The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in Limpopo says it’s all systems go for the by-election in the Thabazimbi Local Municipality on Wednesday, 4 December 2024.
The Provincial Electoral Officer, Nkaro Mateta, says the commission is ready to receive the over 51,000 registered voters expected to cast their ballots.
Addressing the media on Saturday, she reiterated that 21 political parties and five independent candidates will compete for control of the troubled council in the Waterberg region.
The Umkhonto Wesizwe Party, established by former President Jacob Zuma in December 2023, is expected to disrupt the Democratic Alliance and African National Congress’ dominance of the Thabazimbi Local Municipality. The DA and ANC have been fighting over the council’s control for several years, taking turns to govern it since 2001.
Mateta said the by-elections in Thabazimbi come after the dissolution of the entire local municipality in August 2024, effectively rendering all ward and proportional representation seats vacant.
The council consists of 12 wards and 57 voting districts. There are a total of 24 seats for the municipality, of which 12 are ward seats, and 12 are proportional representation (PR) seats.
“The Electoral Commission is further pleased to announce that all contracts and lease agreements for the 57 voting stations have been concluded. Furthermore, we have published the list of addresses of the 57 voting stations that will be used in these by-elections. All these voting stations will open on Wednesday, 4 December 2024, from 07h00 am to 21h00 to allow all registered voters in the area to cast their votes,” Mateta said.
“The municipality’s population is approximately 64 993 citizens with 51 399 registered voters. Among the registered voters, there are over 20,000 females registered, while close to 30,000 males are registered—significantly, more than 1,300 new voters aged 18-19 who did not participate in the 2024 general elections. The breakdown of the registered voters further indicates that the highest registered population came from Ward 5 with just over 6 000 voters, followed closely by Ward 8 registering 5 741 voters, and Ward 9 with 5 221 voters,” she added.
The IEC says its officials have been working hard conducting daily education sessions to reach over 51 000 registered voters and ensure that community members are fully informed of the electoral processes and how and why to exercise their democratic voting rights.
“An essential part of our preparations involved interacting with a range of stakeholders, including political parties, independent candidates, security clusters and government agencies in the province, community organisations, key businesses, including the mining houses, and voters in the Thabazimbi municipal area. Through these interactions, we believe that elections will reflect the true will of Thabazimbi residents and that the election will be successfully conducted in a free and fair manner,” the IEC online statement said.
This came as political parties launched their push to secure votes before the by-elections. The ANC, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, held a rally in Thabazimbi on Sunday to convince voters to support the party.
Senior ANC leaders, including Limpopo Chairperson Stan Mathabatha, Provincial Secretary Reuben Madhazhe, Premier Phophi Ramathuba and ANC Youth League president Collen Malatjie flaked Ramaphosa.
