THE ANC has won the 2021 local government elections in the Northern Cape with a 50.55% majority, followed by the DA with 19.97% and the EFF with 10.46%.
The FF+ clinched 3.5% of the vote, followed by the PA with 2.7%.
Newcomers, the Namakwa Civic Movement received 1.55% of the vote.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) provincial election matters manager Elkin Topkin said on Thursday that there was a 53.31% turnout in the Northern Cape.
“This is one of the highest turnouts recorded in the country. There were 333,708 out of a total of 622,746 registered voters who cast their ballots. This is a bit of a drop compared to the 61% voter turnout in the 2016 local government elections,” said Topkin.
He added that the lowest turnout was in the Sol Plaatje municipal district, with 38.98%, followed by Ga Segonyana with 43.5%.
“The highest number of voters were in Groblershoop in ǃKheis Municipality with a 70.69% turnout, with Garies in the Kamiesberg Municipality recording 69.63%. During the last government elections, the same areas also recorded the highest voter turnout, where communities are motivated to cast their mark.”
Topkin said that voting concluded at around 9pm on Wednesday night.
“The last votes came in from the Joe Morolong municipal district. The Northern Cape was the first province to finish vote counting.
“Delays were experienced across the country due to technical glitches. This is also the first time that the IEC made use of the voter management devices and new technology to capture votes. We trust that all these problems will be ironed out in the 2024 national general elections.”
He added that all ballots were counted.
“There is no evidence of election fraud or missing high-security voting material, everything has been accounted for. All ballot boxes are kept in our strongrooms – every single ballot was accurately captured.”
Topkin advised anyone with material objections to lodge a complaint nationally for investigation.
“Naturally, more objections were received this year as there are a lot more parties contesting. The objections will be dealt with by the national office.”
