Poor showing in Rustenburg denies ANC cadres PR seats

With the ANC deprived of PR representation, this means all its political heavyweights on the party's PR list have not made it onto council. The ANC has suffered a devastating political blow in the Rustenburg Local Municipality in North West after its entire proportional representation (PR) slate failed to qualify for the council due to low ward-level performance. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) confirmed the ANC did not get enough votes to earn PR seats in Rustenburg due to low turnout in the elections. “The outcome is a function of the formula, and the party has won 35 wards [out of 45], which equates to its total seat allocation,” said IEC deputy spokesperson David Mandaha. “Therefore, it has not accumulated enough votes to get any PR seats,” said IEC deputy spokesperson David Mandaha. ANC’s PR wipeout leaves senior leaders out Election results analyst Michael Atkins said in many wards the ANC won with below 40% of the vote, which is why they got only 38.9% of the total vote. “But there are many worse than Rustenburg – where a party [usually ANC] won more wards than their PR seat allocation. They then keep the extra seats, depriving other parties of those seats,” Atkins said. With the ANC deprived of PR representation, this means all its political heavyweights on the party’s PR list have not made it onto council. ANC top guns affected and going out include Rustenburg executive mayor Sheila Mabale-Huma, who was defeated by uMkhonto weSizwe Party candidate Thabiso Molefe in ward 45. Molefe has proven to be the most popular young politician among voters, as he previously beat the powerful Mabale-Huma at the polls. Other top ANC figures who were ousted are council speaker Lebo Ndou, chief whip Rapula Wakhanda, North West legislature member Paul Sebegoe, ANC Women’s League provincial chair and former MEC Wendy Matsemela and ANC Youth League Bojanala regional secretary Pako Mokua. Ward councillors could rise into leadership The party has no room to manoeuvre to accommodate these leaders. While it could theoretically create openings by removing some newly elected ward councillors, doing so would trigger by-elections that the ANC is not guaranteed to win. Their exclusion, therefore, creates opportunities for ward councillors, long regarded as political juniors, to rise into senior positions such as mayor, speaker, chief whip and members of the mayoral committee. This opens the way for some of the 35 newly elected ward councillors to form the political leadership, comprising the mayor, speaker and chief whip. The mayor will appoint the executive, including MMCs, from the ANC and other parties after Rustenburg became a hung council once again. How opposition parties benefited Traditionally, ward councillors, except in a few instances, get sidelined from the political leadership, or the troika in favour of PR councillors deployed by the party. However, the mayor may use his or her discretion or caucus mandate to choose who to appoint to the executive, regardless of whether it’s a PR or ward councillor. Other parties seem to have benefited from the ANC’s losses in Rustenburg and have secured PR representation. While the ANC secured 35 ward seats and no PR seats, the DA won six PR and seven ward seats. The EFF obtained one PR seat and 11 ward seats, while ActionSA secured six PR seats and the SA Communist Party four. Beyond the SACP, at least five newcomer parties each captured a seat in council. The ANC has been in gradual decline in Rustenburg since it lost its outright majority in the 2021 local elections, forcing it into a coalition with smaller parties. Although it was weakened, it still retained enough influence to frequently reshuffle its coalition partners and dictate political terms.