ANC rocked in crucial by-elections
By AZIZ HARTLEY, JASON WARNER, ANEEZ SALIE and QUNTON MTYALA
IN a watershed night in South African politics, the DA trounced the ANC in two of its strongholds - Gugulethu and Caledon - gaining two wards where there was not a single white voter and the majority were blacks, not coloureds.
In Ward 44 in parts of Gugulethu and Heideveld, where the DA received 21.6 percent of the vote in the last election in 2006, the party received 60.5 last night.
And in Ward 12 in Caledon's Theewaterskloof municipality, where the DA received only 6.6 percent in 2006, the party garnered more than 60 percent.
Continues Below
Ward 44's previous incumbent, Nombulelo Ntoko, was shot dead by her boyfriend on April 8.
In Theewaterskloof's Ward 12, the ANC councillor was removed for breaching the Councillors' Code of Conduct by missing five successive council meetings without excuses or reasons.
ANC provincial co-ordinator, Duma Ndleleni, congratulated the DA on its victory and said his party had been confident of retaining the ward.
"Yes, it belonged to us. I think our campaigning was wrong. We did not work sufficient work in the ward," he said.
The DA proportional representative and mayoral committee member for housing, Shehaam Sims, who defeated ANC candidate Zubeka Mnotoza in Gulugethu, said her victory meant hard work for the DA.
"We need to go into Gugulethu and show what the DA can do," an ecstatic Sims said shortly after results became known last night.
DA leader Helen Zille said: "This result has gone way beyond our expectations. From the previous election of 21.6 percent to 60.5 percent is a massive difference. We've trippled our Gugulethu voters.
"We are growing and that is the most important thing. We are growing in all communities. People say the DA is a white party. In this ward, there is not a single white voter."
Zille said that, while the Ward 44 win was spectacular, more spectacular was the DA's demolition of the ANC in yesterday's Ward 12 by-election in Theewaterskloof.
Here the DA's candidate, Catherine Booysen, beat the ANC's Nokwana Roro in a ward that was the ANC's strongest in the Overberg.
Zille said that in 2006 the DA received 26.1 percent of the vote and the ANC 71 percent. Yesterday, the DA received about 60 percent in an area where the majority of the population was black.
Booysen, a former ANC and later a Cope member, joined the DA in October.
"There was so much corruption and chommie chommie (buddy buddy) in the ANC. I decided that was not for me or where I want to be politically. I was with Cope for a year, but it was very frustrating. I could see Cope's failure coming."
"They were not that different from the ANC.
In the DA, I've found there is teamwork and a support system. The networking is excellent and everything is well organised. There is respect for colleagues and party leaders."
A community worker, Booysen studied nursing at UWC and in 2008 founded a substance abuse project to help the young in her community. She is now working on a project against domestic violence.
Zille said: "The DA continues to grow across South Africa, with more and more South Africans turning out to vote DA for the first time. In contrast, the ANC continues on its path of steady decline."
The Independent Electoral Commission is expected to verify the results today.
Continues Below
In Heideveld, ANC supporters arrived just before polling closed. For a few tense minutes, ANC supporters toyi-toyied in one lane of the road and DA supporters in the other. Earlier, DA members served a dish of akni to voters as they arrived which was only about 7pm. "We waited for 7de Laan to finish."
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20100527071050133C601142&page_number=1
