The African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA) have kept their wards in by-elections that were held in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Western Cape.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said on Thursday the ANC retained ward 9 in Msukaligwa in Mpumalanga and ward 1 in Ephraim Mogale municipality in Limpopo.
The ANC had won these wards in the 2021 local government elections, and after this week’s by-elections they kept the wards in the two municipalities.
In Gauteng, Western Cape and Mpumalanga, the DA also kept the wards it had won in the previous local government elections.
In Swartland in the Western Cape, the DA retained ward 7. The DA also retained wards 47 and 64 in Tshwane, in Gauteng, in the by-elections.
In Mpumalanga, the DA also kept ward 21 in the Govan Mbeki municipality.
Political parties have been pushing to garner more votes in by-elections ahead of the national elections next year.
The IEC will for the first time allow independent candidates to contest in the national and provincial elections after the Constitutional Court judgment in 2020 ruled on this.
Independent candidates have only been allowed to contest elections at local level.
But the by-elections have been a tough contest among different political parties.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics