Pretoria – Vote counting in the Free State was completed on Friday night, with preliminary results showing the ANC to have comfortably won the province, according to the Electoral Commission of SA.
Following 100% of the 1 523 voting districts reporting across the province, the ANC was found to have won 69.85% of the vote, equal to 708 720 votes, out of total of 1 014 663 valid votes cast, with 14 634 votes spoilt.

The DA came second with 16.23% (164 672 votes), becoming the official opposition in the province, replacing the Congress of the People (Cope).

Fledging party Economic Freedom Fighters secured third place, receiving 8.15% (82 674 votes).

Fourth belonged to the Freedom Front Plus, which received 2.10% (21 339 votes).

Cope came fifth with 1.63% (16 516 votes).

A total of 1 449 488 voters were registered to vote in the province before election day on Wednesday, with turnout being 71.01%.

In 2009, the ANC won the province with 71.10% of the vote (734 688 votes), followed by the Congress of the People with 11.61% (120 018 votes), the DA with 11.6% (119 844 votes), Freedom Font Plus with 2.01% (20 780 votes), and the Dikwankwetla Party of SA with 1.09% (11 257 votes).-Sapa

Pretoria – The ANC shrugged off a slide in its support as results on Friday showed it had won an overwhelming election victory, while the opposition hailed its own improved showing.

With few votes left to be counted, the ANC was on a little over 62% – down from more than 65% in 2009.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) had more than 22% – up from 17% in the last elections.

The DA also hung onto power in with an increased majority in the Western Cape, the only one of nine provinces not controlled by the ANC.

“Any party that gets over 60% of the votes, that party has massive, resounding support. So we’re not unduly worried about the loss of three percent or so,” said African National Congress spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.

DA leader Helen Zille, whose party is accused by the ANC of representing whites and the elite, said the results proved its appeal was spreading among blacks.

“We grew by 1.1 million votes, of which 700 000 came from black South Africans,” she said at the national results centre in Pretoria.

“So the argument that I still hear today… that the DA has now reached it ceiling and cannot grow anymore, that argument, simply by the election results, has been blown out of the water.”

The ANC’s victory nationally gives it a parliamentary majority big enough to hand embattled President Jacob Zuma a second five-year term.

But it has fallen short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution and has seen its winning margin reduced for a second consecutive election.

The real surprise of the election was not that the ANC’s share of the vote dropped, but that it dropped so little, said political commentator Steven Friedman.

Analyst Moeletsi Mbeki said government social grants – particularly in the rural areas – helped the ANC maintain its support.

“So for them whether the ANC is corrupt or not they see it as the party that delivers subsidies to them and welfare to them.

“And the ANC is always threatening them that if they vote for the DA they will lose their social welfare grants,” said Mbeki, of the South African Institute of International Affairs.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), formed by Julius Malema last year after he was thrown out of the ANC, came in third with a little over six percent of the vote, which ensures they will have a presence in parliament.

Both DA and EFF support was bolstered by a series of corruption scandals surrounding Zuma and frustration at rampant poverty and poor public services.

“There’s a strong critique of the ANC, but in terms of available other options there is a lack of trust in other parties,” said Cherrell Africa, head of politics at the University of the Western Cape.

Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba told AFP the ANC will use its fresh electoral mandate to “radically” boost black business.

“The fact of the matter is black South Africans continue to feel a sense of social injustice in terms of economic ownership patterns as well as the ownership of the land,” said the ANC number three, who is tipped to head the party one day.

“We need to implement programmes that are going radically to change that.”

Free and fair polls

A record 25 million voters registered for the elections, with the electoral commission giving a provisional turnout figure of 73.26%.

The African Union observer mission congratulated the country on “free, fair, transparent and credible” polls.

Pansy Tlakula, chairperson of the Independent Election Commission, said a number of complaints were being investigated, but would not affect the polls’ credibility.-Sapa

Pretoria – The army has been called in to quell a violent protest in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Friday.
“The provincial police commissioner [Lieutenant General Joel Mothiba] has informed me that people in Alexandra have been attacking buildings and assaulting others… the army is moving as we speak,” Mokonyane said on the sidelines of the Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) results centre.

ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said the party was informed that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) had been bussing in people into Alexandra to fuel the protests.

“A certain political party, which took part in this elections, is bringing people into the township, we do not condone violence and destruction of property,” he said.

The protesters demanded the release of those arrested during a protest on Thursday, he said.

EFF Gauteng leader Dali Mpofu denied that his party brought in protesters into Alexandra.

“Members of the EFF, the DA and the IFP were all involved in yesterday’s hostage situation over allegations of vote rigging, the EFF sent out lawyers to deal with the situation. We do not condone violence… and of course they would single out the EFF out of all parties involved,” Mpofu said.

The IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said the commission had heard about the protest, but had not received a complaint regarding the voting process in Alexandra.

Rubber bullet, stun grenades

Gauteng police said rubber bullets and stun grenades were fired on Friday afternoon to disperse protesting residents in Alexandra.

“Approximately 300 to 400 people gathered and burned tyres outside the court in Alexandra, protesting about the suspects arrested for public violence last night,” spokesperson Neville Malila said in a statement.

He said police instructed the group to disperse, but they refused and barricaded streets.

“Police had to use stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, 44 people were arrested for public violence,” Malila said.

“More police and metro police were deployed in the area to contain the situation.”

Malila said later in the afternoon that the situation had abated and that the township was quiet but tense.

There was still debris and rocks in the streets, but the roads were now open, he said. No injuries were reported.

Earlier, Malila said a room in a community centre in the township that was used by the IEC was burned by residents on Thursday night.

There were people inside the centre at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported.

Thirty-one people were arrested for Thursday night’s fire.

Malila said the motive was unknown.

Both groups would appear in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The ANC in Gauteng expressed its gratitude to voters on Friday for keeping the party in power.
By 21:00 on Friday, the ANC had secured 53.68% of the Gauteng provincial vote, with 98.64% of the province’s votes counted.

“A humble thank you to all voters in Gauteng who came out in their large numbers to exercise their democratic right and responsibility to elect a government of their choice,” spokesperson Nkenke Kekana said in a statement.

“The ANC provincial leadership is pleased with the election results and appreciates the show of continued confidence and a clear mandate for ANC to govern Gauteng.”

The win ensured that the ruling party remained in control of Gauteng, the fourth-largest economy in Africa.

“The overall tally of votes so far show that Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal each contributed about 2.5 million votes out of the 11.4 million ANC won nationally,” Kekana said.

“The ANC does not take any vote for granted.”

The national provisional results showed that the ANC had 62.18% of votes, with 99.94% of votes counted.

Kekana said the ANC in Gauteng intended to tackle all the issues that were brought to its attention during the election campaign.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Western Cape DA and ANC leaders hurled insults at each other after the provisional results were made known on Friday.

“The ANC’s efforts over the last few years to make the Western Cape ungovernable failed miserably,” said Democratic Alliance provincial leader Ivan Meyer during a victory speech at the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) Western Cape results operations centre in Belville-South.

“Not the ANC’s race-based divide and rule tactics, especially in vulnerable communities like De Doorns, nor their efforts to bribe DA councillors, nor their outrageous so-called faeces war could unseat the DA in this province.”

Meyer’s comments contradicted his earlier calls for unity and co-operation after the pre-election mudslinging.

When Meyer spoke after the provisional results were announced, he said: “May this election be the beginning of the end of confrontational politics in the Western Cape towards constructive yet critical dialogue in the interests of all citizens…”

Meyer’s party won 59.2% of the provincial vote, increasing its outright majority in the Western Cape.

The African National Congress improved its support base somewhat and garnered 33.04% of the vote.

Taking the podium after Meyer’s criticism, ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman responded in kind by accusing the DA of running a racist campaign.

