The ward councillors who were expelled from the ANC in 2018, after they were found guilty of conspiring with the opposition when the former Sol Plaatje executive mayor, Mangaliso Matika, was voted out of office, will be standing as independent candidates. 

They will stand in the by-elections that will take place in the Sol Plaatje municipal district on 13 February. The independent candidates said that they were on the receiving end of death threats but would not be swayed by scare tactics.

They also said that they were targets of a smear campaign where they were falsely accused of being involved in fraud, during door-to-door electioneering. The ANC, DA, EFF and one candidate from the African Transformation Movement will also be contesting the by-elections.

Meanwhile, the former Speaker of Sol Plaatje Municipality, Elizabeth Johnson, who was elected onto the interim national leadership of the GOOD party, said that support was growing in the Northern Cape, where they were confident of also securing seats at provincial level in the upcoming national general elections.

She said GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille would launch the manifesto and announce the interim party structures next month.

OFM News/Sandi Kwon Hoo