South Africa: DA Gains Black Voters, Declares Cape Town Win, but Western Cape Coalitions Loom

What the report says

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said on Thursday that Cape Town had been won by his party, describing it as the only metro where the DA held an outright majority. The announcement came as vote counting in South Africa’s Western Cape pointed to a strong DA showing, with Stellenbosch and Paarl (Drakenstein) still under DA control and the party leading in 14 other councils, according to the report from Daily Maverick carried by AllAfrica.

The party also highlighted what it portrayed as a notable increase in support from Black voters. Hill-Lewis said the result in Cape Town’s township wards was the party’s strongest there to date, while DA federal council chairperson Ashor Sarupen said projections suggested the DA had won more votes from Black South Africans than the EFF. Those comments were presented as part of the DA’s early readout of the election outcome, not as final certified results.

The development matters because the Western Cape remains one of the DA’s core strongholds, but the report also suggested coalition politics could still shape control of several councils in the province. More broadly, the DA has long sought to expand beyond its traditional support base, and its performance among township and Black voters is seen as important to that strategy. Final results and any coalition negotiations were not included in the supplied text.