Matzikama Local Municipality elections

The council of the Matzikama Local Municipality in the Western Cape, South Africa is elected every five years by a system of mixed-member proportional representation. Eight councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eight wards, while the remaining seven are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the Democratic Alliance (DA) won a plurality of six seats on the council.

Results

The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections.

Event	ANC	DA	EFF	ID	Other	Total
2000 election	7	6	—	—	0	13
2006 election	6	3	—	4	0	13
2011 election	6	7	—	—	2	15
2016 election	5	8	1	—	1	15
2021 election	4	6	1	—	4	15

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.[1]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	5,596	48.51	4	5,746	50.55	3	7
	Democratic Alliance	5,220	45.25	3	5,620	49.45	3	6
	Independent candidates	719	6.23	0				0
Total		11,535	100.00	7	11,366	100.00	6	13
Valid votes		11,535	97.68		11,366	96.22
Invalid/blank votes		274	2.32		446	3.78
Total votes		11,809	100.00		11,812	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		17,941	65.82		17,941	65.84

October 2002 floor crossing

See also: Floor crossing (South Africa)

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitutional Court in United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in the period from 8–22 October 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats. In the Matzikama council, four councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA) crossed to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA.[2]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	7	0	7
	New National Party	–	4	4
	Democratic Alliance	6	4	2

September 2004 floor crossing

Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004, in which one of the NNP councillors crossed to the ANC.[3]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	7	1	8
	New National Party	4	1	3
	Democratic Alliance	2	0	2

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.[4]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	5,751	43.80	5	5,782	44.14	1	6
	Independent Democrats	3,582	27.28	2	3,633	27.73	2	4
	Democratic Alliance	2,913	22.19	0	3,269	24.96	3	3
	Independent candidates	576	4.39	0				0
	African Christian Democratic Party	166	1.26	0	180	1.37	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	118	0.90	0	159	1.21	0	0
	United Party of South Africa	23	0.18	0	76	0.58	0	0
Total		13,129	100.00	7	13,099	100.00	6	13
Valid votes		13,129	98.77		13,099	98.46
Invalid/blank votes		164	1.23		205	1.54
Total votes		13,293	100.00		13,304	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		22,074	60.22		22,074	60.27

September 2007 floor crossing

The final floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2007; floor-crossing was subsequently abolished in 2008 by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. In the Matzikama council one councillor crossed from the Democratic Alliance to the South African Political Alliance.[5]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	6	0	6
	Independent Democrats	4	0	4
	Democratic Alliance	3	1	2
	South African Political Alliance	—	1	1

By-elections from September 2007 to May 2011

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing period in September 2007 and the election in May 2011.[6]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
10 December 2008	2		African National Congress		Independent Democrats

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

At the election of 18 May 2011, the council was expanded to 15 members with the addition of one new ward and one new PR list seats. The Democratic Alliance won 7 seats, one short of a majority.

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.[7]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	7,648	47.18	5	7,754	47.84	2	7
	African National Congress	6,455	39.82	3	6,560	40.47	3	6
	New Generation Party	965	5.95	0	912	5.63	1	1
	The Peoples Independent Civic Organisation	412	2.54	0	461	2.84	1	1
	Congress of the People	334	2.06	0	245	1.51	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	219	1.35	0	205	1.26	0	0
	South African Political Alliance	93	0.57	0	45	0.28	0	0
	Independent candidates	57	0.35	0				0
	Western Cape Community	27	0.17	0	26	0.16	0	0
Total		16,210	100.00	8	16,208	100.00	7	15
Valid votes		16,210	98.88		16,208	98.93
Invalid/blank votes		184	1.12		176	1.07
Total votes		16,394	100.00		16,384	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		26,630	61.56		26,630	61.52

By-elections from May 2011 to August 2016

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in May 2011 and August 2016.[6]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
7 November 2012	2		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress[Note 1]
29 January 2014	4		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress[Note 1]
28 May 2024	6		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
22 July 2015	2		African National Congress		African National Congress

