It’s a warm day in Rondomskrik, Prince Albert in the Karoo where a by-election was taking place on Wednesday, 14 September. By 8.30am at the Rondomskrik Pop Centre, one of two voting stations for the day, music was blasting from speakers, from both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA). 

The by-election for Ward 4 in Prince Albert, Western Cape on Wednesday 14 September. (Photo Brenton Geach)

This was a by-election with serious implications: whoever wins will determine which party or coalition will govern its seven-seat council: either the DA or a coalition made up of the PA, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Karoo Gemeenskap Party (KGP).

Even the morning’s scheduled rolling blackouts could not dampen the mood outside the centre as people began queueing. Alongside a party barricade of IEC tape, a sea of green KGP shirts was overwhelming the blue DA shirts in the line. Former Beaufort West mayor and PA member Truman Prince came out to support KGP candidate. Mayor of the neighbouring Beaufort West municipality, Thersia Prince, was also in attendance to support the KGP.

The Democratic Alliance federal council chairperson Helen Zille at the by-election for Ward 4 in Prince Albert, Western Cape on Wednesday, 14 September. (Photo Brenton Geach)

Across the road, DA Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille was posing for pictures. She was there to support DA candidate Margy Jaftha.

The crowd was restless, with children running around and people eager to get in their votes. The children were either attached to women’s hips or running around in little groups. The line moved slowly, but sped up as more people were helped.

Standing in front of a house was Josephine Prins (57), dressed in a too-large DA shirt. She has lived in Prince Albert for her whole life and describes it as safe. “They told us to vote today,” she said without confirming who ‘they’ were. 

When asked what she wanted to see in her area, Prins said: “I want to see jobs”. 

Another woman, Marieta Jaftha, walked by in a green shirt. “I’m voting for change in the town,” she said. Jaftha identified unemployment as an issue in the municipality — “there needs to be a solution”.

The ward, a predominantly coloured and Afrikaans-speaking community, has an unemployment rate of 56,2% according to 2011 census data. 

At another voting station, the Sydwell Williams Centre, it is rather quiet — except for the loud music coming from a bakkie covered in PA signs. 

Throughout the day, there was a lively atmosphere in the ward, with DA- and PA-branded bakkies and cars driving around, music blasting among people, calling for residents to come out and vote. At one point, PA leader and Central Karoo District Municipality mayor Gayton McKenzie was also in the area to provide support to KGP. 

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Wednesday’s by-election came as a result of KGP ward 4 councillor and former mayor Margy Jaftha’s expulsion from the party in July. During a council sitting in that month, Jaftha would vote against her own party — for a DA deputy mayor and speaker. Jaftha joined the DA after her expulsion.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Prince Albert geared for crucial poll to determine who governs” 

“I was born here and I love this place,” said Jaftha, a former community worker turned politician. About her expulsion, she said: “I didn’t want to place my town into another person’s hands,” but did not go into specifics except to say rumours had already been circulating that she would be removed to make way for the KGP’s Goliath Lottering, who had failed to win his ward in the 2021 municipal elections. 

She was confident that she would win the by-election:  

“I can tell you Ward 4 is mine — I’ve won this ward three times…people vote because it’s a person, they vote for Margy”.

On the other hand, Lottering said because Jaftha was a member of a political party, she needed to adhere to its rules:

Prince Albert resident Lucrecia Darries outside her home. She ran a soup kitchen for children until recently, but she ran out of sponsors. She says poverty and substance abuse leads to many children on the streets — something the municipal council needs to urgently address. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

“She didn’t adhere to the instructions and decisions we made and she took her own decisions… You can’t follow your own decisions — you’re a councillor of a party and you need to follow through with the decisions of your party,” he said. As a result, the party instituted disciplinary action against her, in which she was found guilty and her party membership terminated. Lottering said although Jaftha appealed, a panel found that the “KGP was within their rights to fire her and expel her from the party”. 

Read in Daily Maverick: “DA prevails in Prince Albert nail-biter while IFP bucks trend to shock ANC in KZN”

The ward became vacant upon Jaftha’s expulsion. The municipality has had no elected mayor since Jaftha’s expulsion. DA deputy mayor Linda Jaquet is the town’s acting mayor until the confirmation of a new mayor. 

Children play soccer during lunch break at Prince Albert Primary school. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

In a seven-seat council, the DA has three seats, the KGP had two (prior to Jaftha’s expulsion), and the ANC and PA one each. Previously, the KGP/PA/ANC coalition saw it run the municipality — should Jaftha and the DA win, the party would have enough seats to govern the municipality outright. This would mean the DA runs one municipality in a region dominated by the PA/ANC/KGP/Karoo Democratic Force (KDF).  If Lottering wins for the KGP, the coalition is further strengthened as the DA would move into the opposition benches in all Central Karoo local municipalities: Prince Albert, Beaufort West and Laingsburg. 

But while much of the attention has been on the battle between the two former mayors, Economic Freedom Fighters councillor Johnny Hendricks told Daily Maverick that political parties have always made empty promises.

“After the elections, our people will still suffer and go hungry, where people fight for a salary of a mayor, but they forget about the community,” he said. He added, “Our people become exploited for votes — but afterwards, they’re sitting with the same problem”.

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On Tuesday, Daily Maverick spent some time in Rondomskrik speaking to residents before the by-election. For a resident like San Arendse, this by-election goes far beyond what happens in the council. She lives in a small house across from the voting station. While she cannot remember the year of her birth, she knows that both she and her husband Piet are pensioners. Piet is blind, and therefore; “I’m waiting,” she says outside her house, for assistance for Piet to vote. 

Pensioner San Arendse outside her house in Ward 4, Prince Albert during the by-election. She has lived in the area for her whole life and says she would vote for any party if it could provide her with a job. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

Arendse said she needed to find out if one of the parties or officials could help her husband to vote as she had to work on Wednesday and could not go with him. She sat outside her house for the entire day, but nobody came to help. 

When Daily Maverick found her sitting outside looking into the voting station area, she said: “I need work; if I vote for the DA, maybe I will get a job.” DM

The DA prevailed in Ward 4 by 44 votes.