Wayne Sussman: Municipal rule by the gun…

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, elections analyst Wayne Sussman gives the backstory to gunmen taking control of a municipal council in Northwest where different factions of the African National Congress (ANC) are backing different mayors. “…this crazy scenario of the rival factions having gunmen in the municipality, gunmen near a council chamber, near the engine of this municipality, is greatly concerning, not just for our democracy, but also for service delivery in South Africa,” Sussman says. Furthermore, at least 148 municipal officials have been murdered since 2018 - and two by-elections in the space of seven days are because of assassinations. “… people resort to literally killing their opponents,” he says. Sussman gives an in-depth analyses of the by-election results of the last two rounds with trends showing that the Patriotic Alliance continues to “do a lot of damage” to the ANC, but that its support remains “absolutely rock solid" in Limpopo and in the Eastern Cape. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance had a “morale boosting" victory in the Northern Cape.