Parties thank voters

Monday, November 26, 2012

Pretoria- Two of the biggest political parties in South Africa have thanked their respective supporters in the 2011 Local Government Elections.

The African National Congress (ANC) is in the lead. "Our people have again entrusted our movement with their future because they know that we are capable of changing their lives," ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said at the IEC results centre on Friday afternoon.

This as 95.32 percent worth of municipalities having completed seat calculations at around 4pm since South Africans cast their votes on Wednesday.

Shortly before 5pm the ANC was standing at 191 councils, 5348 seats and 62 percent support while the Democratic Alliance (DA) stood at 17 councils, 1415 seats and 23.8 percent support.

The ANC said that during its election campaign it had listened to the concerns raised by people adding that it is committed to accelerating service delivery. "We've listened we want to say to people that we hear you," Mantashe said of the party that now controls seven of the country's eight metros. The Cape Town metro remained a DA stronghold.

Mantashe conceded that the ANC would have "loved to control Cape Town", adding that where there were service delivery protests in areas such as Ermelo and Diepsloot, the party had done well.

ANC President Jacob Zuma also visited the IEC centre on Friday afternoon.

DA leader Helen Zille thanked voters for helping her party achieve exceptional results in the elections.

"Over 3 million voters, which are more than in the national elections, which is extraordinary, came out and voted for the DA in the local elections," she noted.

Zille also praised the IEC for running a free and fair election, adding that the election was a historic one.
"This has been a historic election for the DA and more importantly for South Africa because it shows we are well on the road to establishing multi-party democracy," she said.

Zille was "ecstatic" with her party's performance in the elections, adding that it had exceeded expectations and targets.

"We grew by almost 70 percent...in real terms we almost doubled our votes from the last local government elections....we did it from across the board, from all communities -black, white, Indian, coloured," she added.

Zille said was "thrilled" with the outcome, which would serve as an exceptional platform for the party to take the next step -the 2014 national elections.

The DA said it had grown its support in every municipality it contested. The party won 13 municipalities outright, as well as four district councils. In 2006 the DA obtained 16.3 percent of votes.

The IFP by Friday afternoon had garnered five councils and 3.5 percent of support.