Deputy Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council -
1) notes that effective participation of viable political parties in the electoral processes of our country is an essential prerequisite for a vibrant, people-centred democracy;
2) also notes that the recent by-election performance by the Congress of the People in the Northern Cape Municipality of Khai-Ma should be noted as a sure signal of future political dynamics in South Africa;
3) further notes that during the 2006 general municipal elections, the ANC conquered 88,23% of the votes with the opposition parties at 11,77% - DA at 6,93% and the ID at 4,84%;
4) recognises that on 12 August 2009, in a head-to-head contest between the ANC and the Congress of the People, Cope, made substantive inroads by slashing the ANC majority by 66,88% to a very modest 59,01%, and 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%; and
5) notes that the municipality of Khai-Ma, better known as Pofadder - the generic name of a feared species in the animal kingdom - where a previously ANC-dominated ward has now become a marginal seat, is set to go down in history as the small but definitive beginning of true multiparty democracy in South Africa and that the Pofadder by- election is set to be the first of many towards dismantling the defacto one-party domination in all spheres of public life in South Africa.