DA says it ‘outperformed’ ANC in race to register voters this weekend

Headline: DA says voter registration is going its way

Subheading: Turnout has been high in DA strongholds, but low in ANC areas

Quote: The stakes are too high to stay home this election, and this is South Africans’ last chance to make sure they are registered and ready to help rescue SA — John Steenhuisen, DA leader

The DA says it has outperformed the ANC in new voter registrations and re-registrations.

Party elections head Greg Krumbock says this bold conclusion is based on simple logic anyone can understand.

“You can attach the registration and re-registration figures in each voting district to the voter turnout in the previous election and work out the share of the registrations into votes one can expect to receive. 

“In a practical sense, if there is a voting district in Sandton and in 2019 the DA got 80% of the votes, if there were 100 new registrations and re-registrations in that district, you can say fairly reliably that 80 must have been for the DA and the rest for the ANC.

“In some cases, it’s going to be better, depending on how each party works, and in some cases it will not be as good.

“But in more than 23,500 voting districts those things tend to cancel [each other] out. [With a high number of registrations] in DA strongholds plus low turnouts in, for example, rural Mpumalanga, where the ANC is strong, you can comfortably say the DA is doing a lot of registrations and the ANC is not.”

Krumbock said the DA would end up with a high share of the registrations in urban areas, based on historical voting patterns.

“Even analysts say the high registration turnout is in the urban areas, where the DA is strong, [while] registrations in Soweto, where the ANC is strong, were very low.” 

He told TimesLIVE new political parties had shown some strength, and that potential would have to be factored in. However, it would be highly unlikely for a party that had never contested an election before to attract more than 1% of the vote. 

DA leader John Steenhuisen targeted Gauteng on his registration campaign trail, singling out the province as the next one to be lost by the ANC. 

“The stakes are too high to stay home this election, and this is South Africans’ last chance to make sure they are registered and ready to help rescue SA. The only way the ANC can stay in power is if opposition voters do not register to vote. Registering to vote can prevent an ANC/EFF coalition of corruption in 2024.” 

Steenhuisen said the ANC/EFF coalition governing two of Gauteng’s biggest metros was symbolic of what would happen if voters didn't show up to vote.

“Many people are ready for change. In places like Joburg, where coalitions don’t work and it’s chaos all the time, it’s because the vote is so fragmented that it’s impossible to form a stable coalition. But, as in the Western Cape, we can bring good, clean and accountable governance. 

“We are so close. The ANC has never been weaker. They are plagued by breakaway parties, [and] people are leaving them in droves as they are tired of 30 years of empty promises, broken undertakings, corruption and maladministration. They are ready for a new government here in Gauteng, and we are within striking distance of being able to get a majority.

“We can kick Panyaza Lesufi out and inaugurate Solly Msimanga as premier.” 

Steenhuisen picketed outside the Union Buildings on Friday, where he delivered a dossier of allegations and evidence of criminality regarding Deputy President Paul Mashatile and called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene. 

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya denied the president had received any such docket and said any evidence of wrongdoing should be investigated by the competent authorities. 

“Ordinarily, the very first port of call for anyone with evidence of criminal wrongdoing against anyone should be the police, to lay criminal charges. Anyone who uses laying criminal charges as a threat to be activated if they don’t get some or other demanded political concession is obviously acting with a political motive.”

Magwenya said cabinet members made oaths and declarations in parliament’s register of member’s interests. These were public documents to which the DA and all other interested parties had access. 

“As part of existing and rigorous measures to ensure probity and ethical conduct among public representatives, the deputy president and all other members of the national executive signed the executive members’ code of ethics, which includes a sworn declaration of assets and income. 

“Guidelines and procedures have been adopted and implemented to subject members of the executive branch and senior state officials to lifestyle audits as an additional critical measure to prevent corruption and capture.”