DSC_0914.JPG The Democratic Alliance has secured its first victory in a fully black township ward after defeating the ANC in Evaton West, with analysts saying frustration over poor municipal services and governance failures is increasingly outweighing traditional party loyalties ahead of November's local government elections.
Mounds of garbage, potholed roads and sewage spills: grim conditions like these led voters near Johannesburg to abandon their long-time loyalty to the ANC and hand the rival DA its first black township ward in South Africa.
For the Democratic Alliance, the country's second-largest party, its recent by-election victory in Evaton West is a sign it may finally be shedding its white identity and winning more black support.
The loss for the African National Congress -- South Africa's historic anti-apartheid movement -- in a former stronghold may be no predictor of the outcome of key municipal elections in November. But analysts say it highlights how frustration over municipal-level failures may prompt voters to break from traditional loyalties.
"We can't live like we are animals," Evaton West resident and first-time DA voter Lesedi Lesejane told AFP in the working-class area 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Johannesburg.
