Pretoria - The Democratic Alliance (DA) continues its strong hold in the Western Cape, preliminary local government voting results indicates.
By 1 pm, according to votes counted so far at the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Pretoria, the DA was leading with 61.79 percent of votes compared to the African National Congress's (ANC) 28.25 percent.
But it's not cause for celebration for the DA just yet. Because only 973 716 votes have been counted from the 2.7 million registered voters in the province.
Following far behind the two was the Congress of the People (COPE) which received 2.03 percent.
The total voter turnout so far stood over 877 862 in the province.
It remains to be seen if the ANC will break through in the only DA lead province in the country as counting continues through the day with firmer results available on Thursday night and beyond.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC had 55.22 percent of the vote in the Durban metro, followed by the DA with 27.13 percent after 1 pm.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) followed with 4.47 percent and the new kid on the block National Freedom Party (NFP) was holding at number four with 3.83 percent. About 1.7 million had registered to vote in that metro.
The Free State, which has been generally incident free when it comes to service delivery protests, until recently with the Ficksburg incident where the nation saw the death of Andries Tatane, at the hands of police during a protest, has the ANC leading with 66.82 percent.
Mangaung Municipality (Bloemfontein area) which will also become a Metropolitan Municipality after the elections, recorded a 50.55 percent support after 1 pm.
At national level, the ANC was leading with 102 councils and 2396 seats and 61.7 percent support.
It was followed by the DA with 12 councils, 735 seats and 24.3 percent support. UDM has 15 seats and 0.7 percent while Cope trailed with 98 seats and 2.5 percent support. The VF Plus has 10 seats and 0.5 percent support.
This is expected to change later on as results are coming in from all corners of the country. Meanwhile, political party representatives could be seen roaming around the centre, closely monitoring the electronic board.
Among familiar faces were ANC big shots such as Gwede Mantashe, Jessie Duarte and spokesman Jackson Mthembu. DA leader Hellen Zille also made a stop at the centre as well as ACDP leader Rev Kenneth Meshoe.
The center was abuzz with Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam giving an update just after 11 am. Electoral Officer Pansy Tlakula was also seen making stops at party tables with all smiles, which might be an indication that there are no major challenges across the country.
