The ANC had a good day at the office on Wednesday, gaining two wards, while the DA held one ward. An independent won the other by-election.
In eThekwini the ANC snatched a ward off the DA, winning just over 70% of the vote in Wednesday’s by-election. In 2021 the DA had won the ward with 35.5%, just ahead of the ANC’s 34.5%, while an independent had managed 16%. In Wednesday’s poll it is likely that most of those who had voted for the independent candidate in 2021 cast their votes for the ANC, giving the party a relatively easy victory.
The ANC gained another ward in Thaba Chweu in Mpumalanga, where it won a ward off the African Unified Movement (AUM). On Wednesday the ANC won the ward with 44.7% of the vote, with the AUM and the EFF winning 17.8% and 29.5% respectively.
The ANC had won in that ward in the 2021 local government election but lost it in a by-election last year to the AUM. The AUM candidate in that by-election, Paul Mokgosinyane, had previously been the ANC’s candidate in the ward, and had then defected to the AUM, where he had retained his seat on the AUM ticket. Subsequently, he left the AUM and stood as an independent in the ward on Wednesday, winning only 6.7% of the vote.
In Lekwa (Standerton) there was a shock result with an independent romping home. Corné Stoltz, who had previously been the VF+’s councillor in the ward, won 72% of the vote on Wednesday. In the 2021 local government election in the ward, the VF+ had won the ward with 37.1%, with the DA winning 27.1% and the ANC 18.2%. In the by-election the DA could manage only 7.2%, with the VF+ faring even worse, winning only 6.3%.
Stoltz resigned as an VF+ councillor, as he had refused to vote for an unfunded budget as instructed by the party. After he had announced his resignation and that he would be standing as an independent, Stoltz was quoted as saying: ‘I plough back into the community and refuse to lie and mislead people. I will always vote according to what is best for the community.’
The final by-election was held in Ekurhuleni, where the DA easily retained a safe seat, winning over 96% of the vote on Wednesday.