The Western Cape has 15 hung councils and eight of them are in the Garden Route, Little and Central Karoo regions. This means coalitions will have to be formed to determine the ruling parties. The biggest upset was in George which was a Democratic Alliance (DA) stronghold. The party has lost its majority. They received 26 seats; the African National Congress (ANC) 10; and the GOOD party took third place with 6 seats. IEC figures show that the party lost a substantial amount of support compared to 2016.
Hung councils in the Garden Route include George, Knysna and Bitou. In the Little Karoo, it is Oudtshoorn and Kannaland and in the Central Karoo; Beaufort West, Laingsburg and Prince Albert. At most councils, the battle for power will be between the ANC and DA. However, ICOSA, the Karoo Democratic Force and Karoo Gemeenskaps Party made inroads in Kannaland, Laingsburg, and Prince Albert, respectively. The DA gained additional seats and a majority rule in Hessequa and Mossel Bay.
“We take note of the electoral choices as exercised by the broader voters. We are overwhelmed by the historical data we’ve been receiving from these municipalities. We’re also celebrating the victory of certain wards we’ve gained from other parties. Now we’re focussing on getting things done for all the communities in the Garden Route, as we seek to implement our manifesto across the Garden Route district,” says DA Chairperson of the East Region and interim Deputy leader in the province, Tertuis Simmers.
Smaller parties have made a big impact in the region. The Patriotic Alliance, GOOD, ICOSA and the Knysna Independent Movement are just some that might be kingmakers.
“I know there are these statements and sentiments going around about us sometimes jumping into bed with other parties in terms of coalitions like we’ve done in NMB and then changing coalitions a few months later. We’ll continue with that trend, because it’s not about us, it’s about the community. We know politics is like horse-trading, so those who go into coalition with us, rest assured, if you cannot deliver where our people will be beneficiaries of such horse-trading, then we’re going to remove you,” says the PA’s national chairperson, Marlon Daniels.
The Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI) also went from two to five seats in George and picked up one seat in Knysna. PBI President Virgil Gericke says their support in George has increased from one to nearly ten percent of the votes.
“When we started this party in 2011, one percent support, 2016 three percent support and now in 2021 we’ve taken it right to almost ten percent. It’s a tremendous amount of support. We’ve chipped away from the DA and we’ll play a critical role in our position in politics in this region,” says Gericke.
The amount of hung councils has nearly doubled since the 2016 local government elections when eight out of the 25 local authorities in the province were declared hung.
