Civic movements and compacts of new candidates, borne out of frustration over service delivery failures and governance collapses in municipalities, have diluted the dominance of major parties.
A senior ANC member in Mpumalanga is the architect of the party’s downfall in the Mkhondo Local Municipality in Piet Retief, where it lost the powerful seats of mayor, Speaker and chief whip for the first time since the dawn of democracy.
Mpumalanga’s Lekwa Local Municipality in Standerton, which had been torn apart by ANC infighting, has been taken over by another party for the first time since democracy.