By Thebe Mabanga
The ANC has experienced mixed fortunes in the nationwide by-elections held on Wednesday, reflecting varied voter sentiment across the country.
The party successfully defended council seats in wards across the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
It also secured a seat previously held by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
However, the ANC also faced setbacks, losing a seat to the Mkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) in KZN, marking its second loss in a month.
In the province of Gauteng, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), founded and led by Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, won a seat from the Democratic Alliance (DA), while the DA retained a seat in Johannesburg with 98% of the vote.
Mfundo Genu of the ANC secured a decisive victory in Ward 13 of the Intsika Yethu Municipality in the Eastern Cape, winning 83% of the vote. With a voter turnout of 42%, the ANC comfortably retained the seat it had previously won in the 2021 Local Government Elections.
In Limpopo, Khumbudzo Madzini, won 65% of the vote in Ward 9 of the Limpopo Municipality.
The ANC suffered a setback in KwaZulu Natal, where it lost two seats, and control of key wards, to MKP in less than a month.
On Wednesday, Vishnugopal Govender of the MKP, a former ANC Councilor popularly known as ‘Gaddafi’, won ward 28 in the KwaDukuza Municipality with 62% of the vote.
According to figures from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the ANC’s share of the vote in the ward fell from 78% in the 2021 local government elections to 35% this week.
The ANC now holds 28 seats in the 59-seat municipality, while the DA holds nine and the MKP holds the solitary seat it has just won.
According to the Daily News, this victory for the MKP is a repeat of a similar feat achieved three weeks ago in an ANC stronghold of Richmond. Elsewhere in KZN, Welcome Radebe of the ANC, won ward 12 in the uPhongolo Municipality from the IFP with 40% of the vote from a 52% voter turnout.
In Gauteng, Beverley Smouse of the PA, won ward 82 in the City of Johannesburg with 41% from a relatively low voter turnout of 27% while Hendrik Bodenstein of the DA, took ward 99 in the City of Johannesburg with 98% of the vote from a 24% voter turnout.
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