The 26 by-elections that took place on Wednesday this week have confirmed the declining fortunes of the Congress of the People (Cope) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Cope stood in nine by-elections and lost all of them. The IFP retained three seats but lost one it previously held, to the ANC.
This follows a pattern in KwaZulu-Natal, where the ANC has been making inroads and winning by-elections in areas formerly considered IFP strongholds.
The party is in deep crisis, with members openly calling for its national chairperson, Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, to take over the reins from party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi. It has suspended its national conference until the issue of Magwaza-Msibi and her supporters is addressed.
Cope is in disarray as a result of an intense leadership struggle between its president, Mosiuoa Lekota, and his deputy, Mbhazima Shilowa.
“Under the circumstances it is very difficult to focus on these matters [by-elections],” Shilowa said this week. “I’ve warned that a party becoming internally focused loses the voter. We should have contested, even if it is to gauge what our strength is.”
The ANC won 19 of the 26 by-elections, taking two new wards, one from the IFP in Melmoth and an independent ward in the Free State. But it also lost a ward to the DA in the Western Cape, where the DA is gradually cementing its hold.
The DA won four by-elections, including one it retained in the North West province. It won three more in the Western Cape, including the one taken from the ANC in Mitchells Plain.