Burger/Media24- Jan Gerb

ANC supporters burn a DA T-shirt during a hotly contested local by-election in Grabouw. Photo: Die Burger/Media24

The ANC’s Operation Reclaim has failed in the Western Cape, says DA leader Helen Zille.

This was her claim after the DA retained both its seats in two hotly contested local by-elections on Wednesday at Grabouw and Manenberg-Gugulethu.

But the ANC says that Operation Reclaim – alleged by the DA to be a scheme to destabilise politics in the province and subvert the will of the voters – is “a figment of the DA’s imagination”.

Violence erupted in Grabouw last month, dividing the coloured and black communities, after three classrooms were vandalised at Groenberg Secondary. Overcrowding at a predominantly black school and the by-election were cited by residents as reasons for the tension in the community.

ANC candidate Cathy Booysen-Nefdt, who had resigned from the DA to join the ANC in February, narrowly lost to the DA’s Martin Matthews, who secured 51.58 percent of the votes in Grabouw’s ward 11.

Booysen-Nefdt polled 1 233 votes to 1 336 by Matthews, and there were 39 spoilt papers.

Emotions ran high during the voting and some ANC supporters, unhappy that the DA had handed out T-shirts, set fire to some garments. Their actions were condemned by both parties.

“We don’t encourage any members to act like that. We will have a look at those pictures to see who was involved. It cannot be condoned,” said ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile.

In Manenberg-Gugulethu’s ward 45, the DA took 59.36 percent or 3 590 of the 6 135 votes cast in the poll, with the ANC getting 2 191 votes.

Celebrating the victory Zille said: “The DA won the (Grabouw) ward despite a co-ordinated effort to undermine our campaign and win over the ward as part of ‘Operation Reclaim’.” – Cape Argus