You might not have heard of the African Independent Congress‚ but they will feature surprisingly prominently across the country. The party - born out of the early-2000s municipal boundary saga which controversially saw Matatiele moved from KwaZulu-Natal into the Eastern Cape - has similar colours and a similar logo to the ANC‚ leading to claims that many voters voted for them by mistake.The party won 46 votes countrywide‚ despite not having a huge national platform. This is up from a total of 15 seats in 2011.It is not surprising that most of the party's seats were in the Eastern Cape (17) and KZN (14)‚ but the AIC also picked up one seat in the Northern Cape‚ two in Mpumalanga and the Western Cape‚ three in the Free State and four in Gauteng and the North West.But the party's boss‚ Mandla Galo‚ is sick and tired of claims that the AIC picked up votes from confused voters - instead saying that hard work bore fruit.“We are very much tired of this nonsense. It’s just psychological warfare. You can’t tell me that advocates‚ lawyers‚ doctors‚ religious leaders‚ who have voted for the AIC‚ are confused. That’s nonsense. If everyone was confused‚ why don’t we win elections?” he said.Instead‚ he put the party’s success down to solid networking‚ including establishing provincial structures in Mpumalanga and Gauteng.“Come 2019‚ we are going to increase our seats (from three) in the National Assembly‚ mark my words‚” said Galo.-TMG Digital/Durban Newsroom..