GOOD accuses DA of undermining IEC with early Cape Town victory claim - IOL

GOOD Party national chairperson Matthew Cook criticised the DA’s decision to declare victory in Cape Town before the IEC had formally declared the ward results.

GOOD Party national chairperson Matthew Cook has accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of undermining the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) by declaring victory in Cape Town before the commission had officially declared the city’s ward results.

Cook said the DA’s victory celebration was premature and risked weakening confidence in the electoral process, which requires results to be audited and formally announced by the IEC.

However, Western Cape Electoral Officer Michael Hendrickse said there was nothing in the Electoral Code of Conduct preventing the party from holding its celebration.

“The IEC has a very important job to make sure that the elections are free, fair, that the results are audited and presented to communities all at the same time,” Cook said.

“Currently, what the DA is doing, announcing a win without those wards even being declared by the IEC, completely undermines the work that the IEC does, as we stand right now, 184 wards in the City of Cape Town, not one of those wards has yet been declared,” he told IOL.

The DA announced its victory based on its own calculations of the Cape Town election results, with Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis projecting that the party would secure about 58% of the vote.

Hendrickse said the DA was within its rights to hold the event, adding that the IEC did not make electoral projections.

“There's nothing in the code of conduct that deals with the holding of such gatherings as long as obviously it falls within the local law enforcement and so on. There's also no prohibition about that. But as the IEC we don't do projections,” he said.

The commission has urged political parties and their supporters to exercise patience while vote counting and results verification continue.

Reflecting on the elections more broadly, Cook said the difference in voter turnout between suburban areas and communities on the Cape Flats, in townships and informal settlements was a major concern.

“To be seeing the suburbs turning out in massive numbers while people on the Cape Flats, townships, informal settlements really not showing up to vote. We think this is a real tragedy in Cape Town,” he said.

Cook said encouraging greater participation would need to be a priority over the next five years, particularly among people who felt their votes could not make a difference.

He said some residents had expressed frustration during the election campaign and chose not to vote because they believed their participation would not change anything.

“I think the real tragedy here is that those who come out to vote decide on the government.

“And the people who are elected into government don't live in the conditions that those people on the Cape Flats and in informal settlements live. So what you've got is, you're going to end up having a government being elected by people who don't experience the same challenges,” Cook said.

He added that the DA had governed the City of Cape Town for 20 years.