Cape Town - In what the DA has celebrated as an important marker on the road to the 2024 elections, the party achieved a victory in the Matzikama municipality after claiming Ward 7 in Vanrhynsdorp from the Patriotic Alliance (PA) following a by-election.
The DA won with 62% of the votes followed by the ANC with 31%, PA 6% and EFF 1%.
Wednesday’s by-election was held after the resignation of Christo Boks as a PA councillor in May. Boks is now a DA member.
DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said voters had kept the “corrupt and inept ANC from creating more problems in Matzikama”.
He accused the ANC and its coalition partners of receiving 2 000 solar panel geysers from the national government and hiding them in a storeroom in Maskamsig, instead of giving it to the residents of Vanrhynsdorp and Klawer.
“This is a clear display of the ANC’s indifference towards residents that are struggling the most. In a time when we are all suffering from load shedding, another ANC-created problem, these geysers should have been installed, providing warm water to residents,” said Simmers.
He said the decision of Boks to resign from the PA and stand as the DA's ward candidate in the by-election had been fully vindicated.
“The voters showed that they are completely behind his decision. The swing in favour of the DA gives us a stable majority coalition in the Matzikama council, and a strong mandate for DA Mayor Johan van Der Hoven and his team,” said Simmers.
"The DA is the only party strong enough to lead the charge of unseating the ANC and the by-election result in Ward 7, Matzikama, underscores this. It is an important marker on the road to the National and Provincial Elections in 2024."
ANC provincial spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said they noted the outcomes, fully accepted them and respected the will of the electorate.
“We have noted that we received 9% (274) more votes than we did in 2021, which signals a slight improvement. We thank everyone who came out to vote for the ANC. We will continue to work hard to reclaim lost ground and we congratulate the DA for winning the ward.
“On the egregious claims by the DA, it is worth noting that it is in fact the DA’s very candidate and councillor-elect that must take the blame for the theft. He was previously a PA ward councillor and he pushed for the appointment of a certain service provider to secure the equipment,” said Mtsweni.
He questioned the DA's reasons for appointing Boks as its candidate if it was worried about the “so-called theft”.
“Could it be that they are now accomplices to theft and thereby criminals themselves?” he asked.
PA national executive committee member Sydney James said: “We accept that we were beaten by the DA/VF combo and we comment them for their strategy not to split the vote.
“Mr Boks made his decision to move to the DA and we wished him well and never had any bad feelings towards him. We all have to make decisions in the best interest of oneself.
“By-elections are never an indication of a future election but just a snapshot of the period in question. We will do a deep dive into why the voters did not respond to our message.”
Cape Times