The DA has clung to power in the Western Cape as it emerged as the dominant party after securing a 55.29% majority of the provincial votes.
This happened as the ANC trailed behind the DA while the Patriotic Alliance snatched third spot, edging the EFF.
The provincial elections outcome on Sunday evening was not without controversy as some parties cried foul about the results from the voting stations on Friday.
Such was the unhappiness that 17 parties and independent candidate Zackie Achmat requested more time to submit their objections to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
On Sunday, provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said the process of objections was specifically aimed at objections that were material to the results.
“These are directly dealt by the commission in Tshwane. These objections are not lodged with us at the provincial level,” Hendrickse said as he could not indicate how many were lodged from the Western Cape.
“It is the right way to go if you are not happy with the results ... Political parties and independent candidates can challenge and raise objections where they feel these are material to the outcome of the elections,” he added.
A closer look at the results showed that the DA maintained its support in the Western Cape at 55.29% with 1 088 303 votes.
The party won almost the same percentage of votes in 2019 when it polled 55.45%.
The ANC shed 9.8% of the vote it obtained five years ago as it recorded 19.55% totalling 384 853 votes.
The Patriotic Alliance was the biggest winner as it increased its vote from 2019’s 0.4% to 7.8% , which is 153 607 votes.
The EFF marginally increased its votes from 4.04% to 5.3%, while the GOOD Party performed poorly, dropping to 1.13%, down from 3.01%.
The Freedom Front Plus recorded a slight decrease in votes with 1.45%, while the ACDP lost almost half of its vote when it garnered 1.29%. Al Jama-ah increased its support from 0.86% to 1.3%.
The new kid on the block, the National Coloured Congress, amassed 2.38% of the vote.
Others were not so lucky as the MK Party, RISE Mzansi, Africa Restoration Alliance and Build One South Africa managed only 0.57%, 0.51%, 0.42% and 0.41% respectively.
The DA’s Jaco Londt thanked the voters who gave his party the mandate to continue to set an example of good governance.
Londt said the outright win by the DA would make it easy to implement their manifesto.
“Wherever you have an outright, hit the ground running and implement the manifesto and don’t look over your shoulder,” he said.
The ANC’s Cameron Dugmore thanked everyone who went out to vote, in particular ANC supporters and volunteers.
“There are many lessons to learn in terms of how to rebuild and strengthen the ANC.
“We will serve our people as we rebuild and strengthen the ANC and to work with others to rebuild our country as a whole,” Dugmore said.
Political analyst Daniel Silke said the DA did not have a great election as they did not grow nationally.
“What they were able to hold on was all their support in the Western Cape,” Silke said, adding that the voters rewarded the party for an efficient and relatively well-run administration.
“They were ultimately rewarded for stable and relatively effective governance in the Western Cape,” he said.
Silke noted that while there was some shedding of votes by the DA to the Patriotic Alliance, the biggest loser was the ANC.
“The Patriotic Alliance took more votes away from the ANC than the DA. “That reflects how weak their national campaign (was) and that the ANC was looking vulnerable.”
Silke ascribed the DA’s performance to its campaign to squeeze out the smaller parties as being fairly effective, but it did not work for the Patriotic Alliance.
“It did have an effect when it comes to Freedom Front Plus.
“The DA was able to take (votes) they lost in the previous elections.
“The DA was able to stem the tide away from RISE Mzansi and Bosa and was able to solidify. It did have a successful campaign, although it did not break into new areas of support.”
Political analyst Sipho Seepe said the retention of the Western Cape by the DA was to be expected, while the ANC floundered.
“The ANC was focused on palace politics instead of paying attention to issues that affect ordinary people.
“Simply engaging in public relations exercises, which has become the speciality of its leader, has not worked,” Seepe said.
“The DA continued to punt its message that where it leads or governs, it does it better. The ANC is bereft of any message,” Seepe added.
Cape Times