On Wednesday, Johnathan Harmse drove his donkey cart around Dysselsdorp to ferry Patriotic Alliance (PA) voters to their nearest voting station during a tightly contested by-election in Oudtshoorn’s Ward 9. 

Voting stations were set up at churches, schools and a skills centre in Dysselsdorp, about 25km from Oudtshoorn. In the morning, when Daily Maverick arrived at a voting station, the mood was clear: this was going to be a battle between the incumbent African National Congress (ANC) and the PA. 

The by-election was triggered when Ward 9 councillor Chad Louw resigned from the ANC in February to join the PA. Louw did not contest the ward, but was seen on Wednesday in his green PA shirt, assisting people or driving around the suburb.

As Daily Maverick reported this week, only the ANC, PA, EFF and an independent candidate contested the ward. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Patriotic Alliance fishing for potential Oudtshoorn by-election gains aided by minnow parties  

Louw told Daily Maverick that he was not standing as a candidate in the by-election because he had outgrown regional politics. “I reached the pinnacle already by becoming the mayor and I was an ANC regional chairperson,” he said. 

Louw said the PA would soon announce his new national position.

Former Oudtshoorn mayor Chad Louw in his hometown of Dysselsdorp as he helps his party, the PA, contest for control of his former ward. (Photo: Suné Payne)

The Oudtshoorn Local Municipality has a hung council governed by a coalition led by the DA. While the results of the by-election will not affect the governance of the municipality, Louw said if the PA won, it would set up a platform for negotiations between parties. The PA has only one seat in the municipality, while the ANC has seven. 

“Already, one of the [DA’s] coalition partners has started talks with us,” Louw said. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024

Job creation

Residents came out in their numbers to cast their votes on Wednesday. 

While some were reluctant to say publicly who they had voted for, others, like Harmse, were clear.

“The ANC can do nothing for us,” said Harmse, who voted for the PA. 

He is unemployed and wants change — specifically jobs for young people in the area. According to the latest census statistics, only 29% of people in the ward are employed. 

Dysselsdorp resident Johnathan Harmse says the pressing issue in his community is unemployment. (Photo: Suné Payne)

In another part of Dysselsdorp stood Eva Jantjies. While she could not vote as she lived in Ward 10, she felt it was important that Dysselsdorp be represented at the Oudtshoorn council. 

She lamented the poverty in the community and said young people were turning to drugs because there were no jobs for them. 

She hoped a new councillor would spur job creation. “They just need to bring change; job creation is a big thing for me,” she said.  

Changes that needed to be made, she said, included cleaning the streets and providing electricity connections for residents of informal settlements. 

Daily Maverick’s attempts to speak to Samantha Damons, the ANC’s candidate, were unsuccessful, but we did manage to interview the other candidates.   

Dysselsdorp resident Eva Jantjies. (Photo: Suné Payne)

The independent 

Eben Trevor Basson, an independent candidate, is not a newcomer to politics. He previously belonged to the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI)/Local Concerned Residents party, but left after he said they failed to settle a debt he incurred for taxi expenses while campaigning for the 2021 local government elections.

The PBI holds eight council seats in the Western Province: five in the George Municipal Council, two in the Garden Route District Municipality and one in the Knysna Council.

“After successfully campaigning for the PBI, they never came back to thank me or pay the debt,” he said. “I am a law graduate and I have realised that all the councillors do not understand the law, hence they fail to get our people out of poverty. 

“The ANC has left many apartheid laws unchanged and as we speak, people living on farms live with no toilets yet they have stayed there for over a decade.” 

He said farm owners in and around Oudtshoorn refused to have toilets installed for workers and the municipality was doing nothing about the situation. 

“Racists are living freely here; our people are oppressed here and the ANC has done nothing to change that.” 

He said that regardless of whether he won the by-election, he would take up the fight against farmers who treated their workers like second-class citizens. 

Eben Trevor Basson, an independent candidate. (Photo: Suné Payne)

EFF candidate

The EFF candidate, Nonzingo Leticia Mntwini, who grew up in Dysselsdorp, said she could no longer stand by and watch the town deteriorate.

“Poverty is getting worse here,” she told Daily Maverick. “The education system here fails our children because they have dropped pure maths and only mathematical literacy is offered here. 

“I am not promising houses, but we must look into the housing waiting list, which has people who have been waiting for houses for over 30 years. Young people must be skilled to stand better chances of employment and starting their businesses.” 

Voters inside the voting station. (Photo: Suné Payne)

The PA candidate

The PA candidate, Bertram Jantjies (46), another former ANC member, was born in the area. He moved to Cape Town and returned to Dysselsdorp after a 15-year stint in the city. 

“When I returned, I saw how neglected the place had become. Our people are suffering,” he said. 

Jantjies said whoever was elected should focus on three things: jobs, housing and getting impoverished residents on to the Indigent Policy.  

The IEC will on Thursday confirm the results. DM