MBOMBELA – The DA won the by-election in ward 17 with a whopping 92 per cent of the cast votes.
More voters turned up for the by-election on Wednesday than that of last year to have their say on who they want to represent them in their suburbs. Ms Sanley van der Merwe will now represent the residents of Nelsville and Steiltes. She was up against Ms Wilna de Beer of the ANC.
New to politics, Van der Merwe says she has strong support in the DA from people with a lot of experience in council. Her first priority is for her for her constituents to get to know her.
“It is important to know what the issues are, the different challenges faced in different areas. And to have public meetings to understand what the community’s expectation are. I am here to represent them,” she said.
She does not expect it to be particularly challenging to represent voters’ interests while serving the opposition party in council.
“At the end of the day we have a constitution en people have rights. Whether you are from the opposition party or the ruling party, you have the right to be heard,” she stated.
According to the IEC’s Mr Sibusiso Nkosi, voter turnout was 34,3 per cent, down from the 37,3 per cent two years ago. But more people, a total of 2 572, voted, an increase from 2 326 in 2013. This a result of the number of registered voters in the area increasing from 6 262 in 2013 to 7 545 now.
Nkosi said it was average turn-out for a by-election.
During the local government elections in 2011, the ward drew 63,3 per cent of voters.
How voting stations chose:
Laerskool Bergland: DA 97,6 per cent; ANC 2,4 per cent
LVCC: DA 94,6 per cent; ANC 5,4 per cent
Nelsville Community Hall: DA 64 per cent; ANC 36 per cent.
