Vavi wins over Nelson Mandela Bay

Cosatu intervened decisively to save a divided regional ANC from losing the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

Zwelinzima Vavi, the labour federation's general secretary, told the Sunday Times that he personally stepped in when he realised that growing union anger at the current mayor and the regional ANC could cost the ruling party dearly.

"My starting point is if the (ruling) party is divided, it will not pull voters behind it, and that was the case there," said Vavi, who campaigned tirelessly in the metro.

"We had to make sure the internal problems in Cosatu between the unions were sorted out and whether they supported the ANC and the mayor. It took me the whole day of looking at that issue."

The ANC narrowly won the metro this week, scraping through with a 51.9% majority, while the DA, which was campaigning hard to wrest the city from the ANC, increased its support from 27% to 40.24%.

With the country's automotive industry largely based in Port Elizabeth, Vavi said he feared workers might punish the ANC by staying away from the polls. "The factor is disillusionment when a big chunk of the ANC supporters decide to stay at home," he said.

IEC figures show the DA made inroads in traditionally "safe" ANC areas, including ward 38 in KwaNoxolo township and in Walmer township as it capitalised on a high voter turnout of 64% in the metro.

The ANC's seat count in the metro has gone down from 80 to 63, while the DA's has increased from 30 to 48.

But a planned coalition between the DA and COPE, which both parties had hoped would give them enough votes to run the city, was thwarted, as COPE mustered only 4.95% of the votes.

Leon de Villiers, the DA leader in the metro, said though they expected COPE to have done better, they were still satisfied with a 13% growth in support. "We now have a bigger voice in council, and we will use that to put the ANC under pressure to deliver," he said.

De Villiers said they would work hard to consolidate and increase support in the 2014 national elections, with an eye on winning the metro alone in the next local government elections.

"We don't need COPE in five years' time. If COPE had come through, they would have done us all a favour."

DA leader Helen Zille also blamed COPE for their failure to win the metro .

Zille campaigned intensively in the metro, visiting the area no fewer than seven times to woo voters.

COPE mayoral candidate Smuts Ngonyama blamed their dismal showing on the internal leadership squabble.

"These internal fights hurt us a lot because, remember, they were not only at national, but at provincial and local level as well. People aligned themselves with individuals," he said.

"But it's a good punishment, a big lesson, as we saw that voters were offended by that."

Some say prominent figures such as Saki Macozoma, Mike Xhego and Mkhuseli Jack also contributed to the poor showing when they either resigned from COPE or withdrew their active support.

Ngonyama said they had few resources, and candidates had to campaign at their own expense. This had contributed to COPE posters being less in evidence in the metro.

In its assessment of the victory, the provincial ANC executive warned its councillors in the metro that it would crack the whip on laziness and corruption.