Newly formed political parties in the Northern Cape are steadily making their mark, with a few of them winning council seats. Results indicate a loss for bigger parties and an increase in the number of hung municipalities.
Small parties like Namakwa Civic Movement, Hope for the Future and Siyathemba Community Movement have fared well in Monday’s elections. The parties say they are ready to take the reins.
New parties have made inroads in some of the 26 councils across the Northern Cape. Founded in March this year, the Namakwa Civic Movement was the biggest winner out of all the new parties. The movement gained 8 seats in five councils. Its leader Gustav Bock, a medical doctor who closed his practice to join politics, says it’s time to change the status quo.
In Kimberley, the Sol Plaatje Service Delivery Forum gained three seats in the council. The party was established last year with the agenda of fighting high electricity tariffs.
Sol Plaatje Service Delivery Forum’s Dennis Pienaar says, “We believe that all their manifestos are a list of promises that is not in line with our deepest aspirations as communities and therefore we believe that we must represent ourselves instead of delegating the responsibility to political parties and that we should represent ourselves because we want service to come faster. We want to stop money from disappearing to corrupt behaviours and that we get control of issues that are most related to us as communities.”
Another newcomer, with only a four months track record, the Phokwane Service Delivery Forum, says it will push for regular water supply. Pampierstad residents are currently without water.
Phokwane Service Delivery Forum’s Castro Setlhogomi says they will ensure that the voice of the community is represented.
“Ours now is to ensure that the voice of the community is represented within the municipality. We have always said that we wanted the municipality to be accountable to the community. As the Service Delivery Forum, we are intending that before any council there is public participation by our communities so that they are involved in whatever happens in council. We are not accountable to any political party or any leader we are just accountable to our communities.”
It remains to be seen how the ruling party will share power with small parties in 10 hung municipalities to deliver much-needed services.
Update on vote counting in Gauteng and Northern Cape:
VIDEO | CSIR gives latest projections on ahead of results announcement:
