DA eyes early Western Cape victory as metro results roll in
With more than 40% of the vote now counted in the province for Wednesday’s municipal polls, the party is on track to extend its 20-year control over its flagship metro: the City of Cape Town.
Lindsay Dentlinger
Results centre in Century City in Cale Town. Picture: Jared Moorgas/EWN
Jared Moorgas/EWN
The Democrati Alliance (DA) looks set to make an early victory announcement in the Western Cape this hour, before federal leader and mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis heads to the national results centre in Johannesburg.
With more than 40% of the vote now counted in the province for Wednesday's municipal polls, the party is on track to extend its 20-year control over its flagship metro, the City of Cape Town.
But across the province, it has not all gone the DA’s way, with the number of hung councils now up to eight and the DA narrowly losing out on taking full control of these municipalities.
After nine by-elections in five years, the DA is keeping a close watch on the George Municipality, where it has been battling it out with the Patriotic Alliance.
As the leading party in five of the nine councils decided in the province so far, the DA’s Western Cape leader, Tertuis Simmers, said it is a sign of what is still to come.
"I am very excited about what I see and how it is developing," Simmers said. "Even in Kannaland, as much as it is a hung council, the DA is now co-biggest party."
With party leader Geordin Hill-Lewis edging closer to another mayoral term in Cape Town, Simmers says the past five years have cemented support for the party in the city.
"Geordin’s focus on getting the basics right, key things that as a governing party we believe echoes our citizens, we have seen that being reciprocated in terms of the votes we are getting in every ward," Simmers said.
Simmers said the DA is also making inroads in Cape Town’s biggest townships, winning voting districts in traditionally African National Congress (ANC) strongholds.