Rustenburg - The African National Congress (ANC) snatched four seats from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and retained 12 seats during the by-elections contested in eight provinces, excluding the Western Cape, the Electoral Commission of South Africa said on Thursday.
"The Democratic Alliance (DA) retained ten seats and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) retained one seat gained in the 2016 Municipal Elections," the IEC said.
The ANC wrestled control from the DA in ward 12 of the Makana municipality, Eastern Cape, ward 29 in the Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng, ward 30 in the Msunduzi municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and ward 5 in the Hantam municipality in the Northern Cape.
In the North West, both the ANC and the DA welcomed the results of by-elections in the Rustenburg municiplaity. The DA retained ward 16 and the ANC ward 26.
"The ANC welcomes the results of the by-elections as held yesterday [Wednesday] in the Rustenburg local municipality. Our people have once more demonstrated their belief in the ANC to transform their lives," said interim provincial committee (IPC) coordinator Hlomane Chauke.
"We will not take for granted the confidence our people have once again demonstrated in this glorious movement and commit to intensify our efforts to work with them to solve the challenges they face.
"We also take note of the work done in ward 16, where we lost. We will continue to engage residents of that ward to ensure we reclaim it in the next elections," he said.
Ward 26 in the Rustenburg municiplaity became vacant as a result of the death of ANC councillor Salome Mmakgabe Letlape. The new elected ANC councillor in ward 26 is Hendrick Baleseng Mogotsi who obtained 1,781 votes.
DA leader in North West Joe McGluwa said the results in ward 16 indicated remarkable DA growth from 29 percent the party garnered in the general election in May to 73 percent in the by-election.
"We would like to thank the community of Rustenburg for their warm and welcome hearts allowing us into their homes, to meet, speak, engage and reassure them about the need for building a One South Africa for All. Now more than ever we need a strong opposition where the ANC is in government and dedicated leaders who care about the concerns of the people and have the solutions to take the country forward," he said.
Ward 16 became vacant after the former ward councillor, Cheryl Philips, was elected to parliament following the general election in May. The new DA councillor is Johan Cronje.