Ten by-elections were held across the country on Wednesday, with a mix of results for the parties contesting.
The DA successfully defended four wards and faced only token resistance in most of them.
In Tshwane the DA won Wednesday’s poll with 72% of the vote, a slight increase on what it received in the 2021 municipal poll. The FF+ was the only other party to win more than ten percent, with nearly a quarter of the vote.
In Steve Tshwete (Middelburg) in Mpumalanga, the DA won a whopping 97% of the vote. The ANC, the EFF, and a local residents’ association were the only other parties to contest the by-election, with the candidate from the EFF winning zero votes.
It was a similar story in Cape Town, where the DA candidate won 94%, with no other party winning any real support.
The final ward the DA defended was in eThekwini where the party won 57%, a strong increase on the 40% it won in 2021. The ANC was the second-biggest party in the ward, with 30%.
Elsewhere in KwaZulu-Natal there were three by-elections in iNkosi Langalibalele (Estcourt). The by-elections were necessary because the IFP expelled three councillors, who had allegedly taken bribes from the ANC.
The IFP had a mixed day, with the party defending two seats with increased majorities, but losing the other seat to the ANC. This means that the IFP could now lose the municipality. It had governed in coalition with the DA – between them the two parties held 24 of the municipality’s 47 seats, but after Wednesday’s loss they will be one seat short of a majority. It remains to be seen whether the ANC will be able to snatch the municipality back from one of its oldest rivals.
In Alfred Duma (Ladysmith) there was another by-election, also necessary because an IFP councillor had been expelled for allegedly taking bribes from the ANC. The IFP held on to this ward with a slight increase in its majority.
In Mkhondo (Piet Retief) the ANC defended a ward, with a slight majority. It won two-thirds of the vote on Wednesday, having won just over 60% in the 2021 municipal elections. The EFF won 20% of the vote in the by-election, but this was a decline of nearly ten percentage points compared to what it won in 2021.
In the final by-election, the PA won a ward off the ANC in Johannesburg. On Wednesday the PA received 47% of the vote in the ward, an increase from the 34% it won in 2021.The ANC saw its vote share sink from 38% to just below 25%. ActionSA also contested the ward, winning 15% of the vote, showing strong growth from the 5% it received in 2021.
The DA had initially fielded a candidate in the by-election, but the person withdrew shortly before the election, not leaving enough time to secure another candidate. It was unclear why the candidate stood down but there were allegations that they had been bribed to do so.
Overall, it was a mixed day for most parties, with the ANC managing to stem its losses somewhat in KwaZulu-Natal.