Hlaudi's ACM muscles into Maluti-A-Phofung count as ANC holds on

The African Content Movement has pushed into a surprise position in Maluti-A-Phofung, with its leader Hlaudi Motsoeneng saying the party’s showing in the eastern Free State municipality is proof its support is spreading.

As counting continued, the ANC was still in front and the ACM was close behind, according to Sunday World. Motsoeneng, speaking to the outlet on Thursday while results were being tallied, said he was pleased with the early numbers and would wait for the final count before deciding how the party proceeds.

That is a sharp turn for a party that took a single-digit share of nothing in the previous local government elections in the municipality. In 2021 the ACM won two proportional representation seats in Maluti-A-Phofung, and its representative went on to chair the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, the body that holds the municipality’s spending to account.

Maluti-A-Phofung sits inside the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality and serves Qwaqwa, Harrismith and Kestell. Political control there has been hard fought, and the early count this time has drawn in more parties than the usual ANC and opposition pairing.

Motsoeneng put the party’s progress down to its campaign team and its members, saying the credit belonged to them for the work they put in on the ground. He said the result showed the organisation was expanding its footprint in the municipality.

He described the contest as one involving several formations, naming the ANC, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters among the main contenders, and acknowledging the MAP16 Civic Movement as well.

The picture emerging from the count points to a more crowded field in Maluti-A-Phofung, where the established parties are being pressed by smaller groupings. For the ACM the immediate question is whether the early support holds once every vote is in, and whether it converts into a larger bloc of seats.

Motsoeneng’s optimism is his own, and the tally will settle it. The ANC’s lead at the point he spoke was not a final result, and no party had been declared the winner of the municipality.

The Enquirer will report the final outcome of the Maluti-A-Phofung count when the electoral authority publishes it.

Source: Sunday World, Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s ACM surges to third place in Maluti-A-Phofung