Concern in Vhembe over allocation of seats

Voters in Vhembe have been hailed for coming out in big numbers and voting for the governing party during the recent election. The distribution of seats, however, is a big concern for local supporters of the ANC.

Although Limpopo has recorded the highest decline in voter turn-out of 34.72% when comparing 2019 and the previous elections, the province and district (Vhembe) proved once again to be the home of the ANC. Vhembe did well by contributing the most votes in the province, mainly from Thulamela. About 325 000 people voted for the ANC in Vhembe.  This amounts to 86.6% of people who voted for the ruling party in Vhembe. 

This means a growth of more than 35 000 people who voted for the ANC in this year’s elections, since only about 287 000 of people voted for the ANC in the last elections (national and provincial).  This amounted to 84% of the people who voted for the ANC from Vhembe in the previous elections.

In this year’s elections, Vhembe was followed by Mopani with 250 000 votes (77%) of the people who voted for the ANC.

Vhembe’s votes for the ANC were more than those that the party got in the whole of the Northern Cape, which had about 250 000 votes.

MK veteran Samson Ratshivhanda-Ndou, also the Chief Whip in the Vhembe District Municipality, said that “the fact that our people voted for us in big numbers to make us a ruling party for the sixth time only proves that our people believe that we are the only organization that can bring positive changes to their lives as we did in the 25 years”.

Ratshivhanda-Ndou says he was humbled by this gesture and he promised that they would do their best to make sure that the lives of the people changed for the better as they had been doing.

“Voters trust us, the ANC, because we fought for this freedom.  Many people lost their lives fighting for this freedom while others are now crippled.  Some of the freedom fighters are still suffering from the damage they incurred while fighting for this freedom,” he added.

“While appreciating that our people in Vhembe voted ANC in big numbers, the concern is that we have received less representation when we look at the number of votes. The concern is that the votes that the district has contributed for the ANC do not seem to balance with the representation we were given by the IEC. Votes must determine representation or seats allocated at the provincial and national level.”

The ANC secretary in Vhembe, Adv Anderson Mudunungu, confirmed that some concern existed about the representation of Vhembe at both provincial and national level. He said the regional executive committee had already expressed their concerns to the provincial executive committee about the matter.

In the province, Vhembe only has one MEC, Nandi Ndalane, while Mopani, which took position two in terms of the voting trend, has four MECs, Sekhukhune has two and the Premier, and Waterberg also has two and Capricorn District also has one MEC.

Date:01 July 2019

By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

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