“Every time an election happens, the Democratic Alliance push the ‘swart gevaar’ tactics,” Fransman said.

“What you see now, unashamedly so, is the DA has gone out… in the media saying that the ANC does not care for coloured people.”

Fransman will return to the Western Cape legislature as the official opposition leader after spending the last five years on the national political stage.

The former deputy international relations minister said he was excited about returning to the province and building the ANC structures ahead of the 2016 municipal elections.

The ANC and DA will be joined by the Economic Freedom fighters, which will get at least one seat in the legislature.
-Sapa

Pretoria – The African Union election observer missions said on Friday that South Africa’s 2014 general elections had been free and fair.

The head of the AU observer mission, Prof Ibrahima Fall, said: “The preliminary conclusion is that the elections were free, fair and transparent.”

Fall praised the Independent Electoral Commission’s use of technology in conducting the elections.

“The process was elaborate to ensure accountability,” he said.

“The capturing and transmission of votes are done electronically and are efficient.”

Former Ghanaian president John Kufuor, a member of the mission, was not overly concerned about the discovery of ballot papers found dumped in Pretoria and Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg.

Prepared

“I don’t think the incidents were too many considering the size of the country and its history.

“We believe that the IEC will move from strength to strength from here,” Kufuor said.

He went on to say that South Africa had set the bar for other countries in the continent.

“This is a preliminary report, but I can assure you its going to become the final one,” he said.

The AU deployed 57 observers across the nine provinces during the elections.

The Southern African Development Community’s observers said the country had been adequately prepared for the elections.

“I congratulate the IEC, government, society and media for their orderly and peaceful elections whose outcome has no doubt reflects the will of the people, ” said SADC head of observer mission, Justice Lehohla.-Sapa

Pretoria – A ballistics expert testifying for Oscar Pistorius’s defence said on Friday the bullets that hit Reeva Steenkamp were not in the order prosecutors claimed, offering key evidence in the star’s murder trial.

Wollie Wolmarans sought to show that the sequence of the bullets showed Steenkamp was reaching for the toilet door, and not putting her hands to her face defensively.

The model’s final movements have been used by the defence to show Pistorius shot the 29-year-old mistaking her for an intruder, while the prosecution has sought to show he knew she was in the cubicle and wilfully fired.

Wolmarans told the court that Steenkamp was close to the toilet door and leaning slightly forward when the first of four gunshots hit her hip.

The next bullets hit her arm and hand, and the final bullet hit her head as she was falling backward.

Wolmarans’s testimony runs in the face of police ballistics testimony, which said one bullet missed and ricocheted off the wall, injuring Steenkamp’s back and that the final bullet hit her hand and head, as she was sitting in a defensive position with her hands over her head.

Defence claims bolstered

The defence witness said all four hollow-point bullets hit the 29-year-old model and law graduate, saying the same bullet could not have hit both her hand and head, otherwise there would be brain tissue found on her hand.

“I would not expect that tissue to go on the wall, it would be on the inside of the hand,” said Wolmarans. He said the back wounds were “consistent with falling off a blunt surface” and caused when Steenkamp fell on a wooden magazine rack in the toilet.

The state’s version, that Steenkamp fell into a seated position on the magazine rack, “doesn’t make sense to me,” said Wolmarans.

The expert testimony bolsters the defence claim Steenkamp was reaching for the toilet door handle when she was shot by Pistorius.

The Paralympic gold medallist claims he shot his girlfriend by accident, believing her to be an intruder in his upmarket Pretoria home.

In contrast, the state claims 27-year-old Pistorius shot Steenkamp in a fit of rage following an argument. If found guilty of premeditated murder, the double-amputee faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

Pistorius began the day in good spirits, cracking a rare smile in court as he greeted Wolmarans, an ex-policeman with over thirty years’ experience in ballistics.

Yet as Wolmarans testified on graphic details about Steenkamp’s death, the world famous athlete bent his head in the dock, shielding his eyes with his hand from photos of the bloody crime scene shown on the court television monitors.
AFP