ANC welcomes results of by-elections

The African National Congress on Thursday welcomed the outcome of 20 municipal by-elections held across five provinces.

   

"The people of South Africa have once again reaffirmed their confidence in the ANC and renewed our mandate to continue with the commendable work of transforming their lives for the better," spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

   

The by-elections were contested in 20 wards in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West, and the Western Cape on Wednesday.

   

The ANC had held 17 out of the 20 wards contested. It retained 15 wards and lost two.

   

The two wards lost were won by an independent candidate in Mahikeng in North West, and the Democratic Alliance in Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape.

   

Mthembu said the ANC was pleased that it was making inroads into historically opposition wards, especially in the Western Cape.

  

"In all the wards successfully defended by the opposition, they did so with a smaller margin than in the local government elections, proving that our people are seeing through the noise being made about progress and equal opportunity where there is none."

   

-Sapa