DEAR Editor,-
Three years ago the Democratic Alliance took three seats off the ANC in the local municipal elections, including the former ANC stronghold of ward 12.
Last weeks by-election, which followed the untimely death of DA Councillor Mike Henderson, underlined just how much further ground the ANC has lost in Hibiscus Coast Municipality.
Ward 12 consists of four separate voting districts, Umtentweni, Albertsville, Oshabeni and Maris Stella. Despite the IEC’s successful campaign to register new voters the percentage poll was lower in 2014 than it was in 2011. This is to be expected in a by-election. The Minority Front dropped out all together.
The IFP, which up until floor-crossing time had, with the DA, governed the Ugu District Council, now finds itself ‘in extremis’ with only 23 votes or 1 percent of the total.
If one digs deeper into the individual results of the various voting districts, a high profile independent entered the lists in Umtentweni. He secured no less than 243 votes, which is an unusually high number for an independent candidate in a municipal election. While one cannot be absolutely sure in politics, it is fairly certain that a high majority of his supporters who inhabit the leafy suburb of Umtentweni, would have put their crosses next to the DA, increasing support for the DA even further. Umtentweni saw a catastrophic drop in support for the ANC by 75 percent when their total votes dropped from 136 to 34.
Then, in Albersville and Oshabeni, the shifts in support demonstrate a further massive swing away from the ANC in local politics. The ANC support in Albersville has dropped dramatically from 645 to 292. This is a sea change drop of 55 percent in one voting district!
On the other side in a voting district inhabited exclusively by black South Africans, the DA jumped from zero to 73 votes, which number constitutes 29 percent of the entire votes cast in this rural polling station.
The ANC, who threw everything but the kitchen sink into their efforts to regain ward 12 including deploying both present and past mayors of Hibiscus Coast in the field, must be bitterly disappointed with their efforts.
DAVE SNASHALL
