The arrival of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) on the scene in Cape Agulhas is creating a buzz about a potential upset result in the November local-government elections.
At play seems to be a resurgence of identity politics and grassroots community grievances, which could see the Democratic Alliance lose its dominant position of the past two election cycles in the area.
Competitive multi-party contests are expected in three of the Cape Agulhas Municipal Council’s six wards – Wards 1, 2 and 6 – with the Democratic Alliance (DA) said to be assured of just two wards – Ward 4 and 5. Ward 3 is expected to go to either the PA or incumbent ANC. The results in general are complicated further by the popularity of the local Dienslewerings Party, which currently holds the Ward 2 seat.
The Cape Agulhas Municipality (CAM) comprises Bredasdorp, Napier, Elim, Arniston, Struisbaai and L’Agulhas, with some 40 000 inhabitants, 60 % of whom are lower income and poor people. CAM 2024 statistics put the racial split at 67% coloured, 17% white and 14% black African. In 2021 the DA won 44,79% of votes cast, the ANC 26,92%, the Dienslewerings Party (DLRP) 12,42% and Freedom Front Plus (FVP) 7,76%.
A perceived increase in “racial group” identity politics and long-standing grassroots grievances is said to be shifting coloured support across the area away from the DA and ANC towards the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC). The DA is apparently also losing out as some of its current support returns the FFP, which provides it with one seat to govern CAM.
In June this year the ANC’s two ward councillors (Ward 3 and 6) defected to the PAC. However, ANC sources say they hope to win these wards again, or at least perform strongly against the two PAC defectors. The ANC hopes also to retain some support in Wards 1 and 2, where in 2021 they polled 40,48% and 27,09% respectively.
Ward 1 consists of Napier, Elim, Spanjaardskloof, Houtkloof and surrounding farming areas; Ward 2 consists of part of Bredasdorp and Klipdale; Ward 3 is the part of Bredasddorp which includes the low-cost housing schemes of Kleinbegin, Zwelitsha and Simunye; Ward 4 is part of Bredasdorp including the central business district, Protem and surrounding farms. Ward 5 consists of Suiderstrand, L’Agulhas and Struisbaai; Ward 6 is Arniston and surrounding farms, Moddervlei, Van Der Stelskraal, the Overberg Test Range, Part of Bredasdorp (Selfbou and Bergsig areas).The DA’s provincial office did not respond to a request for comment on their election prospects in CAM while the other four major parties approached were upbeat about their chances. The DA’s mayoral candidate is current mayor Raymond Ross and it is contesting all wards.
Quality Candidates
Patriotic Alliance mayoral candidate Renier Louw believes the party has quality candidates with good track records in communities across the area. He said he had resigned as ANC councillor in Ward 3 because his values no longer aligned with that of the party.
The ANC’s mayoral candidate Oscar January predicts that no party will get an absolute majority in CAM and that a coalition government shifting “from right to left” is likely to result. He said in the years the ANC was in coalition with the DA in CAM prior to 2021, it made many material improvements to the lives of people and it was ready to continue that work.
Retiring Ward 2 councillor Dirk Jantjies of the DLRP, who is the longest serving local councillor in South Africa, puts his faith in his party’s consistent local community record. The party is fielding a popular local church leader, Micheal Olivier, as its mayoral and Ward 6 candidate.
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The VFP has as its mayoral candidate current CAM council speaker Derick Burger, who is also standing in Ward 4. The party is contesting all six wards in the election and regional chair Cuan Elgin says they’re “positive about a PR seat and hoping for a ward” win. The party would continue to act as the watchdog of local ratepayers and put the brakes on unrealistic social programmes, he said.
