DA retains Kouga with outright majority

The DA has romped home in Kouga, winning an outright majority in the Eastern Cape municipality that takes in Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp and Hankey.

IEC results on Thursday evening showed the DA on 58.55% of the vote in Kouga, with 18 seats, well clear of the ANC on 24.75% and eight seats.

The win hands the DA another term in a council it has run since 2016.

Kouga was the only council in the Eastern Cape that the DA had won outright by Thursday evening, as the ANC held on to the bulk of the province.

Across the province, the ANC was on 46.89% and the DA on 18.41%, with 66% of the votes counted.

The DA’s share in Kouga slipped as the count went on, from almost 68% earlier on Thursday, as votes from more areas came in.

In the 2021 local government elections, the DA won 16 of Kouga’s 29 seats to keep its majority.

Kouga mayor Hattingh Bornman, who took over from Horatio Hendricks in 2023, said: "Our commitment remains to keep Kouga working for all our residents."

The municipality, in the Sarah Baartman District, is home to just over 100,000 people and has long relied on tourism and farming.

It is now positioning itself as an energy hub, with several wind and renewable energy projects under way.

The DA’s win in Kouga comes as the party also leads the count in neighbouring Nelson Mandela Bay, where it was on 40.68% against the ANC’s 27.37%.