Convicted child rapist’s party tops vote in hung Karoo council

Jeffrey Donson topped the vote in the Little Karoo municipality

The party that twice put convicted child rapist Jeffrey Donson in the Kannaland mayor’s chair has topped the vote in the Little Karoo municipality, but its rivals could still shut it out of power.

With all the votes counted, the Independent Civic Organisation of SA (ICOSA) won 27.1% in Kannaland, which includes Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Zoar and Van Wyksdorp.

The DA was close behind on 24.76%, followed by the Patriotic Alliance (PA) on 15.47%, the Kannaland Independent Party on 9.69% and the ANC on 8.62%.

ICOSA and the DA won three seats each on the 10-seat council, with the PA taking two and the Kannaland Independent Party and the ANC one each.

That leaves the council hung, with any party needing six seats to govern.

A DA-led coalition with the PA and either the Kannaland Independent Party or the ANC would reach six seats, but so would an ICOSA-led deal with the PA and one of the same two parties.

Without the PA, neither ICOSA nor the DA can reach a majority unless the two rivals join forces.

Donson, president of the party, was convicted in 2008 of statutory rape and indecent assault of a teenage girl.

He became Kannaland mayor after the 2021 local government elections and was removed in a motion of no confidence brought by DA councillors in January 2022, before new coalition deals put him back in office in October 2022.

ICOSA suspended him in October 2023 over internal disputes, but he was later reinstated and still leads the party in Kannaland.

Action Society spokesperson Juanita du Preez said at the time that his continued hold on the post was indefensible.

“It is unconscionable that a man found guilty of sexually assaulting a child continues to hold the title of executive mayor,” Du Preez previously said.

Next door in Oudtshoorn, the DA was the biggest party, but it also fell short of an outright majority.

The DA won 37.78% of the vote and 10 of the council’s 25 seats, leaving it three seats short of the 13 it needs to govern alone.

The ANC was second on 19.53% with five seats, followed by the PA on 12.48% and the FF Plus on 10.18%, with three seats each.

A deal with either the FF Plus or the PA would hand the DA exactly the 13 seats it needs.

The PA also made its mark in the Central Karoo, becoming the biggest party in Prince Albert with five of the 10 seats, one short of a majority.

The DA governed Prince Albert before the election.

In Laingsburg, ActionSA topped the vote in its first local election in the town, with 26.59%, ahead of the DA on 25.35% and the ANC on 24.49%.

ActionSA and the DA won three seats each on the 10-seat council, with the ANC taking two and the PA and the People’s Movement for Change (PMC) one each.

The DA’s Aletta Theron has been Laingsburg mayor since June 2025 under a DA-ANC coalition.