Four municipal by-elections are to take place in three provinces on October 15, with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) contesting them all — but likely to win two of them. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) looks set to win the other two.
At Delmas Ward 1, Mpumalanga, the ANC faces the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) while at ward one at Mtubatuba, KwaZulu Natal, it faces the IFP.
In Delmas the ANC can be assured of re-election — bar a major surprise — as it won the seat with 75% of the vote in the 2000 municipal election. Its nearest rival the Democratic Alliance (DA) won only 8,5% of the vote then. It is not standing this time. Last time the PAC won 8,2% of the vote.
In Mtubatuba ward 1 the ANC got 26% last time and the IFP 61% in a low 21% poll. An IFP retention of the ward is likely.
At “The Big 5 False Bay” municipality (Hluhluwe), KwaZulu Natal, the ANC once again faces the IFP in ward four.
The IFP is likely to retain this ward as it won 82% of the vote against the ANC’s 17% in a 54% poll.
In the City of Johannesburg ward 41, the ANC faces the Christian Democratic Party, a tiny political party, the African Christian Democratic Party, which has a small representation in parliament, and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, also a small parliamentary party.
The ANC can be assured of retaining the seat as it won 91.9% of the vote in the 2000 municipal election in this ward. The next best performance was by the official opposition DA, which won 3,69% of the vote in a 41,7% poll. The ANC won 5 784 votes then.
This time the PAC has returned to fight the ANC although it gained 1,03% of the vote last time. – I-Net Bridge