DA holds Cape despite ANC Palestine push

The DA has retained majority control of the Western Cape, increasing its support in ANC stronghold areas such as Khayelitsha, one of the country’s biggest townships.

At the same time, ANC support in the province has plummeted despite efforts by the party to dislodge the DA, including using its pro-Palestine stance to win the votes of coloured and Muslim communities.

ANC leaders in the Western Cape expressed disappointment that these communities did not rally behind them despite the party's anti-Israel position, bolstered by President Cyril Ramaphosa spending almost a week campaigning in areas such as Athlone, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Strand in April.

DA votes in Khayelitsha rose sharply from 2% in 2019 to 7% in 2024.

“Of course, we’ve got to go back to Khayelitsha and say, ‘all right now, I want to take that to 15%,'” said premier Alan Winde.

The DA managed to hold on to the Western Cape despite earlier projections that it might go below 50%. It retained the same 55% of the vote that it got in 2019.

The ANC declined sharply, from 28% of the vote five years ago, to 19%.

An ANC provincial leader, who asked to remain anonymous, said the party felt let down by voters in Muslim and coloured communities who continued to vote DA in large numbers.

“We were very confident of their support, but it does not look good for the ANC at all. Considering the Palestine matter, and the time and resources we had put into the Muslim community, I am very disappointed.”

Former premier Ebrahim Rasool had earlier in the week predicted that based on Palestinian solidarity, the ANC would take 60% of Muslim voters from the DA.

But ANC provincial spokesperson Khalid Sayed, while admitting that their expectations had not been met, said it was wrong for people to say Muslim voters had let them down.

“If you look at the Muslim middle class, particularly where Palestinian solidarity activity was high, the ANC gained some ground and the DA lost ground,” said Sayed.

A thorough analysis of each voting district where there was a sizeable Muslim population was needed.

“If you look at Bo-Kaap, the ANC dominated it. If you go to Rylands High and Rylands Primary School, in both those, on the national ballot, the ANC dominated and on the provincial ballot the anti-DA vote was split between Al-Jamah and the ANC,” he said.

“It just happens within a context where we lost votes in the rural areas to the Patriotic Alliance (PA), and there Palestine is not a factor as there are no Muslim voting districts.”

Gayton McKenzie’s PA has become the third biggest party in the Western Cape after securing 7.80% of the vote.

It stole ANC votes in rural towns on the West Coast and in the southern Cape.

The PA could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.

Winde said his campaign strategy, including starting to engage voters early, had paid off, and the DA’s clean-governance record made it attractive to voters.

“We worked very hard on voter registration. This year we campaigned longer than any other political party and I have gone from one side of the province to the other and so have my colleagues.

“In running the campaign we did the basics, knocking on doors and speaking to voters,” said Winde.

He believes the party’s track record in government is what gave it an outright majority.

“I’m proud of our track record, what we achieved in the past five years and in the last 15 years, because the first stuff that you do in enabling good governance helps you to do delivery afterwards.

“There are still lots of demands, and we have to focus on the customer and the customers are the citizens.”

The ANC in the Northern Cape, traditionally a party stronghold, held on to control of the province by whisker, with 49.30%.

Premier Zamani Saul said they had secured 15 seats, enough to form a provincial government.