Cape Town - Patriotic Alliance Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie has congratulated the DA for winning Wednesday’s Matzikama ward 7 by-election with 62.2% of the vote and taking the seat from his candidate, Rodney Lakay, who came in third behind the ANC.
McKenzie said in his message: “Congratulations to the DA and Freedom Front Plus, your strategy to have a joint candidate was brilliant.”
The PA, which won the seat at the Local Government Election in November last year, lost it in May after Councillor Christo Boks resigned from the party to join the DA. Boks has now regained his seat on the council. The DA will now govern with the assistance of the FF Plus.
DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said the party had almost tripled its share of the vote, and the swing in the DA’s favour gave the party a stable majority coalition, and a mandate for mayor Johan van der Hoven and his team to continue.
“The decision of Councillor Christo Boks to resign from the PA and stand as the DA’s ward candidate in this by-election has been fully vindicated. The voters showed that they are fully behind his decision,” Simmers said.
Until the by-election, Matzikama was controlled by a three-party alliance led by the DA with the help of the FF Plus and the PA. A falling out with the PA led to Boks changing sides and hence the by-election.
The win means that the Matzikama council’s balance of power changes its composition.
The DA now has seven councillors where it previously had six. The ANC remains with four while the PA, the GOOD party, the EFF and the FF Plus all have one councillor each.
The final results from the IEC saw the DA improve its share of the votes from 513 in 2021 to 1 568 votes. The ANC also increased its share of the vote garnering 795, or 31.5%, as compared to 22.1% or 521 votes in 2021.
The PA came in with 5.6%, or 141 votes, compared to 2021 when it had 27% or 637 votes. The EFF also lost votes.
Congratulating the DA on its win, Provincial ANC spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said: ”We have noted that we received 9% or 274 more votes than we did in 2021, which signals a slight improvement. We will continue to work hard to reclaim lost ground.”