhelming confidence in our candidate who has over years displayed unparalleled commitment to community struggles. Iky is a well known activist in the area who has always conducted himself with utmost integrity and is a courteous community leader.
“Now we (have) equal seats with the DA, which continues to lose its relevance in Swellendam and everywhere else in the province.
The ANC applauds all our volunteers and election structures for working hard to pull off this outcome,“ Mtsweni said.
DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said they respected the choice of voters and congratulated the winning candidate.
“As a party that believes in effective governance and accountability, we will now allocate a DA PR councillor to the ward to fulfil that role. The DA will reflect on the outcome, and what led up to this result and aim to correct it going forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is investigating allegations of a violation of the Electoral Act by DA councillor Sammy Fredericks.
Fredericks was seen on video, standing with a voter who was ripping apart his GOOD party T-shirt during the by-election.
In the complaint brought by the GOOD party, Fredericks is accused of “instructing the voter to remove the T-shirt and to destroy it” in exchange for a DA one.
But Fredericks has denied the allegations, saying the voter removed the T-shirt on his own free will.
“The voter was already busy tearing up the GOOD T-shirt upon my arrival, and accepted me offering him a new shirt,” he said.
GOOD party Cape Town councillor Jonathan Cupido said they were appalled by Fredericks’ conduct.
“While we acknowledge that all voters have the right to determine by themselves who they wish to support during elections, exploitative actions such as these are extremely concerning,” he said. IEC provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said they had received a complaint on the matter.
“We will respond to the party,” he said.
Simmers said: “The DA is aware of the incident and noted that the IEC is investigating the matter. We will give our co-operation to the IEC”.
Cape Times