Africa-Press – South-Africa. By-elections contested in the Eastern and the Western Cape will be crucial for the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and ActionSA because both parties will be looking to prove they can maintain past electoral performances.
Four by-elections were held on Wednesday.
The Eastern Cape had a ward up for grabs in Nelson Mandela Bay.
In Mpumalanga, a ward was contested in the Chief Albert Luthuli local municipality. In the Western Cape, the PA will be defending a previously-held ward in Matzikama.
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Elections monitoring analyst Wayne Sussman said the by-elections were crucial for the main political parties.
Sussman said the election would be the PA’s chance of gauging whether the party could retain its support base.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, ActionSA will contest its first by-election outside Gauteng.
This will be the party’s first chance to see whether its campaigning in the Nobuhle area will serve its purpose.
The ANC had previously won ward 43 for several years.
It was later won by the EFF and, in 2021, was won back by the ANC.
The former mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Athol Trollip, who now leads ActionSA in the Eastern Cape, remains quite popular in the metro.
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Sussman said this would be ActionSA’s first chance to see whether the party, led by Herman Mashaba, who is not as well-known in the Eastern Cape, could make political moves.
Sussman added that these by-elections was a test as to whether the EFF could continue with its winning streak against the ANC, as seen in previous by-elections.
The elections also served as an opportunity for the ANC to prove that it was not on a decline in some areas, Sussman added.
“These by-elections are important. There is a perception that the ANC is a party on a decline. The Nelson Mandela Bay and Chief Albert Luthuli’s by-elections are very important, and maybe the ANC does well, and perhaps it is not all doom and gloom.
“With the ActionSA, the party did very well in by-elections held in northern Pretoria and Soweto. How well they will do in Nelson Mandela Bay will be crucial for the party because this is where Herman Mashaba is less known, but there’s Trollip,” Sussman said.
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