Wards in six provinces to hold by-elections

Vacant wards in six provinces will be contested by 18 candidates in municipal by-elections on Wednesday, the Independent Electoral Commission said.

The 18, one of whom is an independent candidate, will contest wards in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, and the Western Cape, spokeswoman Kate Bapela said in a statement on Monday.

One by-election would take place in each province.

The African National Congress and Democratic Alliance would contest ward 28 in the Merafong City municipality, Carletonville, after the DA councillor resigned.

Three candidates representing the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the National Freedom Party would contest ward seven in the Vulamehlo municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. The ward became vacant after its ANC councillor died.

In Limpopo, ward six in the Lephalale municipality would be contested by the ANC, the African People's Convention, and Congress of the People. The seat was left vacant after the ANC councillor died.

The DA and Freedom Front Plus would contest ward 34 in the Emalahleni municipality, Witbank, Mpumalanga. The DA held the ward until its councillor resigned.

The independent candidate would contest ward four, in the Northern Cape's Magareng municipality. The candidate would go up against the ANC, the DA, the African Christian Democratic Party, and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. The ward became vacant after the ANC's councillor died.

Ward 22 in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape would be contested by the ANC, the DA, and the Stellenbosch Civic Association.

The ward, previously represented by the DA, became vacant after the councillor resigned.

Voting stations would be open from 7am to 9pm on Wednesday.

A total of 23,217 voters were registered in the six wards.