Evaton West (South Africa) (AFP) – Mounds of garbage, potholed roads and sewage spills: grim conditions like these led voters near Johannesburg to abandon their long-time loyalty to the African National Congress and hand the rival Democratic Alliance its first black township ward in South Africa, highlighting frustration over municipal-level failures ahead of November's local elections.
Issued on: 28/06/2026 - 10:57
4 min Reading time
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 the French news agency AFP in the working-class area 50 kilometres south of Johannesburg. "They cry for our votes but we don't get service delivery," he said of the ANC.
