By Luvolwethu Ngani
The African National Congress has retained two wards in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality following by-elections held on Wednesday, 17 June 2026.
The Independent Electoral Commission confirmed the ANC won Ward 1 and Ward 10 in Buffalo City. Both contests were watched closely as parties test their support ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
In Ward 1, covering Pefferville in Duncan Village in the WB Rubusana Region, Tandiswa Goniwe won the seat for the ANC with 45.45% of the vote. That is a slight drop from the 45.96% the party recorded in the 2021 municipal elections. Voter turnout in the ward stood at 41.27%.
The ANC defeated the Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Patriotic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters, South African Communist Party and other parties in the ward.
The party said the results showed voters rejected attempts to weaken its standing.
“Voters are loyal to the organisation, its history, and its programme. The attempt to use defections to weaken the ANC has been rejected by the people on the ground,” the party said in a statement.
The ANC performed stronger in Ward 10. Ndyebo Lennox Makeleni was elected councillor with 64.79% of the vote, up from 49.16% in 2021. Voter turnout in Ward 10 was 38.06%.
The party said the Ward 10 result reflected the electorate’s commitment to issue-based politics and rejected what it described as attempts to buy votes.
“Buffalo City voters refused to be bought with dirty money, choosing principle over patronage and substance over spectacle,” the statement said.
Ward 1 still presents a challenge for the ANC. More than half of voters in the ward backed other parties or independent candidates.
For residents, attention now turns to what the newly elected councillors deliver. Power cuts, housing, job creation, water provision and public safety are among the issues communities have raised consistently.
The November local government elections will show whether these by-election results hold as a wider pattern across the Eastern Cape.
