WATCH | ActionSA ends ANC’s 20-year hold on Thembisa ward
ActionSA has successfully won a ward in Ekurhuleni, ending the ANC's 20-year dominance in the area. Local residents expressed hope that the new leadership will address long-standing issues like service delivery, unemployment, and infrastructure maintenance.
Why it matters
This result signals a shift in local political power dynamics and reflects growing voter dissatisfaction with established political parties.
ActionSA has ended the ANC’s long-standing hold on Ekurhuleni’s ward 6 in Thembisa, securing it with 38.84% of the vote in last week’s local government elections.
The ward, which covers six sections — Isiziba, Endulwini, Ibazelo, Isithame, Igqagqa and Lidinga — had been an ANC stronghold for the past two decades. In the 2021 local elections, the ANC won with 64.3% of the vote.
ActionSA secured 4,587 votes, finishing 6.2 percentage points ahead of the ANC, under the leadership of its Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate, councillor-elect Xolani Khumalo.
Speaking to Sowetan, ActionSA ward branch secretary Fihliwe Nkohlisa said the result reflected the work the party had put into building its presence in the area over the past eight months.
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3 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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