The Democratic Alliance( DA) and the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal have retained their wards from the three by-elections in the province on Wednesday. The hotly contested ward 73 in the eThekwini municipality remains in the hands of the DA.
Ward 15 in Mandeni and ward 12 in uMzimkhulu were retained by the ANC.
The status quo following Wednesday’s by elections in KwaZulu-Natal remains unchanged. This is despite dismal low voter turn out in two of the three wards.
Dr Nonhlanhla Hlongwane from the IEC in the province, says despite this, the by-elections went off without a hitch.
“The by-elections yesterday that were held in eThekwini, eMzimkhulu and Mandeni went well without a glitch. The results of the by-election in Mandeni for an example, by-election was won by the African National Congress the voter turn out there was close to 68 % in eThekwini the by-election was won by the Democratic Alliance turnout of 81.74% and uMzimkhulu was also won by African National Congress with 65.7%.”
DA pleased to retain Ward 73
Daniel Mea, the new councillor at Ward 73 and says they are delighted with the results.
“The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal is delighted with the results of Ward 73 by-election in Chatsworth having moved our support just over 60% to over 80% in the by-election. This is after a circus roadshow with Cyril Ramaphosa where they were welcoming hundreds of DA members who we did not recognise other than the councillor Ronnie Pillay who left the DA to retire in the ANC. The people of KwaZulu-Natal and the people of Chatsworth have clearly seen through the empty promises of the ANC and failed service delivery and they have decided that the DA is the future of the province,” says KwaZulu-Natal DA leader Francois Rodger.
#sabcnews DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal Francois Rodgers is confident in retaining ward 73 in eThekwini municipality. pic.twitter.com/jFekGEQTSn
— Nonkululeko Hlophe (@Leko3) May 24, 2023
ANC representatives urged to speed up service delivery
Meanwhile, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says yesterday’s by-elections confirm that they still have support of voters in the province. In Mandeni’s ward 15, Ngcebo Dludla is the new councillor. In ward 12 in the uMzimkhulu local Municipality, Leonard Sosibo will represent the party. Provincial ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Mafika Mndebele urged party representatives to ensure they speed up service delivery.
“The ANC managed to retain two of its wards but also it managed to more than double the votes that it got in the last elections in a ward that was won by the DA, for us as the African National Congress this shows quite clearly that the trust and support that the masses of our people continue to have on our organization. We call upon our representatives to always be amongst the people, work with the people and ensure that they speed up service delivery.”
Voter attitudes and behaviours
At a seminar in Durban earlier this week, data from the Human Sciences Research Council warned that the number of South Africans who believe that democracy no longer matters, is on the rise.
This is coupled with feelings of little hope that crime levels, corruption, poor service delivery and unemployment are likely improve.
The findings are based on surveys on voter attitudes and behaviours around elections since 1998.
Outcomes of latest KZN by-elections: Wayne Sussman:
