Birthday cake fails to lift the party

COLOURED voters in the Western Cape have continued to shun the ANC.

The party pulled out all the stops to secure their vote, especially in the Cape Flats, even holding a special rally in Athlone where President Jacob Zuma shared his birthday cake with residents.

But still the ANC, and Zuma, were rebuffed in this week’s election.

The party won only in black townships such as Khayelitsha and made strong gains in rural towns such as Beaufort West. The DA, in contrast, swept the province and prevailed in one of the biggest battlegrounds, Mitchells Plain.

In Mitchells Plain’s middleclass suburb of Westridge, the DA got 12 691 of the 18 900 votes. Only 852 voted ANC and 88 EFF

In Makhaza, where portable toilets have been a contentious issue, the ANC got 17 191 votes (89%), the DA got 256 (1.5%) and the EFF 1 309 (7%).

Affluent and predominantly white suburbs continued their support for the DA with as much as 90% of the votes.

DA provincial leader Ivan Meyer said the absorption of the Independent Democrats, led by Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, into the DA had played a key role in winning the coloured vote. The ID got 4% of the votes in the Western Cape in 2009.

Meyer said former DA coun- cillor Grant Pascoe, who recently defected to the ANC, had not boosted the ANC in his home area, Mitchells Plain.

Instead, he was deployed to campaign for the ANC in the Northern Cape. “In fact, we are doing much better since he left,” said Meyer.

Marius Fransman, provincial chairman of the ANC, said although the party had not won the coloured vote in the Cape Flats, it had reduced the influence of the DA in the black townships.