A shockingly low turnout of voters in Mpumalanga was reported on Thursday morning when bleary-eyed party officials returned to the Independent Electoral Commission’s national results centre in Pretoria.
By 6am on Thursday morning the ANC had secured 71% of the vote, with the Democratic Alliance on 20,4%, Cope on 2,6% and United Christian Democratic Party with 1,7%. So far 30% of the votes had been counted. By 6.30am it emerged that just 167 183 of 1 718 309 registered voters had cast their vote.
According to Keith Khoza, ANC spokesperson, the ruling party was shocked at the turnout of less than 10% of voters in the province.
Mpumalanga is an ANC stronghold, but has been rocked by service delivery protests over the past year.
Khoza could not explain the phenomenon.
“We are leading in the province, but the shocking thing is the low turnout, there is just more than 9% turnout there,” he told the Mail & Guardian.
Fellow spokesperson Jackson Mthembu — the former speaker in the Mpumalanga legislature — was also at a loss for words regarding the turnout.
Khoza however said there had been no surprises for the ruling party in the rest of the country.
Significantly, it emerged overnight that the DA had taken a ward in Alexandra, the township outside Sandton, north of Johannesburg.
According to Khoza, the ward had its boundaries redrawn to include a small part of Alexandra, while the rest of the ward is in a traditionally white area.
“It only includes Extension Seven in Alexandra, the rest are all white areas. So it is not a big part of Alex, and we won all the other wards in Alex.”
DA takes Midvaal
The DA won 56,83% of the 17 375 votes cast in the hotly contested Midvaal municipality in Gauteng, maintaining their foothold in the ANC-dominated province.
The sparsely-populated area became a focal point for the ruling party and the opposition, with the ANC determined to wrestle back the municipality.
But by early Thursday morning it emerged that the DA had won nine of the 14 wards.
They maintained the wards they had and gained one from the ANC, according to Midvaal mayor Timothy Nast.
“Despite attempts by the ANC to divide this election along racial lines we managed to keep it focused on service delivery,” Nast said on etv on Thursday morning.
The ANC obtained 41% in Midvaal and the Freedom Front 0,9%.
A pleasant surprise awaited Cope officials when they came in on Thursday morning — they had secured 19 seats in councils in Northern Cape and Western Cape.
“I got the surprise of my life. I thought we won’t get a single seat, just a few from the proportional list. But here we won them through and through,” a Cope official told the M&G.
In Laingsburg in the Western Cape, Cope will probably be the kingmaker, the official said, because of the equal number of votes that the DA and ANC managed to secure.
The ANC was also surprised by the showing of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal, where the party won no wards, but registered support in areas usually dominated by the ruling party.
“The DA did well in KZN, it is starting to register a presence there,” said Khoza.
In the Western Cape about 40% of the votes had been counted and the ANC is currently standing on 37% of the overall vote in the province.
“The jury is still out,” Khoza commented.
All parties are anxiously awaiting the results from the seven metros, which will be a definitive indication of party support across the country.
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