Independent candidate in the general elections Zackie Achmat will take a small political break after failing to get enough votes to secure a seat in the National Assembly.
Achmat, who contested the elections as an independent candidate in the Western Cape, got over 10500 votes, translating to 0.54%.
He said he is taking a small break but would be contesting the 2026 local government elections.
“We have lost the election by a wide margin. But my heart and head are strong because our message will win in the end. Our voice has reached hundreds of thousands of people in our city and many more throughout the country through the media.
“We have not failed in carrying the message that we need to come together to help rebuild our country,” said Achmat.
Masizole Mnqasela, former DA speaker in the legislature who formed the Alliance Citizens for Change (ACC), campaigned vigorously across the country, contesting in all nine provinces, with his priority being the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape.
He said he was not accepting defeat as the results don’t reflect the will of the people.
His party received 9 333 votes nationally, which is 0.06%, and in the Western Cape he received 2235 votes, or about 0.11%.
Mnqasela said there had been irregularities with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), and therefore his party rejected the results.
“As we stand, we are contesting the results of these elections, and we don’t believe the results reflect reality. There have been many issues that the IEC failed to handle properly, and therefore we will challenge these results at the Electoral Court, and until we hear from the court, these results are not valid for us,” said Mnqasela.
He said he would continue with his party work as they prepare for the local government elections in 2026.
“We shall contest every by-election going forward, and we will be getting ourselves ready in these two years for the local government elections, speaking to communities,” said Mnqasela.
Lumka Mquqo from Build One South Africa (Bosa), who was the Western Cape premier candidate, didn’t get enough votes to get a seat in the provincial legislature, receiving 9734 votes. She said Bosa did well in the elections, as nationally they managed to secure two seats in Parliament.
“We are extremely proud of our efforts, although we have fallen short. No, we will go back to the drawing board and speak with our people and address their challenges as we head to the local government elections,” said Mqoqo.
Marius Fransman, who also contested the elections with his party, the People’s Movement for Change, got 4 915, 0.25% of votes, and could not be reached for comment on Thursday.