The ANC will maintain its control of the Makana Council following this week’s local elections. When council sits again, the ANC will have 20 representatives – exactly the same number it had on the previous council.

The ANC will maintain its control of the Makana Council following this week’s local elections. When council sits again, the ANC will have 20 representatives – exactly the same number it had on the previous council.

However the number of seats on the council has grown from 24 to 28, meaning that the ruling party will continue to rule with a huge, albeit slightly diminished, majority. The only other party in the outgoing council, the DA, has increased its representation from four to six seats.

DA candidates won the most votes in four wards and secured enough proportional representation votes to guarantee another two seats on the council. The DA won Ward 3, where 52% of the votes were cast for Marcelle Booysen.

In Ward 4, incumbent Lena May was returned with a healthy 77.25% of votes and in Ward 8, the DA’s Brian Jackson did not have an absolute majority (46.1%) but his share was greater than that of the other candidates.

Brian Fargher won Ward 12 easily defeating an independent student candidate. Two more parties will be joining the ANC and the DA on the Makana council. Although the Congress of the People (Cope) and the Makana Independent New Deal (Mind) won less than one percent of the total votes, thanks to a rather complicated formula used to allocate seats, they will each have one seat on the new council.

The only other political party to contest the elections in Makana municipality was Azapo – it did not attract enough votes to secure a seat.

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