On a cold Saturday morning in Hanover Park on the Cape Flats, two political parties announced their mayoral candidates at the same time, a kilometre apart.
ActionSA, a relative newcomer to Cape Town elections, named high-profile MP Dereleen James. Down the road, the DA said Geordin Hill-Lewis would be seeking a second term.
Later that day, in Delft on the Cape Flats, Jacob Zuma addressed a packed hall. He called for people to vote for his MK Party in the November 4 local government elections. Though MK hasn’t announced a mayoral candidate, it is clearly also looking to make inroads in the metro.
For Hill-Lewis, competition for votes in election season is nothing new. Speaking to the FM a few days after the announcement, he says his overriding emotion is excitement.
“I have loved this job so much. It has been just wonderful, a blessing, and I really think that we have achieved a huge amount. The city is in a much better place.
“We have sorted out many of the infrastructure challenges, particularly in sewer and water pipes and wastewater management. The huge majority of people know that this is the most functional city in the country because the DA governs here.”
Hill-Lewis says the number of people moving to the city, especially from Gauteng, is a testament to the DA’s success. “Those Gauteng metros are completely falling apart, and those families know that this is the most functional place in the country.”
In terms of competition for the DA, particularly in the Western Cape, one party comes to mind. That’s Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA), which has shown strong growth in that province, notching up several by-election successes.
But the PA’s push for Cape Town has not been smooth sailing. Liam Jacobs, a prominent young politician who had been campaigning on issues of affordable housing, recently did a dramatic U-turn and rejoined the DA a year after ditching it for the PA.
Hill-Lewis says the PA often “shoots from the hip” and makes promises it can’t keep. “When you get new political parties, the first thing they try to do is win DA voters. The places that the PA is involved in are actually going backwards, and I think voters are starting to catch on to that,” he says.
He is bullish about finding solutions to affordable housing, which he lists as a priority if re-elected. “You’re going to have to work with the private sector to greatly increase the scale of affordable housing delivery. It’s not going to be done only by the city or by the state,” he says.
But the ambitious Hill-Lewis stopped short of committing to being mayor for another five-year term. “I don’t think it would be wise of me to offer guarantees beyond 2029. The next major milestone for our country is the national election, and we’ll have to make an assessment at that point.”
He was elected DA leader in April and will have to balance that national role with running for mayor.
At the ActionSA election launch, party leader Herman Mashaba and chair Michael Beaumont were among those in attendance. Though James is not originally from Cape Town, she says there are many similarities between the Cape Flats and Eldorado Park in Joburg, where she is from.
“Some of the greatest changemakers in this country, in this world, were the ordinary citizens who had no title,” she said. “The power lies with you. Today, I give you back your power to reclaim every street and every family on the Cape Flats.”
James told residents that ActionSA’s campaign was focused on three pillars: safety, service delivery and affordability.
“This is the launch of the people. This is where the people’s voices take priority. I am an extension of your voice. But I want to say to you, Cape Town: enough of the DA.
“We can never have a situation on the Cape Flats where people have to decide between electricity and food. You have given your power to people who have stripped you of your power. The votes come from Mitchells Plain. The majority of their [the DA’s] votes come from the so-called coloured communities.
“I still see blood, I still see bodies. You have been disconnected from economic opportunities. You have been marginalised.”
The DA has been in power for 20 years. It risks fatigue and complacency among its usually energised base
— Wayne Sussman
Election analyst Wayne Sussman says it is unusual for parties to have launches at the same time and in the same neighbourhood.
“Hanover Park has many challenges, and all parties see opportunity there,” he tells the FM. The DA won this ward with 48% in 2021, with the PA second on 24%, the Cape Coloured Congress (now the National Coloured Congress, or NCC) getting 7% and the GOOD party 6%.
“We should also put ActionSA in perspective,” says Sussman. “Yes, James is a high-profile new member of parliament, but she comes from Eldorado Park. She will need to work hard to establish herself in Cape Town.” ActionSA came 16th in Cape Town in 2024 on the provincial ballot with 0.34%. It did not win a seat in the provincial legislature.
“To fall below the 50% mark,” says Sussman, “the DA would need to lose votes to the PA on the Cape Flats, and the Freedom Front Plus would need to make inroads in [white] Afrikaans-speaking areas. Those are the DA’s biggest concerns right now.”
Sussman says that while the PA has had successful by-election results in the province, there is little data on it in the metro.
“We had a by-election in Manenberg in late 2024. The DA declined here at the expense of the NCC and the PA. The PA remains the biggest threat to the DA. The PA has enthusiastic and energised voters, especially voters who have sat out recent elections. McKenzie is excellent at tapping into identity politics. He is a larger-than-life political figure who oozes charisma.
“The DA has been in power for 20 years. It risks fatigue and complacency among its usually energised base.”
A week earlier, Brett Herron was named mayoral candidate for Rise Mzansi and GOOD, which have established a working relationship ahead of the elections. The announcement was made in Wesbank, a low-income area near Kuils River. Herron was flanked by Songezo Zibi (Rise Mzansi) and Patricia de Lille (GOOD) when he took to the stage.
Herron tells the FM it was important for the two like-minded parties to come together. “That’s already bringing two voting blocs together, and hopefully that translates into not just one plus one equals two, but there’s a multiplier effect. Certainly the starting point is we’re not splitting our votes.”
It is not the first time Herron has run for mayor. In 2021, his party won nine seats in the city council. He is a member of the provincial legislature.
Cape Town, he says, is unaffordable. “We’ve been talking about affordability for a long time. The housing crisis is across the board, and middle-income families are experiencing it as well.
“We’ve had multiple parcels of land being released or rereleased or reannounced for sale to the private developers, with this vague clause that it will include affordable housing, but not a brick has been laid on any of those sites, and some of those sites go back 15 years.
“I think the DA has alienated a large part of its support base, in the Cape Flats and even in the suburbs, through the arrogance around tariffs. Even its voters are now feeling how difficult it is to live in the city. There’s an anger across Cape Town that people have.”
PA mayoral candidate Cheslyn Daniels says his party has its ear to the ground. He serves as a councillor in the Kensington area.
“We are in touch with the realities of our people, with their needs and wants.” Capetonians are “struggling to keep their heads above water. If you engage residents, whether from Durbanville, Kraaifontein, Khayelitsha, Hanover Park, Kensington or Observatory, they will all give you the same story. It is expensive to live in Cape Town.”
He adds: “The city is not working for everyone. It works for a select few. Our people have been put on the back burner.”
The DA has run Cape Town for 20 years, but the outcome of the November 4 election — in particular, whether the DA can retain an overall majority — is probably less predictable than it has been at any time this century.
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