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.
"They cry for our votes but we don't get service delivery," he said of the ANC.