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.[8][9][10]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	9,833	54.69	7	9,782	54.64	1	8
	African National Congress	6,114	34.01	1	6,212	34.70	4	5
	United Democrats	587	3.26	0	559	3.12	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	505	2.81	0	514	2.87	1	1
	Patriotic Alliance	390	2.17	0	388	2.17	0	0
	New Generation Party	297	1.65	0	197	1.10	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	184	1.02	0	184	1.03	0	0
	The Peoples Independent Civic Organisation	69	0.38	0	67	0.37	0	0
Total		17,979	100.00	8	17,903	100.00	7	15
Valid votes		17,979	99.35		17,903	99.32
Invalid/blank votes		117	0.65		122	0.68
Total votes		18,096	100.00		18,025	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		30,193	59.93		30,193	59.70

By-elections from August 2016 to 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections since August 2016.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
12 December 2018[11]	6		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress
13 November 2019[12]	4		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress
26 February 2020[6]	8		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress

In July 2018, the ANC's Hennie Nel was elected mayor after the resignation of the DA's Rhenda Stephan.[13] In August 2018, the DA's Johan van der Hoven was elected as mayor.[14]

After the second by-election, the ANC became the largest party as the council was reconfigured as seen below:

Party		Seats
		Ward	List	Total
	African National Congress	3	4	7
	Democratic Alliance	5	1	6
	United Democrats	0	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	0	1	1
Total		8	7	15

The local council sends two representatives to the council of the West Coast District Municipality: one from the ANC and one from the DA.[15]

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.[16]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	6,199	36.73	3	6,254	37.89	3	6
	African National Congress	4,877	28.90	4	4,854	29.41	0	4
	Patriotic Alliance	2,307	13.67	1	1,871	11.34	1	2
	Good	1,324	7.84	0	1,328	8.05	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1,303	7.72	0	1,189	7.20	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	645	3.82	0	627	3.80	1	1
	Khoi-San Heavenly Party				269	1.63	0	0
	Africa Restoration Alliance	83	0.49	0	60	0.36	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	62	0.37	0	53	0.32	0	0
	Independent candidates	48	0.28	0				0
	Khoi-San Kingdom of RSA	30	0.18	0				0
Total		16,878	100.00	8	16,505	100.00	7	15
Valid votes		16,878	98.70		16,505	98.71
Invalid/blank votes		223	1.30		216	1.29
Total votes		17,101	100.00		16,721	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		31,765	53.84		31,765	52.64

By-elections from November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
6 Jul 2022[17]	7		Patriotic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
20 Nov 2024[18]	6		African National Congress		Patriotic Alliance

After the November 2024 by-election, the council was reconfigured as below:

Party		Seats
		Ward	List	Total
	Democratic Alliance	4	3	7
	African National Congress	3	0	3
	Patriotic Alliance	1	1	2
	Good	0	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	0	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	0	1	1
Total		8	7	15

Notes

1. The former councillor was re-elected to the ward on behalf of a different party.

References

1. "Local Government Elections 2000 - Seat Calculation Detail: Matzikama" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
2. "2002 Detailed Floor Crossing Report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
3. "2004 Floor Crossing - Summary report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
4. "Seat Calculation Detail: Matzikama" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
5. "2007 Floor Crossing - Summary report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
6. "Municipal By-elections results". Electoral Commission of South Africa. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
7. "Seat Calculation Detail: Matzikama" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
8. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Matzikama" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
9. "Seat Calculation Detail: Matzikama" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
10. "Voter Turnout Report: Matzikama" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
11. "The ANC ends off the year on a high note in competitive wards". Daily Maverick. 13 December 2018.
12. Sussman, Wayne (14 November 2019). "By-Election: ANC win another West Coast ward off the DA". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
13. Palm, Kaylynn. "ANC boots DA out of power in Matzikama Municipality". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
14. Nienaber, Malherbe. "Matzikama kry wéér 'n nuwe burgemeester". Netwerk24 (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 14 October 2021.
15. "Political composition of councils February 2017" (PDF). Western Cape Department of Local Government. February 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
16. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Matzikama". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
17. Nel, Brandon. "DA snatches PA ward in hotly-contested Matzikama by-election". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
18. Sussman, Wayne (21 November 2024). "PA piles pressure on DA, ANC in Western, Eastern Cape wards". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 21 November 2024.