North Coast political parties battle for voters’ hearts

The emergence of ActionSA has set the stage for one of the most interesting local elections in Ballito and across KwaDukuza for years.

Historically, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has dominated votes in the Ballito and Salt Rock area, winning all 3 ward seats in 2016, plus another in KwaDukuza.

Tammy Colley (Ward 6) and Privi Makhan (Ward 22) are back to defend their seats, while Tommy du Toit has stepped down in Ward 30 and Jack Abrahams has taken on the charge, which covers a similar area to the old Ward 21.

ActionSA have put forward mayoral candidate Nel Sewraj (Ward 6), Stephne Ashworth (Ward 22) and Gerard de Billot (Ward 30) in an attempt to wrest control from the DA.

Although party leader and former Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba has boasted about polling numbers countrywide, these municipal elections are going to be the real litmus test for the party as it tries to gain momentum with a view to the national elections in 2024.

Both parties will be contesting all 30 wards in KwaDukuza, along with the African National Congress (ANC), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), African Independent Congress (AIC), Abantu Batho Congress (ABC), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Justice and Employment Party and Vryheidsfront Plus (VF+).

The current seat holding in KDM council is:

• ANC 36
• DA 11
• IFP 4
• EFF 2
• Al Jama-ah 1
• African Independent Congress 1
• Independents 2

KwaDukuza’s 139 456 registered voters – up from 128 633 in 2016 – will have their chance to have a say come November 1.

What to expect on election day:

First and foremost, if you are registered to vote, you can find out where to cast your vote by visiting maps.elections.org.za/vsfinder/.

If you have registered by using your home address, as you are legally bound to do, you can enter your address into the search bar and it will tell you where you need to be.

Voting stations will be open from 7am to 9pm on voting day.

Local elections are a mix of direct and proportional representation voting which leads to 3 separate ballot sheets in iLembe district municipality.

First, you vote for your ward candidate which is a direct system, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins the election.

You will also be able to vote for a party in your local and district municipality, which is where proportional representation comes in.

The total number of votes for a party’s ward candidate and their party are divided by the number of seats available in council.

This is used by the IEC to determine how many votes are needed to gain a seat in council.

That is why smaller parties often have candidates running across multiple different wards so that they can maximise their chances to gain votes, even if they might not have a legitimate chance to win individual wards.

The most prominent example in the upcoming election is VF+ candidate, Ashley van der Ryst, who will be on the ballot in all 30 wards as well as the PR position.

The number of registered voters for the other iLembe District municipalities are:

Mandeni – 74 433 (up from 73 299 in 2016).
Ndwedwe – 75 134 (up from 72 925 in 2016).
Maphumulo – 50 764 (up from 49 512 in 2016).

Add these to those registered in KwaDukuza for a grand total of 339 787 registered voters across the iLembe District Municipality.

This accounts for 6.2% of all voters across KwaZulu-Natal.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that November 1 will be a public holiday to encourage citizens to get to the polls.

Voting stations will be open from 7am to 9pm.

Preliminary ward results are expected to be available for publication in next week’s issue.

iLembe District results and allocation of council seats including the PR vote will be on the Courier website and social media pages as they become available.

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