Beaufort West’s mayoral chains up for grabs in by-elections

18 Jun 2024

Wednesday’s three by-elections in Beaufort West could lead to a new DA government or a continuation of the PA-led administration. It could also see the reintroduction into formal politics of former Beaufort West mayor Truman Prince.

Independent elections analyst Wayne Sussman described Wednesday’s by-elections in Beaufort West as “hard to predict”. Three by-elections will take place in the Karoo municipality and leadership changes could follow.

Residents of the three wards, which include places such as Murraysburg and Rustdene, will go to the polls on Wednesday, 19 June to elect new ward councillors.

In March, three ward councillors resigned, prompting the by-election. They were Ralph Skuza from the ANC, and Ebenezer Botha and Nicolaas Abraham from the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

These will be the first by-elections since the 29 May general elections.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Beaufort West – where time stands still, dangerous rocks are born and service delivery is dying

Speaking to Daily Maverick, Sussman said the Karoo town’s by-elections would be “more localised” than anywhere else and had several different layers which could affect the results.

“It’s just very hard to predict what’s going to happen,” he said.

The candidates include Skuza, who will try to regain his ward, this time as an independent. Botha will represent the African Restoration Alliance when he attempts to regain his seat.

But the biggest name in this by-election is veteran politician Truman Prince, who is standing as the Ward 6 candidate for a party called the Movement of the People.

“He is the great survivor of Beaufort West politics,” said Sussman about the controversial former mayor.

According to Sussman, Prince’s attempted return to politics comes while his wife Thershia is a member of the PA. She is also a former Beaufort West mayor and is the deputy mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality.

Difficult contest for DA

If the DA wins all three wards, it can govern the municipality outright. However, Sussman said Ward 1, where Skuza was the former councillor, was an ANC stronghold, making contestation difficult for the DA.

In the recent general elections, the DA received the most votes in two of the wards, while the ANC “edged them” in the third.

On 4 June, DA Western Cape leader Tertuis Simmers said voters had punished the PA in the area in the national poll.

“If the 2024 elections were a local election, the DA would have won an outright majority in Beaufort West, with a clear mandate to rescue the municipality,” said Simmers.

When Daily Maverick previously asked the PA about the upcoming by-elections, spokesperson Steve Motale said people continued to join and vote for the party.

“We don’t take this for granted and will work tirelessly to repay this faith,” he said.

Community activist Brian Jooste said, “This is one of the most important by-elections in the history of Beaufort West.”

He said that since 2021, the council’s agenda had not been community-friendly and policies had been implemented that had not been workshopped with residents. This meant, he told Daily Maverick, “No mandate or issues of the community are tabled in council.”

Jooste and others have been working to get more independent candidates elected into the council in a bid to place residents’ needs ahead of party needs. They support Skuza in Ward 1, Sharon Gouws in Ward 3 and Juanita Rabie in Ward 6.

“We demand a new breed of leaders, not in love with power, but in love with a vision that can speak for this community and the poorest of the poor,” Jooste said.

After the 2021 municipal elections, the ANC and DA won four seats each on the council. The PA received three seats and Good and the Karoo Defence Force (KDF) received one seat each.

The municipality has been governed by a coalition of the PA, ANC and KDF since the 2021 elections, while the DA and Good were on the opposition benches.

Governance in Beaufort West is often at the centre of a rivalry between the DA and the PA, including over service delivery and money that allegedly went missing after a fundraiser for projects in the Central Karoo District Municipality.

Read more in Daily Maverick: DA and PA again at loggerheads — this time over ‘missing’ R3m from Gayton McKenzie’s gala dinner fundraiser

Multiple mayors

Since the 2021 elections, Beaufort West has had five mayors, starting with Gideon Pietersen who held the position until June 2022. He was replaced with Thershia Prince, a former official in her husband Truman’s office. She resigned in 2023 to make way for social media influencer Ashley Sauls.

Sauls was widely criticised for his attempts to change the name of the municipality to “Dubai West”. He resigned later in 2023 to focus on his campaign for the Western Cape premiership.

Ebenezer Botha took the mayoral chains, but earlier this year he resigned after voice notes alleging abuse of his romantic partner circulated in the town. Pietersen then took over once again.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Mayor #5 for Beaufort West — Gayton McKenzie announces leadership changes

Sussman said this was the first by-election in the country since the announcement that a government of national unity had been formed.

“It’s up in the air at this point,” said Sussman of the possible outcome.

There will also be by-elections in Cape Town’s Ward 64 (Muizenberg, Fish Hoek), Ward 105 (Durbanville) and Ward 113 (Table View). DM

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Difficult contest for DA

Multiple mayors