• Eight candidates from various parties are competing for the position of premier in the hotly contested Western Cape.
• The DA has led the province since 2009, with other parties now vying for its control.
• Find everything you need to know about the 2024 general elections on News24’s Elections Hub.

Eight leading candidates from various political parties are competing to be the Western Cape’s premier.

The DA has led the province with a firm grip since the ANC lost power in 2009 but other parties are now vying for the DA’s crown jewel.

FOLLOW LIVE | More than 900 000 special votes already cast, millions expected at polling stations on Wednesday

The province is one of the most highly contested in Wednesday’s elections. 

The EFF and ANC have not yet announced premier candidates for the province.

The DA has chosen incumbent Premier Alan Winde as its candidate.

READ | Elections 2024: Eastern Cape ANC mobilises support to help party regain control of Western Cape

Winde has maintained that his main goal is to get the party in the province over the 51% line – the minimum to retain governance.

“We keep on saying that there’s one party with a track record, and we’ve got a lot to do, but we want another 800 000 jobs. Of course, I want 50% plus one. That’s the minimum. We need to have a majority and that’s what we must get,” Winde told News24 in an interview.

Polling data by the Brenthurst Foundation suggests the DA is set to continue to run the Western Cape, with a majority of 53% (down from 56% in October 2023).

The ANC has risen sharply to 35% from 22% in October 2023.

READ | PA reports DA to IEC for ‘incitement’ – DA hits back and says, ‘the truth hurts’

The sought-after Knysna Municipality in the Eden District is now governed by an ANC and Patriotic Alliance (PA) coalition, which removed the DA from power in 2022.

In a recent by-election, the PA snatched two wards in the province, which had previously been run by the DA and ANC.

In Oudtshoorn, the PA secured the ward by 1 279 votes (65.4%), and a tally of 853 votes (40.18%) clinched the other ward in the Swartland Municipality.

The PA’s success is largely due to its strong support in predominantly coloured communities in the Western Cape and its influence in churches.

The party’s rising popularity in the Western Cape appears to be slowly eating into the DA’s dominance.

The PA has decided to field its leader, Gayton McKenzie, as its premier candidate for the province. McKenzie said he was confident his party would emerge as a kingmaker in the election.

In an interview with News24, he said he would be willing to enter a coalition with the DA.

He said: 

GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille is also competing for the position of premier in the province. 

GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille is gunning for the position of Western Cape premier. (Netwerk24)

Netwerk24

“There is unfinished business in the province, and I will continue to fight for a fairer Western Cape, just as I have been fighting for a fairer South Africa for most of my life,” she said.

The son of anti-apartheid activist Imam Abdullah Haron, Professor Muhammed Haron, is Al Jama-ah’s Western Cape premier candidate.

Haron told News24 that there were several pressing and critical issues across the Western Cape.

“The province is challenged by unemployment, and that is an issue that should be given attention. It faces water and electricity outages that should be contained and brought to an end using our expertise in these sectors and [we should] seek ways of dealing with them as best as possible. Whilst these are selected issues, there are an array of others that should be given the necessary attention,” he said. 

Political newcomer RISE Mzansi’s Western Cape premier candidate Axolile Notywala said: “I’ve looked at [how we live] in the city and our problems in terms of inequality. I’ve always advocated for equality, justice, and freedom. In recent years, there are things that we were able to influence and get some things to shift. But not to the extent we would have liked for the past 15 years, at least for myself”.

Western Cape ACDP leader Ferlon Christians. (Malherbe Nienaber/Netwerk24)

Netwerk24

The ACDP provincial leader and premier candidate, Ferlon Christians, said safety, unemployment and education were his top priorities.

“On safety, we really need to resource our CPF and neighbourhood watches. Recruit our youth to get them off the street and use the spaces of religious institutions and schools to equip them with skills, calling on retired artisans and professionals to assist. The education system is broken.”

He said: 

ActionSA’s Western Cape premier candidate, Angela Sobey, has thrown her hat into the ring. 

Speaking to News24, Sobey said that in her view, the Western Cape had moved in the right direction, but only for some people in the province. 

“Unfortunately, that is not the lived experience of most people in the Western Cape, who do not receive the services, who are still living in abject poverty and absolute squalor; nothing has been done about the legacy of apartheid spatial planning, where people are still living. The Cape Flats that I lived in as a child is still the same and worse off. 

“No maintenance gets done there. You’ve got the coloured community that are backyard dwellers, and you’ve got the black community that is living in squatter camps. So, it’s gone in the right direction, but only in the experience of some,” she said.

READ | Elections 2024: Winde aims for 51% in Western Cape, Zille roped in to ‘mobilise best outcome’

Corné Mulder, Western Cape leader of the FF Plus, has been named the party’s premier candidate. 

In an interview, Mulder said: “It’s time to elevate the Western Cape to a new level and I believe we can take the province to a new level. Our focus would be on economic growth and investment”.

Mulder believes that the DA in the province will get below 50%. 

“The DA has become complacent in the Western Cape and taken voters for granted. So, the party will get below 50%, which will likely mean a coalition government,” he said.