ANC retains Ekurhuleni, Western Cape wards, but sheds support to Patriotic Alliance, ActionSA

Gauteng

Ward 109 (Etwatwa Winnie Mandela) Ekurhuleni: ANC 37% (69%) ActionSA 25% (4%) EFF 20% (16%) MK 15% ACP 2% PAC 1% (2%)

The Setting: Ward 109 is close to the provincial border with Mpumalanga. Etwatwa is east of Daveyton and above both the N12 national road which links Ekurhuleni with eMalahleni, and Eiselen Street, which connects Daveyton with Etwatwa. Winnie Mandela is in the southern part of Etwatwa. Soccer player Junior Khanye and Writer Sicelo Ngubane hail from Etwatwa.

The 2021 local government election: The ANC was dominant in Ward 109, sweeping all districts. The EFF was the only other party to get into double percentage figures. It was well ahead of the third-placed DA, which obtained 6%. ActionSA finished fourth.

The ANC won more than 70% of the vote in two of the six voting districts: 74% in the Barcelona Primary School district and 71% in the WK Mpengesi Primary School district. The EFF’s best returns were 18% each at the Quantum Secondary School district and the Christian Fellowship Family Church district. The DA did best in the Sazakhela Primary School district with 8%. ActionSA’s best percentage was 8%, at Quantum Secondary School.

The 2024 provincial elections: The ANC came first here with 56%. It was hurt in the voting districts in this ward by uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK). MK came second with 18%. The EFF was third with 13% and the DA fourth with 6%. ActionSA declined here, mustering 2%.

The ANC won every voting district, but was unable to breach 60%. It did best at the WJ Mpengesi School district and the Christian Fellowship Family Church district where it won 59%. MK did best at the Sazakhela Primary School district with 21%. Its best district was the Christian Fellowship Family Church where it took 18%.

The EFF did best in the Lekamoso Primary School district and the Quantum School district with 16% in both. ActionSA’s 4% at WJ Mpengesi School was its best result.

The by-election: The veteran councillor and former mayoral committee member resigned from council. The DA opted not to contest this by-election. The relatively new All Citizens Party (ACP) was on the ballot.

The ANC retained this seat by 516 votes. A win is a win, and the party will finish the term of this local government period leading Ward 109. However, it lost significant ground. It lost a chunk of support in this ward to ActionSA and MK, and some to the EFF.

The ANC won five of the six voting districts in the ward. Its support declined in every one. It did best at the WJ Mpengesi School district where it won 46%, down from 71%. It did second-best at Barcelona Primary School with 44%, down 30% from 74% in 2021.

ActionSA did very well in this ward, winning more than 1,000 votes. It won more than 20% in every district, with its high point being 30% in the Christian Fellowship Family Church district. It finished second in four of the six districts. ActionSA won a ward in rural North West a few months ago, and made an impact on a recent by-election in Khutsong township in Gauteng, close to the North West border. This result shows that the party has great potential for growth in townships in the east of Gauteng as well.

The EFF beat MK to third place, and also grew relative to 2024 and 2021. It will be satisfied with this. It won more than 20% of the vote in three of the six districts, getting 27% in the Christian Fellowship Family Church district and coming second with 25% in the Lekamoso Primary School district.

MK slid from second to fourth place in the ward, but its return was not too far off its 2024 mark. The party will be disappointed that it only won more than 10% in half of the districts in the ward and only more than 20% in one. It will be encouraged that it was the only party to win a district from the ANC – at Sazakhela Primary School, where most votes were cast in the by-election. MK won 32% there.

Poll: 28% (48%)

Western Cape

Ward 6 (Villiersdorp) Theewaterskloof, Overberg: ANC 33% (49%) PA 24% (6%) DA 21% (31%) EFF 9% (5%) GOOD 5% (7%) PMC 4% MK 2% ATM 1% KAP 1% Ind-Mckenzie 1%

The Setting: Villiersdorp is the persimmon capital of South Africa. It is fruit-farming country. The town sits next to the Theewaterskloof Dam, the largest dam in the Western Cape. The town links with Franschhoek and Grabouw via the R45 regional road and connects with Worcester and Caledon via the R43 regional road. The pioneer of cold storage in South Africa, Sir David Graaff, was born here.

The 2021 local government election: The ANC beat the DA by 267 votes in Ward 6. Good pipped the PA and EFF to third place with a 7% return.

The DA came first in Theewaterskloof with 11 of the 27 seats. The ANC was second with eight. Good won a credible three seats to finish third. The PA was fourth with two. The remaining three seats were won by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), EFF and the Socialist Workers Revolutionary Party (SWRP).

The 2024 provincial election: The ANC won 49% of the vote, with the DA coming second with 23%. The DA slid further behind the ANC in this ward. The EFF beat the PA and Good for third place with 7%. The PA obtained 7%, with Good getting 4%.

The by-election: The ANC ward councillor defected to the PA. She was chosen by the party to stand in the by-election. Nine other candidates threw their hats into the electoral ring, including the Khoi Aboriginal Party (KAP). The ballot list was very long for a ward with not many voters.

The ANC retained the ward by 167 votes. It lost support to the PA as former ANC supporters followed the incumbent ward councillor to Gayton McKenzie’s party. The ANC also lost some support to the EFF.

The PA has now firmly established itself in another ward in a relatively rural part of the Western Cape. It beat the DA to second place and has continued to show growth across the board in Western Cape by-elections. This result underlines its potential for significant growth in the 2026 local government elections. However, this is also the second round of by-elections in a row where a councillor from the ANC has defected to the PA and has also been fielded as the candidate in the by-election and that incumbent candidate has not been able to win that seat for the PA. Some ward councillors might well choose to rather finish their term as ANC or DA ward councillors than roll the dice and defect to the PA and run for them before by-elections cease in the lead-up to the local government elections.

Read more: By-elections hub

The DA will be disappointed that it finished behind the PA. The party will know that it has its work cut out if it wants to hold onto the mayoral chain in Theewaterskloof after the 2026 elections. The party will, however, be satisfied that its support in this ward was very similar to that of the 2024 provincial ballot. The EFF made inroads in the Western Cape at the expense of the ANC in 2024. This trend continued in the by-election.

Poll: 47% (40%)

This was the penultimate round of by-elections for the year and the final by-elections in Gauteng and Western Cape for 2025. The next round of by-elections will be on 17 December when two wards will be up for grabs, with one by-election in the town of eMkhondo in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga, and another in deep rural northern KwaZulu-Natal, in uMfolozi. DM