The ANC dominated the nationwide by-elections, retaining its hold on 10 wards and grabbing two more seats from the DA and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), according to preliminary results released Thursday.
The outcome of this result would mean that the ANC remains a formidable force to reckon with despite the internal challenges confronted by the party.
The ANC has however maintained that any postponement of elections, unless such proposal is based on a recommendation by the Independent Electoral Commission of SA will not be tolerated and will be resisted from all fronts.
The ANC won a DA ward in Knysna in the Western Cape. The win restores the coalition agreement between the ANC, the Congress of the People (COPE) and the Knysna United Congress.
The ANC won the ward with the help of former DA member Lorraine Opperman who joined the governing party after voting with it to retain the COPE mayor Elrick van Aswegen.
According to the statistics provided by the IEC at 9am on Thursday, the leading parties nationally are the ANC (54.12%), DA (13.38%) and IFP (10.04%).
The IEC is expected to announce the official results on Thursday afternoon during a media briefing.
