Paul Nyathi

South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is yet to release the full official results from this week’s by-elections but there is already a shocking result out, the ruling ANC has yet again been dumped by former President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla district.

Since Zuma was unceremoniously kicked out of the party leadership and continuously faces alleged persecution at the hands of the ANC government, residents have decided to give their backing to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

The IFP won 61% of the vote in comparison to the 39% gained by the ANC. A near 30-point swing has won it for the outsiders – although the IFP has controlled Nkandla in previous years.

The new council in Nkandla is now made up of a majority of IFP representatives. No other party apart from the ANC was elected to serve in this region of KwaZulu-Natal. Significant gains in eThekwini and Umlazi – as well as holding vital regions elsewhere in the province – made these by-elections a successful exercise for the IFP.

Even though counting has not yet been finalised the following are now apparent:

• The ANC is on course to win 12 out of 14 available wards in Gauteng. They lost one ward to the DA in Eastern Cape.
• The DA hasn’t had a great time, though. They lost a total of four wards in Gauteng to the ANC, Al-Jamaah, and Patriotic Alliance.
  The Blues lost a ward to the Good Party in the Western Cape, and two switched to the FF Plus in North West.
• The EFF has seen its support grow in several wards across the country – but has failed to win a single seat so far.
• You can count the ANC, the IFP, and the FF Plus as the night’s big winners. The DA look set for the wooden spoon.