The ANC defended three safe seats in by-elections held in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and North West on Thursday. Although the party will be pleased overall with the day’s work, some warning lights did start flashing, which the party will have to be aware of.
In Ubuhlebezwe (Ixopo) in southern KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC won just shy of 60% of the vote on Wednesday’s by-election, a drop from the 72% it secured in last year’s municipal election. The IFP was the ANC’s biggest challenger on Wednesday, with that party winning 35% of the vote compared to the eight percent it won in November’s election.
In Bushbuckridge the ANC’s support increased from 69% to 74%, in Wednesday’s by-election. The EFF was the closest challenger on Wednesday, with 15% of the vote, an increase from the 11% it won in last year’s election.
A local party, the South Africa My Home Residents Association, also contested the seat, winning 8% of the vote, a similar proportion to its showing in last year’s ballot. It currently holds one seat on Bushbuckridge’s municipal council, with the ANC holding 53 of the 76 seats.
The final by-election was held in Matlosana (Klerksdorp) in North West. While the ANC had won over three-quarters of the vote in last year’s municipal ballot, this time its vote share slipped to 60%. The EFF won 23% of the vote on Wednesday, up from the 13% it won in November. The PA secured nearly 17% of the vote in the by-election, not having contested the ward ballot last year. On the PR ballot it won only eight votes, yet won over 300 votes in Wednesday’s by-election. This could be an early indication that North West could be fertile ground for Gayton McKenzie and the PA, away from their traditional strongholds.
A fourth by-election was scheduled to be held in uMdoni (Penning and Scottburgh) on KwaZulu-Natal’s south coast but this was postponed after the DA laid on objection with regard to the voters’ roll.