LIMPOPO – Musician-turned-politician Eric Nkobani, popularly known as Penny Penny, has surprised many people after leading the newly formed Afrika Mayibuye Movement (AMM) to a 12-seat victory in the Greater Giyani Municipality during the recent local government elections.

The party’s performance saw it emerge as the second-largest party on the 62-seat municipal council, behind the ANC, which retained control with 39 seats.

ANC retains majority

Despite securing a comfortable majority, the ANC lost eight seats from the 47 it won in the 2021 local government elections, indicating a decline in its council representation.

Afrika Mayibuye Movement’s 12 seats put it ahead of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which secured four seats, while the Democratic Alliance (DA) obtained two seats. Meanwhile, the African People’s Convention (APC), National Independent Party (NIP), ActionSA, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and Gaza Democratic Front each received one seat.

The ward-ballot results also reflected the ANC’s continued dominance, with the party receiving 45 385 votes, representing 60.9% of the total valid votes. Afrika Mayibuye Movement followed with 13 111 votes, translating to 17.6%.

The EFF obtained 4 821 votes, representing 6.5%, while the DA received 2 070 votes, or 2.8%. Other parties and independent candidates also attracted support from voters. Independent candidates collectively received 1 963 votes, followed by ActionSA with 1 325 votes, the NIP with 1 041 votes, Gaza Democratic Front with 1 014 votes, and the MK Party with 976 votes.

Ward results tell a different story

Overall, the municipality recorded a total of 74 485 valid ward votes. Despite the change in the overall council composition, the ANC managed to retain all 31 ward seats in the municipality.

Its performance varied across the wards, with its lowest result recorded in Ward 16, where it received 37% of the vote, while its strongest performance was in Ward 19, where it secured 79.2%. In Ward 13, the ANC obtained 45.8%, while in Ward 14 it received 50.1%.

The outcome suggests that while the ANC maintained its dominance in ward representation, it faced increased competition in the overall election, particularly from the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, which managed to translate its support into a substantial number of proportional representation seats.

AMM reshapes opposition politics

Nkobani’s electoral performance is particularly notable given that the Afrika Mayibuye Movement is a newly formed political party that contested the local government elections against established political organisations with a long history in the municipality.

Its 12-seat achievement places it in a significant position in the new council and gives it a strong opposition presence against the governing ANC.

The results mean that the ANC will continue to govern the municipality without depending on other political parties to secure a majority, although the emergence of the AMM as the second-largest party has changed the political landscape of Greater Giyani.