The DA was well ahead in early Western Cape results for the local government elections, IOL reported. The ANC was at risk of falling to third place behind the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
With 32% of voting districts counted by Thursday morning, the DA had 56.51% of the vote across the province. This was according to results shown at the IEC’s Western Cape results operation centre.
The ANC had 11.67%. Gayton McKenzie’s PA was less than one percentage point behind, on 10.79%.
“Well, we will only hold on to our majority if every single DA supporter in Cape Town comes out to vote today,” DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said when he voted in Edgemead on Wednesday.
The DA had taken control of one of the province’s 25 councils. It was also the biggest party in two of the four councils left hung so far. Results for 20 councils were still to be calculated.
The PA was already the biggest party in one of the hung councils. The ANC was not leading in any of them.
The DA had won 75 seats so far, and 65 of them were wards. The ANC had 19 seats and the PA had 16.
The PA sits with the DA and the ANC in the Government of National Unity. IOL reported that its early results put it in a strong position for coalition talks.
In Cape Town, the DA was on 62.78% with 16% of the city’s 829 voting districts counted. The party won 58% in the city in 2021.
Polls before the vote put DA support in Cape Town between 46% and 52.6%. Those polls raised the chance that the party could lose its outright majority in the city.
Hill-Lewis took over as DA leader in April. He has stayed on as mayor of Cape Town, and the city result is seen as a big test for him.
The ANC was a distant second in Cape Town on 10.09%. The PA had 3.96% and the FF Plus had 3.59%. The PA’s mayoral candidate in the city is Cheslyn Daniels.
Smaller parties were further behind. The EFF had 2.89%, ActionSA had 2.48% and GOOD had 2.18%. The National Coloured Congress, which used to be called the Cape Coloured Congress, had 2.41%.
The DA and the PA have been competing for the same voters in the Western Cape. In April, the PA took Ward 16 in Stellenbosch from the DA in a by-election. Its candidate was Elsabe Vermeulen, a former DA ward councillor.
The PA won about 1% of the national vote in the 2021 local government elections. The ANC last governed the Western Cape in 2009.
Across the country, the ANC and the DA were almost level when about 15% of votes had been counted. The ANC had 31.76% and the DA had 31.23%. At that stage, the PA had 26 seats nationally, the third most of any party.
About 1.5 million people had voted in the Western Cape by 5pm on Wednesday, according to the IEC.
The IEC has seven days to declare the results. New councils must then hold their first meetings within 14 days to elect speakers and mayors.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL. Image: IOL. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.