A number of municipalities have reported final results in the Western Cape, revealing a mixed bag for the DA and the ANC.
In Beaufort West the ANC was the largest party with 28% of the vote, with the DA coming in second with 27%. The Patriotic Alliance (PA) came in third with 22%, with GOOD coming in fourth, managing 11%.
However, this is a decline for both of the two big parties, with the DA having won nearly 50% of the vote in the town in 2016 and the ANC 42%. It seems likely that the PA will be part of a governing coalition in the municipality.
Another municipality which saw the DA get a bloody nose was Cederberg on the West Coast. Here the DA saw its vote share decline from 55% in 2016 to barely a fifth in yesterday’s election. The ANC is now the biggest single party with 35%, with a local party, Cederberg Eerste, managing 27%.
However, on the other side of the province, on the southern Cape coast, the DA did well in Hessequa (Riverdale). The DA saw its vote share jump from 42.5% to 50%, leapfrogging the ANC, who saw its vote share decline from 46% in 2016 to 34%.
However, the results in Knysna also reflected a DA decline. After nearly winning an outright majority in 2016, the DA now has 35% of the vote in that municipality, although it remains the largest party. The ANC has a third of the vote. The Knysna Independent Movement managed eight percent in yesterday’s election, with the PA securing seven percent. Another local party, the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners, managed nearly five percent.
The DA also lost its majority in Oudtshoorn in the central Karoo. Here the party saw its vote share drop from 55% to 30%, although it remained the largest single party. The ANC won just over a quarter of the vote, while the FF+ won 12%.
In the province’s only metro, Cape Town, the DA was leading, with 64% of the vote, but with fewer than 20% of voting districts reporting.
The ANC was on 13%, while the Cape Coloured Congress was in third place, with 4.5%.