The African National Congress (ANC) has retained a key seat in a municipal by-election in the Theewaterskloof municipal area while it lost a seat to an independent in the Western Cape’s Saldanha Bay.
The independent candidate was backed by the Independent Democrats (ID) and
Democratic Alliance (DA).
In Theewaterskloof — in the town of Riviersonderend — the ANC’s Derick Appel won 1 162 votes or 47,5% while the DA won 850 votes (or 34,7%). The Independent Democrats polled strongly — off a low base in the 2006 municipal poll — to take 401 votes or 16%. The Federation of Democrats received just 1,31% of the vote.
In the 2006 municipal election the DA lost to the ANC by 49 votes and the ID and DA then also polled more votes together than the ANC — but split the vote.
Significantly, the DA and ID — which rule the municipal area together after toppling the ANC administration earlier this year — polled more votes than the ANC together, but by standing against each other split the vote.
Meanwhile, in Saldanha the former mayor Johanna Stoffels, who left the ANC recently over factionalism, won 1 285 votes or 56,6% against the ANC’s 985 or 43,3%.
The municipality now looks set to shift to a DA and ID joint administration with smaller parties.
Earlier this year when the Independent Democrats joined the Cape Town administration to shore up a multiparty opposition government, mayor Helen Zille — now Democratic Alliance leader — mooted the idea of the strongest opposition party in a particular ward taking on the ANC. ‒ I-Net Bridge