Picture: Bongani Mbatha /African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - Voters across the province will head to the polls today for the final municipal by-elections for the year.
By-elections are taking place in six wards in the province with voting stations open from 7am until 9pm.
Voters will select new candidates for ward 115 in the City of Cape Town, ward 9 in the Langeberg municipality, ward 12 in the Overstrand municipality as well as ward 4, ward 5 and ward 10 in the Oudtshoorn Municipality.
Despite having about 200 of their posters “stolen or removed” from street poles, Good secretary-general Brett Herron said they were confident for today’s by-elections.
“We are contesting four wards tomorrow. Three in Oudtshoorn and one in Cape Town. We expect to continue to show growth in all four wards. In Cape Town the contest has been particularly dirty with about 200 posters having been stolen or removed from street poles. It seems some parties are feeling desperate about Good. We will not be intimidated by these tactics and we will continue to offer voters an alternative to the cynical and dishonest politics of the old parties,” said Herron.
DA MP Siviwe Gwarube said they were focusing on ensuring people turned out to vote in their numbers.
“We are confident that we have fielded the best candidates to bring about change in all these areas. We are now focusing on ensuring people turn out to vote. The only way we are going to bring tangible change to people is if they use the ballot box to usher in a DA government,” Gwarube said.
President of Al-Jamah political party, Ganief Hendricks said they have learnt a lot from their November 11 by-elections success.
“After our success in Lenasia we learnt a lot. We are contesting ward 115 and we have selected a good candidate who resides in Salt River. We had a team of 20 interns who visited every registered voter in those areas. We also have a good candidate, we made sure the candidate is from the area and is respected in the area. We are very confident that we are going to do very well,” he said.
Provincial ANC Elections Manager, Siyazi Tyatyam said they were confident that their targets in voter contact had been reached.
“All our regions and wards with by-elections are ready. Extensive voter contact was done, all our election personnel are ready. We are confident as our targets in voter contact have been reached. We are also hoping to make some upsets elsewhere,” said Tyatyam.
Contesting ward 12 in the Overstrand municipality, Land Party Chief Leader Gcobani Ndzongana said they were very ready and awaiting a positive outcome.
IEC head in the province Courtney Sampson said they were making a plea to all political parties to maintain Covid-19 protocols and “measures required to keep people safe from the coronavirus during the activities of the election day.”
Speaking on the low voter turnout at last month’s by-elections, Sampson said Covid-19 was still a matter for concern in voters.
“We are in a pandemic and people are scared. The surge in the Garden Route which is only about 40km from Oudtshoorn where three by-elections are taking place, that is worrisome. People are also concerned that alongside Cape Winelands the City of Cape Town has also been mentioned as an area of concern. We are keeping an eye on it and the voters are also keeping an eye on it,” he said.
Cape Times