DA wins nearly all councils in W Cape

Back to the drawing board for other parties

Sotashe said his party would continue where it left off as the opposition in the metro, adding that it would not be smooth sailing for the DA.

ANC provincial spokesman Jabu Mfusi said the party had lost some of its support base in the province and would “go back to the drawing board” to see where it went wrong.

Cope also expressed disappointment at its performance saying it would take stock. “Voters have places a premium on their votes and we too will have to up our game to attract the votes that have gone elsewhere or nowhere,” Dennis Bloem said.

The provincial secretary of the EFF, Melikhaya Xego, said as a new party they did not lose anything but gained support from voters.

He said wherever the party was represented they would be vocal and protect the interests of voters.

Yesterday only a handful of political party representatives remained in the results centre compared to a full house on Thursday.

A breakdown of the results by district showed significant shifts in local councils.

In the Central Karoo, which is made up of Laingsburg, Prince Albert and Beaufort West local municipalities, power shifts saw Cope losing to the Karoo Ontwikkelings Party as the second contender in Laingsburg after the DA.

In Prince Albert, which had been run by the Karoo Gemeenskap Party, the DA took over after earning three out of the seven council seats leaving two seats for the KGP and ANC respectively.

In Beaufort West, where the ANC had ruled, the DA received six out of 13 seats, equal to those of the ANC while the Karoo Democratic Force has the remaining seat.

In Eden district, made up of Oudtshoorn, George, Knysna, Bitou, Mossel Bay, Hessequa and Kannaland local municipalities, the ANC and DA are neck to neck with equal number of seats in some instances.

In Bitou (Plettenberg Bay) both parties received six seats with Active United Front getting one. In Hessequa, the parties both received eight seats with the Vryheidsfront Plus holding one seat.

In George, however, the DA leads the 53 member council with 29 seats followed by the ANC with 16 and the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners with two.

In Knysna, the DA has 10 of the 21 council seats with the ANC following with seven and Cope with one.

The troubled Oudtshoorn 25 seat council is firmly in DA hands with 14 seats compared to the ANC’s seven and Icosa’s two seats, with the remaining two earned by the EFF and the South African Religious Civic Organisation.

The Kannaland local municipality is in the hands of Icosa with three seats while the DA and ANC have two seats each.

noloyiso.mtembu@inl.co.za