Leaders of various political parties are anxiously waiting in anticipation for the results of the Local Government Elections as vote counting continues.
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) says these local government elections are a building block for the party since it has been embroiled in internal factional battles for a long time.
The PAC is participating in the elections, with maximum representation across the country.
But PAC General Secretary Apa Pooe says they have so far seen a rise in support base, sitting at one percentage point, with the votes counted thus far.
He’s among the political leaders who have arrived at the IEC Results Operations Centre in Pretoria, anxiously awaiting the results as they come in from across the country on Tuesday morning.
He says they remain confident for a win in some municipalities, where more votes are still being counted.
“This has been a building block. You know that we have contested these elections against all odds. I mean we were only admitted to participating in an election ten minutes before closing time for registration. So, we really worked hard, and we really appreciate what we have done, more particularly because it is just a building block…because we are rebuilding this organisation.”
EFF confident for a win
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says it is confident for a win in these local government elections because they have gone to lengths in making sure that the message of the party is communicated to all potential voters in South Africa.
General Secretary of the EFF, Marshall Dlamini says, even though there were hick-ups in some areas in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, certainty for a win is on the cards.
Some voting stations in both provinces had to open late due to locals protesting in the different areas.
But the EFF says it’s still early days, but the party will surprise many in the country.
Dlamini says: “We are still in areas where there’s improvement. Some areas you can see positive results are already coming from Limpopo, but it is still early days. We don’t want to rush it and start counting, it is still early days – only 18% has been counted. So, we are here to monitor the results, but we are confident that eventually when that final vote has been counted, the EFF would have taken some of the municipalities.”
DA unhappy with IEC’s conduct
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader John Steenhuisen says he is not happy with the way the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) conducted the elections yesterday.
Steenhuisen says the voting process was chaotic with people having to stand in long queues.
He says the continued logistical challenges that the IEC faced are a sign that the commission was not ready for the 2021 Local Government Elections.
Ssteenhuisen says the IEC’s performance is no surprise because they tried to stop the country from going for the local government elections.
He says there need to be consequences for the IEC.
“They knew there was going to be a problem when the special votes system started. Why on earth did they not address those problems? Long queues, disenfranchising of voters, people being turned away that were actually registered to vote there – and I think that we going to have to take a good hard look at the IEC. As soon as we get back to Parliament, we’ll be making sure that Parliament summons the IEC to come and account. They are a Chapter Nine institution, they’re accountable to Parliament,” adds Steenhuisen.
Below are some of the reactions from political parties as results trickle in:
ACDP looking for coalitions
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has expressed optimism ahead of the final vote count by the IEC.
The party is continuing to show inroads in the major municipalities like the City of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Tshwane, taking some votes from the DA and the FF Plus.
The ACDP’s Steve Swart says it’s still in the early days, but they are confident of a huge presence in the different councils in South Africa. He says already they are looking at negotiating for coalitions.
“We’re doing very well in the Western Cape where we are expected to be at 3% and now we’re ahead of the EFF and FF Plus. We are confident for a growth projectory from the 2019 and 2016 elections and we are confident that we will grow with the number of councillors. We will be a significant factor with regards to coalitions as we were in the past.”
An analysis of the results as vote counting continues:
