DA loses support in Western Cape by-elections, cedes ward to ANC in Matzikama
14 November 2019
The DA lost a ward and retained two in Wednesday's by-elections in the Western Cape, but bled significant support in those two wards.
In the two wards the DA retained – in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain and Wesbank in Cape Town – the party saw a drop in support from the 2016 municipal election results.
In Tafelsig, the party dropped to 64.02% of the votes cast, compared to 83.64% in 2016, with a voter turnout of 23.94%.
In WesBank, the DA dropped to 49.28% of the votes cast, compared to 66.44% in 2016. Voter turnout was 21.75%.
In the Matzikama Municipality, the ANC won the ward with 51.30% of the vote, compared to 35.75% in 2016, while the DA dropped 11 percentage points.
DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela said the party was "pleased" with the results in the two Cape Town wards.
"But we are disappointed with the outcome of the ward 4, Vredendal North, in Matzikama results," he said in a statement.
"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 of various communities from Highbury, West Bank, Camelot and Wembley. Over the past few weeks campaign teams flooded the streets of these communities to canvass thousands of voters," he said.
'We are exhilarated to take a ward from the DA'
"In Matzikama, the DA lost the ward to the ANC. We had worked hard to retain this ward in order to strengthen the party's fight to reclaim control of the council. It has been deeply worrying to witness how, under the UD (United Democrats)/ANC alliance, the municipality has been embroiled in allegations of nepotism, corruption and mismanagement.
"The loss of this ward has further motivated us to intensify our work in this community to show the people our commitment to bring good governance to Matzikama."
ANC interim provincial committee coordinator Ronalda Nalumango said in a statement: "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."
Meanwhile GOOD claimed that the by-elections "confirm the steady movement to GOOD of people who traditionally voted for the old parties".
"After only being established in January 2019, GOOD went up against old and established political parties with comparatively massive resources. The rate of GOOD's growth continues to astound and encourage," said party secretary general Brett Herron.
According to him, GOOD's support in Matzikama has grown from 2.3 % in the 2019 national elections to 5%, in Mitchells Plain from 6% to 13% and Wesbank from 6% to 20.6%.
"GOOD is encouraged to be growing at a pace that will make it a dominant force in the 2021 local government elections," Herron said.
This after the DA "welcomed" former GOOD members in joining the DA over the past weekend.
