DA makes a direct play for Site C wards
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has formally unveiled five candidates for the five wards that cover Site C, Khayelitsha, signalling a targeted effort to gain ground in an area where it has not won a ward seat since the first democratic local government elections in 1996. The party described the initiative as part of a broader push across the metro ahead of the municipal elections on 4 November.
Ground campaign and voter registration
DA deputy federal chairperson Siviwe Gwarube said party activists focused on door‑to‑door voter registration during the two official registration periods. She told reporters the candidates, if elected, would "service their constituencies to the fullest" and expressed optimism about the party’s prospects in the township.
The DA’s Cape Town Metro chairperson JP Smith contrasted the party’s presence in the wards with what he described as a weaker showing by the ANC on the ground. Smith said the DA had campaigned in all of the city’s 116 wards and criticised the ANC for not staffing voting districts (VDs) throughout the metro during registration and campaigning.
“You did not see the ANC in all the wards, in all the VDs in these wards. They could not even, in their own backyards, populate all the VDs.”
ANC response and political implications
ANC Cape Town Metro chairperson Ndithini Thyido rejected the DA’s ambitions in Khayelitsha, saying the DA’s activity in the township is aimed at boosting its proportional representation vote rather than seriously contending for ward seats. Thyido said the ANC would retain the wards.
The competing claims frame two different campaign strategies: the DA presenting an aggressive, place‑based effort to win local mandates; and the ANC portraying that effort as an attempt to increase party lists votes without changing the ward map. For residents, the outcome will affect who holds responsibility for local service delivery and oversight at ward level — from sanitation and informal settlement upgrades to community policing forums and electricity complaints.
What the DA says it did in Site C
- Unveiled five candidates to contest the five wards covering Site C.
- Door‑to‑door voter registration during the two official registration windows, according to the DA.
- Metro‑wide campaigning across all 116 wards, the DA says, to ensure visibility.
The ANC response suggests the party believes its ward infrastructure remains intact despite the DA’s visible campaign. The exchange highlights how both parties are seeking to shape narratives ahead of the election: one emphasising grassroots mobilisation in a traditional ANC stronghold, the other emphasising the DA’s municipal footprint.
| Party | Claim |
|---|---|
| DA | Unveiled five candidates for Site C; conducted door‑to‑door registration; campaigned across 116 wards. |
| ANC | Characterised DA activity as a bid to increase proportional votes and said it will retain the wards. |
Residents of Khayelitsha who are registered to vote will determine whether the DA can make inroads in Site C or whether the ANC’s long‑standing support will hold. Local campaigning now moves from candidate announcements to intensified door‑to‑door work, community meetings and voter mobilisation as both parties prepare for the mixed system of ward and proportional representation that will decide control of the metro.
Given Khayelitsha’s political history and the symbolic value of winning in Site C, the contest will be watched closely by activists and party strategists across the city. For voters, the debate over presence on the ground versus list strategy underlines a practical question: which party is best placed to deliver day‑to‑day municipal services in their area?
