DA leader Mmusi Maimane announced that his party would emerge with the most votes in Nelson Mandela Bay after over 90% of ballots had been counted and captured by the IEC. He made the announcement at the IEC’s national results operations centre and it was based on the party’s significant lead in the metro and confidence that wards with outstanding results traditionally support the DA.

DA members cheered the claim as an elated Maimane described it as a victory for the party and country. “I think to us there’s something beautiful about the story of the DA. To those who understood the ’94 project, the ’94 project was never about a one-party state. It was always about a democratic South Africa where change can occur through the ballot box,” he said. The DA’s use of Nelson Mandela’s legacy in its election campaign has been controversial and Maimane said it was “beautiful” that the party would govern a city named after the former president.

At the time of Maimane’s announcement, at 6:30pm, the DA had taken 49.49% of the vote in the metro, compared to the ANC’s 39.25%. It means the DA will probably have to form a coalition to form a government.

Maimane said the final results would determine with which parties it held discussions. “But we’ve run this election on the basis of change so I’m speaking to other opposition parties to say, ‘Look we have a great opportunity to form a government in Nelson Mandela Bay,’ more importantly that will deliver for the people, that will create jobs in Nelson Mandela Bay, one of my favourite cities, and ultimately cut corruption.”

On Thursday night, the Economic Freedom Fighters had 4.87% of the Nelson Mandela Bay vote and the United Democratic Movement 1.72%.

Earlier in the day, both the ANC and DA were both confident about winning the metro and after Maimane’s announcement ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the result was still uncertain. “No, Nelson Mandela Bay has not been announced,” he said after chatting to IEC Deputy Chairperson Terry Tselane. “I was going to the chairperson of the IEC and asking him, ‘Why are you leaking the results to the DA?’” he added. “It will delegitimise the IEC because it means the results of the IEC people can access them informally.”

Ironically, earlier in the day the ANC’s Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams confidently claimed victory in Nelson Mandela Bay while the party’s Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte claimed Nkandla, which was eventually won by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

Mantashe said the ANC would lodge a complaint over a stack of marked ballots found dumped near the IEC’s results centre in Eastern Cape. “There are still a number of things that must be raised around Nelson Mandela. There are two bunches of ballot papers that have been found dumped there and query is still coming to the IEC,” said the secretary general. He claimed there were enough dumped ballots to sway the final result in the metro.

The DA has downplayed the issue and IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said there was nothing untoward as the ballots had been counted and were found within the results centre. “The critical element as a general issue is that a ballot paper is useful and critical ahead of an election, but it’s also critical after an election should there need to be a recount,” he said.

The IEC has received 19 cases of complaints or objections, which Mamabolo said related to voting, and counting procedures, and the determination of provision results. Political party candidates have 48 hours to lodge objections and the IEC hopes to have dealt with all of the current complaints by the time official results are announced on Saturday.

The IEC predicted that all results would be finalised by Friday evening. As of 5pm on Thursday, 83.3% of result slips had been captured, scanned and audited. While the race remains close in hotly-contested metros Johannesburg and Tshwane, with neither the DA or ANC looking like they will take a majority, the IEC said the results for the cities would only be complete on Friday.

“It takes longer to count votes in a metro,” said Mamabolo. DM

Photo: Mmusi Maimane talks to reporters on 4 August. (Greg Nicolson)