The official opposition Democratic Alliance has been defeated in Vanderbiljpark — until now regarded as a safe seat — where it put up a ”test case” black candidate in a overwhelmingly white municipal ward.
The seat — fought in a by-election on Wednesday — was won by local businessman Cobus Cato of the conservative Freedom Front Plus (FF+) against the DA’s candidate, former deputy principal Nkhoro Edwin Makibinyane.
Makibinyane declared the area ”a very strong” DA area ahead of the poll.
Cato won 846 votes or 47,5% against Makibinyane’s 826 votes or 46,4%. The African National Congress candidate, Botai Nkatlo, trailed with 106 votes or 5,9%. The percentage poll was 25%.
FF+ leader Pieter Mulder described the victory as ”surprising” as his party had increased its share of the vote massively — from 2% or 80 votes in the general municipal election in 2000. The DA received 3 220 votes or 92% last time.
”The result shows the current fluidity and unpredictability of South African opposition politics,” he said.
DA spokesperson Helen Zille said while it is ”encouraging” that a lot of white people are prepared to vote for a black candidate, it is clear a lot of work is needed to achieve ”the kind of non-racialism in which white people accept that a black public representative can work in their interests and visa versa”.
Mulder said the proportional voting system and South Africa’s diverse society will ensure that there will never again be merely a few dominant political parties in South African politics as had been the situation before 1994.
The result proved political commentators wrong ”that the future of South African politics after the surrender of the New National Party will be a struggle only between the DA and the ANC”. — I-Net Bridge