Mr Speaker, effective participation of viable political parties in the electoral processes of our country is an essential prerequisite for a vibrant people-centred democracy. Towards that end, the recent by-election performance by Cope in the Khai-Ma Local Municipality in the Northern Cape should be noted as a sure signal of future political dynamics in South Africa.
During the 2006 general municipal elections, the ANC conquered 88,23% of the votes, with the opposition parties reaching 11,77%. The DA was at 6,93%, and the ID was at 4,84%. On 12 August 2009, in a head-to-head context between the ANC and Cope, Cope made substantive inroads into the ANC majority of 66,88% by slashing it to a very modest 59,01%. With 40,99% of the voters aligning with Cope, and in the absence of contestation by other opposition parties, the opposition vote increased by 350%.
Currently, the Khai-Ma Local Municipality is better known as Pofadder - the generic name of a feared species in the animal kingdom. Whilst some of us have been called snakes and worse in recent months, this by-election, in which a previously ANC-dominated ward became a marginal seat, is set to go down in history as the small but definite beginning of true multiparty democracy in South Africa.
Modest as it may be, the Pofadder by-election is set to be the first of many in the dismantling of de facto one-party domination. [Time expired.] [Applause.]