Another recount after all is done and dusted

Limpopo’s acceptance of Sunday’s confirmation of municipal elections results in the province was premature as news broke of the recapturing of votes in eight wards at around 25 voting stations in the Modimolle/Mookgophong municipality in the Waterberg district on Monday. The latest tally had repercussions for the Congress of the People (Cope) having to let go of one seat that they got erroneously in favour of the African National Congress (ANC) that got eight seats upon recapturing of votes.
At the time of going to press Independent Electoral Commission Provincial Electoral Officer (IEC PEO) Nkaro Mateta confirmed Monday’s recapture after an earlier dispute was lodged by the ANC. She said the status quo of a hung council – as was the case in Thabazimbi – however remained. According to her the Limpopo results were standing, unless any of the six parties in the province having raised objections went to the Electoral Court.

Turning to coalition talks, she said parties should have finalised discussions by tomorrow (Friday) before the process to elect councillors onto district councils could start on Monday. As is the case elsewhere in the country the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) seemingly holds the balance of power in Limpopo, projecting the party as kingmakers. With the EFF having secured representation on Polokwane City Council by winning a ward in Seshego, Mateta predicted flared-up debates to characterise future council meetings.
Turning to the issue of voter apathy reflected in a low turn-out figure across the province, Mateta expressed disappointment over only 50% of the initial 2,566 million voters who were registered in Limpopo having showed up to cast their votes last Wednesday. She pointed out that it was the lowest in South Africa. She referred to Polokwa-ne performing better this time round standing at more than 50%. She mentioned that political parties worked hard particularly in big cities where they felt the stakes were high. Analysing figures, she indicated that they would be looking into poor participation especially in the Vhembe District, where only Musina performed very well.
Limpopo’s elections outcome, as reflected on the IEC results dashboard, places the African National Congress at 68,75%, while the Economic Freedom Fighters totalled 16,73% and the Democratic Alliance (DA) claimed 8,06% of the votes. Congress of the People secured 0,75% of votes in the province, the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) 0,54% and the African Peoples’ Convention 0,46%. Then followed the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) with 0,43%, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) with 0,42% and the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) with 0,27%. The Civic Warriors of Maruleng got 0,22% of votes in the province, newcomer Bolsheviks Party of South Africa 0,21%, others 1,98% and independents 1,2%.
They were part of 203 parties with 63 654 candidates contesting the elections countrywide, following the certification of parties and candidates on 27 June this year. Among the provincial contenders Limpopo was second highest with 56 parties after the Western Cape with 76 parties. In Limpopo it was more than double the 22 contesting in the 2011 municipal elections. Countrywide the various parties contested in eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district municipalities and 205 local municipalities.
The date of 3 August formed part of an 18-month timeline that characterised the local government elections in South Africa. Next stop is 2019. Mateta predicted that work towards the national elections should start by January 2017 once this year’s local government elections were wrapped up.

Story and photo: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com

Featured photo: An opportunity for so-called ‘floor-crossing’ into the territory of the opposition at the Independent Electoral Commission Results Operations Centre (IEC ROC) at Peter Mokaba Stadium. Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) MEC Makoma Makhurupetje  for the ANC shares a humoristic moment with opposition contenders Desiree van der Walt, Jacques Smalle and America Ngoepe, centre, of the DA and Jossey Buthane of the EFF.