Strong turnout for ward 4 by-election
of voters still waiting. I was hoped that at the 9pm close more than half the registered voters would have voted..
The results are expected to be announced today.
The ANC’s Xola Pakati said the party was happy with the turnout and positive their candidate would win the ward. DA deputy chief whip Lance Weyer also voiced his excitement earlier in the day.
“To have just over 15% turnout at this time means we can even have more people after working hours,” Weyer said. Both candidates were upbeat about the by-election.
Nel, however, complained about his campaign posters being removed on Tuesday night.
“I had over 140 posters but this morning [yesterday] less than 20 are still on the poles,” he claimed.
Ward 4 includes Bonnie Doon, parts of Beacon Bay, Nahoon, Vincent Gardens and Vincent Heights.
Last week, the ANC’s big guns in the form of economic development and environmental affairs MEC Mcebisi Jonas, education MEC Mandla Makupula and local government and traditional affairs MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane introduced Nel to voters at a breakfast meeting.
Two more wards are being contested in the Eastern Cape.
Ward one in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Municipality is being contested by independent candidate Stanford Marcus Slabbert, the ANC’s Kevin Lindsay Foster, the DA’s Robert Herold Wyld and Ilse Kearns of the UDM.
The ward was previously represented by the DA and became vacant when the party fired Slabbert over a racist email.
Ward 56 in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro will be contested by Unathi Menemene of the ANC, George Thembekile Jonga of the Congress of the People and Luxolo Namette of the UDM.
The ward was previously represented by the ANC and became vacant on the death of the sitting councillor. — mphumziz@dispatch.co.za