Madam Deputy Speaker, yesterday successful and peaceful by-elections were held in three wards across South Africa.
In Ward 12 in the Blouberg Local Municipality in Limpopo the DA maintained its share of the vote at 16%, whilst support for the ANC declined by 13% to only 66%. [Applause.]
In Ward 33 in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality in the Free State the DA retained the ward, while growing its percentage share of the vote from 62% in May 2011 to 77% yesterday. [Applause.] Support for the ANC dropped by 12% to 21%.
In Ward 8 in the Matatiele Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape the DA won 27% of the vote. This represents a significant increase from the 4% obtained in May 2011. In absolute terms, the DA won 444 votes, as opposed to the 77 votes obtained in the last municipal elections.
The DA continues to gain growing grass-roots support in the Eastern Cape. This is a remarkable show of growing support and trust of the voters in the DA message. It is evident from these results that the DA continues to grow, as more and more people flock to our DA banner and the blue wave of the DA gains momentum.] Woza, 2014! [Come, 2014!] [Time expired. [Applause.]