ANC v COPE: How they fared in the Western Cape

JOHANNESBURG - In the Western Cape by-elections yesterday the ANC was prevented from fielding candidates in 12 constituencies. The Congress of the People (COPE) won 6 of these wards, the Democratic Alliance 5, and the Independent Democrats 1. However, in 15 wards there was a match up between the ANC and COPE. In these wards the ANC won 3 seats, COPE 4 seats, the ID 4 seats, and the DA 4. In terms of votes cast the ANC received more than COPE in 8 wards, and less than COPE in 7. If all the votes in these 15 former ANC constituencies are added together the ANC received 32,3% of the vote, COPE 27,3%, the ID, 20,1%, the DA 17,6%, and other parties 2,7%. The split between the ANC and COPE - excluding the other parties - was 54% to 46%.

 

Municipality	Ward	Previously held by	ANC	COPE	ID	DA	Others	Won by
Vredendal	10101002	ANC (resignation)	566	269	604	348		ID
Bergriver	10103004	ANC (resignation)	232	1026	146	516	4	COPE
Paarl	10203007	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	203	266	319	142	95	ID
Paarl	10203021	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	321	517	447	473	6	COPE
Paarl	10203026	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	321	285	424	593		DA
Paarl	10203028	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	385	246	175	406	43	DA
Paarl	10203030	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	293	392	847		4	ID
Worcester	10205003	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	349	400	115		59	COPE
Worcester	10205005	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	551	125	105		100	ANC
Worcester	10205016	ANC (resignation)	901	935		68		COPE
Worcester	10205017	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	1078	581		45		ANC
Robertson	10206010	ANC (expulsion by MEC)	1201	394	201		80	ANC
Caledon	10301001	ANC (resignation)	369	486	499	708	15	DA
Caledon	10301007	ANC (resignation)	208	175	564	287		ID
Caledon	10301009	ANC (resignation)	298	59	87	375	197	DA
Total			7276	6156	4533	3961	603	22529
Percentage			32.3%	27.3%	20.1%	17.6%	2.7%	100.0%

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The congress of the people. This sounds like the move that was missed out of the the Karma Sutra. Maybe the congress of the elephant is more appropriate. by Lord Ha Ha on December 11 2008, 16:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

nothing like healthy competition i wanna join cope!!! by white guy on December 11 2008, 16:56 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Fascinating. Competition is obviously better than a one party state, but who-ever wins, we will always have 3rd world government, in contrast to the previous regime which approximated a 1st world government. by LO on December 11 2008, 17:50 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

diluting the arrogance @LO........ you are right but at least there will now be some checks and balances. Hopefully the setbacks for the ANC will encourage more people to examine their political affiliations in time for the big show next year by ack on December 12 2008, 06:34 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

LO-brow And how did the previous regime approximate a first world government? Jailing school kids, price controls (Banana Board, etc), detention without trial, extra judicial executions and torture, cross border raids into neighbouring territories, embracing . .more human rights violations as a state policy, selling the forward book, etc, etc... Doesn't sound very first world to me. Granted, things aren't perfect now but at least the basics are in place for things to eventually come right. Why don't you emigrate? . .less by Frank on December 12 2008, 07:06 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

LO I think if any person in any country looked at the goverment they had 40 years ago and compared it to what they have now they would feel the same way as you do. by Lynne on December 12 2008, 08:49 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Frank Maybe the man was refering to the ANC government under the Mbeki leadership, which is in effect a former regime. Stange how you immediately go on the defensive whilst many millions of my black breatheren are now of the opinion that they lead better lives . .more under the regime that you have refered to. It was only the herd mentality that got the ANC elected! . .less by Sipho on December 12 2008, 09:30 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

KZN This is great, is anyone able to give the results for KZN yet!!! by ABC on December 12 2008, 10:33 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Sipho..please think before you speak How did you live a better life when you were treateed as animal. u had to carry a pass around before u could move from A to B, u were told you only needed to know how to count from 1 to 10 as manual labour was all u were good for, your black brothers were . .more being brutalised left right centre, people in the townships had no elec, water, sanitation, and the list goes on and on. I am by no means saying the ANC has done an awesome job..far from it. but I wonder how any sane black person wakes up and says they lived better under apartheid..maybe u are light skineed enough to have been considered white at that time!!! . .less by realist on December 12 2008, 10:49 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Sipho And which millions of black brothers are u talking about..I think thats a figment of your imagination! by realist on December 12 2008, 10:50 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Lessons learned? Very interesting to see that in many cases where the ID or DA has won the combined ANC/COPE figure is higher - in fact only in 2 cases (one each for ID and DA) do they have enough votes to win if the ANC vote wasn't split. Obviously this is making a . .more simplistic assumption that COPE votes only come from people who would normally vote ANC, but still, is somewhat enlightening. Let's see how it plays out in the big match! . .less by Ursa on December 12 2008, 11:48 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

PS The ANC weren't "prevented" from fielding candidates, they failed to follow the constitutional requirements for registering their candidates and therefore weren't in the game. Semantics I know, but relevant none the less. Get it right, liberal commie . .more media types. Oh sorry, it used to be liberal commie media, now it's the liberal capitalist imperialist racist white media. Apologies. . .less by Ursa on December 12 2008, 11:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Lynne Especially Steve Bantu Biko et al by Piet Pompies on December 12 2008, 12:01 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

South Africans need to rediscover themselves Us as South Africans spend so much of our energy and time fighting each other when we should be fighting FOR each other. We live in a beautiful land with no limit on the level of potential! The single morst important thing preventing us from . .more reaching that potential, in my opinion, is the lack of accountability which the voting population exerts on the leadership which it elects. This has caused lack of service delivery and arrogance by the ruling party. This has caused considerable tension between all races and language groups. Politicians will get away with as much as they can. Its time we rediscover ourselves and unite to hold the government accountable for their actions and fight the disease of apathy! . .less by Dwayne on December 12 2008, 12:40 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Sipho LO means the apartheid government. You'd not be invited to the whinge sessions these former nationalists love to hold all day every day, you'd recognise the tone if you'd had that misfortune. Believe me, LO couldn't care less about the Zuma-Mbeki thing. . .more To him any black government is an affront and doomed. He might be stupid enough to have supported a party that once wouldn't give us TV until 1976 because it thought the devil might invade our houses but that doesn't mean he isn't going to shout his mouth off. . .less by Frank on December 14 2008, 05:59 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

cope as a splinter It actually did not catch me with suprise that Lekota deceided to leave the ANC. That guy is and has been a populist and I believe it when they say a rolling stone gathers no moss. Leaving AZAPO to ANC, to COPE, the normal question from the normal . .more thinking people will be where else is going to after this dissapointment of not being the COPE president. In 2009 and beyond, do we have normal people who still believe in such people this Lekota. It makes me wonder why did He leave ANC anyway because from the time he left the ANC, He never spoke about Cope and its posible developments(if any), he is always talking about the the ANC and particularly the individuals wothin the Organisation. I've been thinking of the other reasons why he and the others left the ANC besides money. . .less by Sibu on February 24 2009, 15:10 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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