Gayton McKenzie. Photo by Delwyn Verasamy, M&G
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) has taken Johannesburg’s ward 7, covering Ennerdale and Finetown, off the ANC in the latest round of by-elections, which took place in 10 wards in eight municipalities across the country.
Lois Simonse took 47% of the vote, a 13% increase on the November 2021 local government elections, beating the ANC’s Sipho Lukhele, who garnered 24% and ActionSA’s Luvuyo Kamba (14%).
The result will be of great concern to the ANC, whose national leadership campaigned in the area in the build-up to the hotly contested by-election in the ward.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) did not contest the ward after its candidate, Randell Markgraaff, withdrew his nomination on 16 June, too late for the party to register an alternative candidate to contest the by-election.
Responding to the outcome on Twitter, PA leader Gayton McKenzie said the party had won the ward despite an attempt by the DA and ActionSA to portray it as a surrogate for the ANC.
“Our people rejected nonsense,” McKenzie said.
The DA took four of the 10 wards that were up for grabs countrywide, consolidating its position in eThekwini, Tshwane, Cape Town and Middleburg in Mpumalanga, where it retained ward 13 with 43.7% of the vote.
In Tshwane, the DA’s Andrew Lesch took 25.74%, retaining the ward for the DA, as did its candidate for eThekwini ward 11, which covers Newlands East and Newlands West, increasing the 40.7% majority it took in November 2021 to 57.1% in Wednesday’s election.
The party’s Allan Peterson came in ahead of the ANC’s Muzi Ntombela (30.1%) and the PA’s Laurell Jones (4.68%) and the Economic Freedom FIghters (EFF’s) Mfundo Mcanyana (4.37%).
DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers said the result confirmed the “upward trajectory that the DA is taking into the 2024 elections”.
The DA also held Cape Town’s ward 107, where its candidate, Jonathan Scott Mills, took 94.07% of votes, more than 12% up on its showing in November 2021.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won a total of three wards in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, two in the Inkosi Langalibalele local municipality and one in the Alfred Duma local municipality.
The party had fired councillors in both municipalities, triggering the by-elections, which saw it lose ward 14 of Langalibalele to the ANC.
The ANC also retained Mkhondo local municipality’s ward 12, where Muzi Mhlanga took 36.89% of the vote.
