SA democracy maturing

Friday, August 5, 2016

Pretoria - The 2016 Local Government Elections are an indication that South Africa’s democracy is maturing.

“What we are seeing is the maturing of democracy in the most interesting way. For the last 22 years, we have had an ANC dominance, but now it is being reduced to majority party without the dominance it had,” political analyst Somadoda Fikeni told SAnews on Friday at the national Results Operations Centre, in Pretoria.

This shift, Fikeni said, is happening more drastically in the big cities and the metropolitan municipalities and in the rural areas where the ANC still has majority.

“What is most interesting is that you go into the elections not knowing who the obvious winners will be and that had made for a very interesting, highly contested elections which in itself is a positive thing for our own democracy.”    

Nationally the ANC was standing at 54.46% by 11:30 am on Friday when 93% of votes were counted. The DA followed with 26.17% and the EFF with 7.93% nationally.

In the 2011 local government elections, the ANC had won with 61.95%, while the DA was 23.94% nationally.

Another interesting observation by Fikeni was the rise of the opposition, particularly the main opposition, the DA.

“The DA is consolidating itself in the Western Cape and is now spreading to areas which where traditionally ANC areas.”

With 93% votes counted, the DA claimed the Western Cape which is its strong hold by 57.7% and the ANC stood at 33.65%.

The DA also looked set to claim the lead in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

The race for control of the metro situated in the Eastern Cape, dominated electioneering campaigns.

Both the ANC and the DA were pushing hard to claim victory for the industrial heartland, which boasts automotive industries.

By 11:30am on Friday, data from the results centre showed that 99.9% of the vote counting in the metro was almost complete.

The DA claimed 352 109 votes which make up for 46.55%, the ANC claimed 310 276 votes (41.02%) and the new kid on the block, the EFF took 38 931 votes (5.15%)

The fairly new party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), according to Fikeni, seems to have risen dramatically since the first elections it participated in.

“However the rise has not been as dramatic as this time because some were projecting between 20% and 25%, and that is not happening but it is growing steadily.”

The challenge for the EFF, Fikeni added, would be to hold onto their position and voters.

In KwaZulu-Natal, Fikeni said what was interesting was what he called the “revival” of the IFP which has been on the decline since 1994.

“The absence of the NFP has seemed to have given them the chance to win back particularly the areas north of Thugela.”

Among others, the IFP claimed the Nkandla municipality, and the cherry on top has been the clean sweep in Ulundi where the IFP won all 24 wards – a feat akin to the party’s performances in its heyday in these areas. - SAnews.gov.za