Johannesburg – While the DA yesterday celebrated regaining control of the Midvaal municipality, the ANC is teetering on the brink of losing the neighboring Emfuleni local municipality.
With 67% of completed votes counted as of midday, the ruling party was struggling to go past the psychological mark of 50% of the votes in one of its strongholds, Emfuleni in the Vaal, which comprises the townships of Evaton and Sebokeng.
The ruling party stood at 39,43% of the votes, followed by the DA the with 27.4%, while the EFF was making inroads with almost 16% support.
The Emfuleni municipality has been plagued by lack of service delivery, which has led to its towns – including Vanderbjlpark and Vereeniging – left in a state of decay. The roads are potholed, in addition to degenerating water and sanitation infrastructure.
In 2006, the ANC secured an outright majority of 76% in Emfuleni. But the support has since dwindled to 56% in the last local elections in 2016.
Meanwhile, just a few kilometers away, the DA managed to renew its mandate to government Midvaal municipality, the only council it controls in Gauteng, with an increased majority.
DA leader John Steenhuisen thanked the residents of Midvaal for endorsing his party.
“The DA now governs municipalities with outright majorities in three provinces other than the Western Cape. And, in two of those provinces, these municipalities are ranked as the best performing in the province. It is surely only a matter of time before uMngeni joins Midvaal and Kouga on that list,” he said, speaking at the IEC’s national results operations centre on Tuesday.
“The most encouraging aspect of this comprehensive victory is that all the votes gained came from former ANC voters, who realised that there is no future for towns and cities under an ANC, that has failed for two decades and counting. We have just seen a similar situation unfold in uMngeni, in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), where the DA turned a former ANC stronghold into an outright DA government,” he added.
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