CAPE TOWN: The local government elections may be over, but the recriminations for some, celebrations for others, and horse-trading for many, are only just beginning.
The Western Cape has 30 municipal councils, which now have to be formally constituted and elect representatives.
Local councils have fourteen calendar days, from the day which the election is declared to do so, following which district councils have a further 14 calendar days to do the same.
Local Government MEC Anton Bredell has pledged that his department is ready and willing to assist all councils with the processes that will now follow – the horse-trading that will happen in the 16 councils in the province, where no party received a majority.
Among those who are unhappy with the election results are the ANC Youth League who, in a hard-hitting statement signed by spokesperson Mesuli Kama, said the results reflect voters’ discontent with the party and an outcry for a thorough and urgent renewal process.
He said that, at the centre of this crisis were issues of “deeply entrenched factionalism, structural degradation, and neglect of building and servicing organisational structures in the Dullah Omar Region, which resulted in the waning of organisational influence in the region.”
“In the Western Cape, it is disappointing that the ANC failed to capitalise and maximize its gains on the weaknesses of the DA, which lost its majority in 15 municipalities that it won in 2016,
“The ANC electoral support in the province was reduced to a mere 18.6% in the City of Cape Town, thereby losing 14 council seats. Between the 2011 and 2021 Local Government Elections, the ANC has lost 30 council seats in the City of Cape Town.
The ANCYL Western Cape is disappointed that, in the City of Cape Town, there is only one councillor under the age of 35, and none in the group of 10 PR councillors.
Among those patting themselves on the back are some of the smaller parties, including those who bet on support for the idea of the Western Cape following some form of autonomy or separation from the rest of South Africa.
These include the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), which managed 34 seats across the province, the Cape Coloured Congress (CCC) eight seats, and Cape Independence Party (CIP) with one seat.
It is the first time the FF Plus has won four seats in the Metro.
Previously, they only had one, which was occupied by returning councillor Erica Botha-Rossouw. Among those joining her on the council are former Western Cape provincial police commissioner Lennit Max, and banker Grant Marais.
The CIP will be represented by party leader Jack Miller, who campaigned on a platform pushing for an independent state in the Western Cape.
Meanwhile, no independents made it to the City council.
Also celebrating is the Al Jama-ah party. Party leader Ganief Hendricks said: “I am ecstatic to announce that our national spokesperson advocate Shameema Salie is one of our three PR councillors who will take up seats in the City.
“Salie will join our two other PR councillors, Achmad Hendricks and Mogamat Faried Achmat,” he said.