With the results tallied and the winner declared, the ANC said it will begin discussions about who it will coalesce with in Thabazimbi.
This as the EFF is anxiously waiting for the ANC to make its move and renew coalition talks.
The ANC walked away with 10 wards in the hotly contested Thabazimbi region in Limpopo. ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, EFF leader Julius Malema and MK Party deputy president Dr John Hlophe were among high-profile politicians who campaigned in the region in an effort to claim the municipality.
The municipality was dissolved after years of instability where parallel troikas claimed control.
EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini said his party was open to engaging in talks with the ANC to co-govern the hung council. Dlamini said the red berets are eagerly awaiting to hear from the ANC.
“They are the majority there so they should be leading the discussions. We are open to discussions, and they will always be the same, that whatever we are going to discuss must be in the interests of the people of Thabazimbi. We hope that even themselves, they can get their story right,” he said.
The red berets are already working with the ANC at local government level in various Gauteng municipalities including Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.
The red berets vowed to put their best foot forward ahead of talks with the ANC, saying their current representatives in local government are proof that they are worth their money.
“We are going to participate, we took that decision as the EFF a long time ago that we are not going to sit on the side, that's why we have got MMCs. We think we have got enough manpower and quality that we have built over the years. We have got MMCs and speakers in various municipalities.”
Dlamini said he hoped the parties would place their egos aside and work towards the stability of the hung council to embark on solid service delivery for Thabazimbi residents.
Of the registered population, 38% of Thabazimbi residents came out to vote in Wednesday’s by-election, which saw 21 political parties vying for the council's 12 seats
“It is a matter of persuading each other on how we can make this work. Even from the ANC side, I'm sure they are aware that those people that have been left without service delivery for long are waiting on us. Our meetings shouldn't be for long and it shouldn't be about the arrogance of majoritarian numbers so we must listen to each other.
“It's all about intention and then we find each other and get that municipality running. We will get that municipality running as soon as we get the talks going, I'm sure they are speaking to other people.”
The ANC won the highest number of votes at 39%, while the DA secured 16%, making it the official opposition.
The EFF came third with 13%, and the MK Party received a measly 3% of the total votes.
The IEC’s provincial commissioner Nkaro Mateta expressed disappointment at the outcomes, saying that the by-election did not remedy the previous situation as had been hoped.
“None of these political parties obtained 50% plus 1%. So we still have a hung council in Thabazimbi. It’s as if we did not do anything to really remedy the situation because the premier and NCOP [National Council of Provinces] dissolved this municipality based on the fact that nobody had a majority.”
The ANC in Limpopo reluctantly welcomed the result after a dispute over a ward it had hoped to retain.
Party provincial spokesperson Jimmy Machaka said despite the outstanding issue of seat allocation which the electoral commission promised to clarify, the party believes the outcomes were credible and the elections free from violence and irregularities.
“This makes our people continue to have confidence in the IEC. Of the 12 wards that were contested the ANC retained 10 wards and lost ward 2 and 3 respectively. Ward 2 was previously DA-led, whereas ward 3 was ANC-led but was won by the Labour Party,” he said.
Machaka criticised the loss of ward 3 as a setback for the ANC, adding that the low voter turnout hampered the party's ability to secure an outright majority.
Of the registered population, 38% of Thabazimbi residents came out to vote in Wednesday’s by-election, which saw 21 political parties vying for the council's 12 seats.
“While we have won 10 of the 12 seats, the PR system did not result in the allocation of any single PR for the ANC. This resulted in the ANC being unable to secure the outright majority in Thabazimbi.”
The party reported that they will go back to the drawing board and begin discussions with the parties to be represented in council in an attempt to form a coalition government.
Thabazimbi’s ongoing service delivery woes have been attributed to unstable and ineffective coalition governments. In the 2021 local government elections, no political party in Thabazimbi secured an outright majority, resulting in three years of poor service delivery due to political infighting and unstable coalition arrangements.
This instability was one of the reasons the NCOP decided to dissolve the council in August.
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