Following the deaths of several ward councilors, four by-elections were held on Wednesday, two took place in George, Eastern Cape, one in Metsimaholo,

Free State and one in Umzimvubu Eastern Cape.
Cokiswa Lesele of the African National Congress (ANC) managed to unseat the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) candidate in ward 11 of George, ensuring that the ANC won all four of the by-elections.

In August last year the DA took ward 11 of George with 1 187 votes to the ANC's 1 155, however on Wednesday there was a reduced turnout rate of just
under 50% and both parties received fewer votes.
The number of votes for the DA fell to 948 while the ANC got 1 022; the results give the ANC an additional seat on George council, where the DA retains a slim majority.
In a vigorous contest, the ANC also managed to increase its share of votes in ward 25. In 2016 the ANC received 51% of the votes cast and Wednesday’s vote saw the party’s proportion increased to 55%.
In ward 23 of Umvimvubu, Albert Mkonto maintained the ANC's stronghold on the ward winning 80% of the 1 469 votes cast.
Despite winning all the elections it was not all good news for the ANC.

In 2016 the ANC received 51% of the votes cast in Metsimaholo's ward 12. Yesterday they won the by-election but did so with less than one-third of the votes cast getting only 31%.
Their candidate, Lebohang Makhefuwa, got 492 of the votes cast followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 374 votes, the Forum 4 Service
delivery got 357 votes and the Metsimaholo Community Association 249 votes.
Compared to the 2016 election in Metsimaholo, the EFF managed to increase its number of votes by over 40%. However the real impact was made by the Forum 4 Service Delivery which did not compete for the ward in 2016.
On Wednesday that party captured over one-fifth of the votes cast.
The voter turnout rate was relatively high, and the total number of people voting in the wards yesterday was only 5% less than in 2016.

In three of the four wards the turnout rate was approximately 50% of registered voters. The one exception was the highly contested ward 25 of George where 67% of registered voters cast a ballot yesterday.