ANC loses PE ward to UDM
The African National Congress has lost a ward to the United Democratic Movement (UDM) during a by-election in the highly contested Nelson Mandela metropolitan municipality in Port Elizabeth.
Six municipal ward by-elections took place in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga on Wednesday,
”The results saw the Democratic Alliance (DA) retain all its wards while the African National Congress lost one ward to the United Democratic Movement,” IEC spokeswoman Kate Bapela said on Thursday.
”Total voter turnout in the by-election varied between 29.04 percent and 43.23 percent, with an average of 34.03 percent.”
Ward 30, in Nelson Mandela metro was previously represented by the ANC and became vacant as a result of the death of the councillor. It was contested by the ANC, the DA and the UDM, whose candidate Mandla Louis Faltein emerged the winner.
Responding to the outcome, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said the emergence of the UDM in Port Elizabeth was a surprise.
”We never expected the UDM to emerge there, that surprised us.
“The DA was emerging in that region, but I can tell you that many of those who voted UDM are ANC members, and we must talk to them,” he told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting with Khoi-San and coloured community leaders in Johannesburg on Thursday.
He added that there were no shortcuts in politics.
”We have accepted that defeat and our view is that there are no shortcuts in politics, the only formula is for us to do mass political work in Port Elizabeth.”
The ruling party roped in football administrator Danny Jordaan to take over as mayor of the Nelson Mandela metro in May, with a view to reviving the party’s fortunes in the region ahead of the 2016 local government elections.
In the last local elections in 2011, the ANC’s vote share dropped from 66.5 percent to 51.9 percent in the metro. This translated directly into a 15-percent increase in votes for the DA, which has made it an election mission to clinch the metro in 2016.
(File photo: Gallo Images)