Good Night for DA in By-Elections

Three by-elections were held across South Africa yesterday, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) having a good night at the ballot box.

Two by-elections were held in the Western Cape, one in Cederberg and one in Langeberg, with the DA taking a seat off the African National Congress (ANC) in both municipalities.

In Cederberg, on the Western Cape West Coast, the DA won a vote off the ANC, increasing the total votes cast for it in the ward significantly.

In the 2021 local government elections (LGE) the ANC had won 835 votes, equivalent to 31% of the vote. The DA had won 466 votes and 18% of the vote, with a local party, the Cederberg Residents First Association (CRFA) won 605 votes and 23% of the vote. The Patriotic Alliance (PA) also won 548 votes and 21% of the vote.

However, in yesterday’s by-election won the ward with 35% of the vote (equivalent to 845 total votes), with the rest of the vote being split. The ANC won 22% of the vote in the by-election, with the CRFA’s vote collapsing to 2%.

However, the PA pushed the DA hard, winning only 29 votes fewer than the DA.

The ANC councillor for the ward, Paul Strauss, had defected to the DA for the by-election, and this may have played some role in the DA’s win.

In Langeberg, in the central Western Cape, the DA took another ward off the ANC.

This was the second by-election in the ward, after the ANC had retained the seat in a by-election held in October last year.

Yesterday the DA won 975 votes (41% of the votes cast), doubling from the 456 votes it won in 2021, and up from the 662 it had won in the 2025 by-election. The ANC and the PA did push the DA hard in the ward however.

The ANC won 37% yesterday, the same proportion it had won in 2021 (which in that election had been enough to give it the ward) but down from the 47% it had won in last year’s by-election. The PA’s vote stayed stable at around 20%, compared to last year, but in the 2021 LGE it had won only 2% of the vote in the ward.

Like in Cederberg, the former ANC councillor in the ward, Daniel Baadjies, had defected to the DA and stood as the DA's candidate in yesterday's by-election.

The final ward was in Mogale City (Krugersdorp) where the ANC was pushed hard by ActionSA.

In yesterday’s by-election the ANC managed 58% of the vote, down from the 73% it had won in the 2021 LGE. ActionSA won nearly 30% of the vote with the DA and uMkhonto weSizwe party each winning about 7% of the vote.

The DA will be pleased with its performance yesterday, as it has been pushed hard by the PA in the rural Western Cape in recent by-elections. ActionSA will also be pleased with its performance, and it seems to be making inroads in Gauteng’s townships.