The Independent Democrats, who emerged kingmakers in the Cape Town metro and also holds the balance of power in various other municipalities in the Western Cape after Wednesday’s election, remains adamant it will not enter into coalitions with any other party.
ID spokesperson Stephen Otter said on Saturday that party leader Patricia de Lille had repeatedly made it clear the ID would stand alone.
He emphasised there were no ”secret meetings” on co-operation taking place and the ID would be transparent in its discussions with other parties.
The ID won 23 seats in the Cape Town metro, after the Democratic Alliance’s 90 and the African National Congress’ 81 seats on the 210-seat council.
The African Christian Democratic Party came in fourth with seven seats.
The remaining seats were split between the Africa Muslim Party, the United Democratic Movement, the Freedom Front Plus, the Pan Africanist Congress, the United Independent Front, and the Universal Party, meaning no party has an absolute majority in the city.
Earlier, the ACDP called for a multi-party governance system in the Western Cape.
”In acknowledgement that the ANC has lost its majority while the DA has not gained sufficient majority with the result that the ID and the ACDP together hold the balance of power in Cape Town and several other Western Cape municipalities … the ACDP proposes … a multi-party democracy,” the party said in a statement.
It proposed a 10-member executive committee which would comprise the DA with four seats, the ANC with three seats, the ID with two seats and the ACDP with one seat.
The move was in the Western Cape people’s interest ”where decisions and policies benefit all people”, the party said.
DA Cape Town mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, said her party was looking forward to consolidating a stable metropolitan government that could manage effective service delivery for all the people.
Other town in the Western Cape here the ID could hold sway included Bergriver (Velddrif), where the DA and ANC tied with six seats each on a 13 seat council and Breederiver (Robertson), where the ANC won nine seats to the DA’s six, with three for the ID and one each for the People’s Democratic Movement and the Western Cape Community party.
The result was similar in the Breede Valley (Worcester), where the ANC scored 18 against the DA’s 13, the ID’s five and the FF+’s one. Two independents won a seat each as well.
Meanwhile, the final results of the election will be announced on Saturday evening at a function in Pretoria.
President Thabo Mbeki was expected to attend the announcement. With virtually all the results tallied around the country, the ANC has taken 223 councils and drawn 66,3% of the vote.
The DA won 10 councils, with 14,7 percent of the vote and the Inkatha Freedom Party 27 councils with eight percent of the vote. – Sapa