Mediamec The DA faces a sizeable challenge to regain Eldorado Park’s Ward 18 from the Patriotic Alliance (PA) in the November 4 municipal elections, as residents demand action on sewage spills, crime and unemployment.
The contest forms part of a broader battle for votes in Johannesburg’s coloured communities, where the PA has challenged the DA’s support.
IEC results show the PA’s ward candidate won 6,584 votes in 2021, or 64.58% of valid votes, against the DA’s 1,860 votes, or 18.24%. The gap was 4,724 votes.
The PA also led on the ward’s separate proportional representation ballot, taking 61.46% against the DA’s 19.35%.
While recovering support could improve the DA’s position in Johannesburg’s council, winning Ward 18 alone would not give it control of the municipality. Council seats are allocated through a combination of ward results and proportional representation.
The DA’s candidate, Fazel Jaffer, is a former DA councillor who joined the PA before returning to the DA in 2022.
Jaffer said the PA’s emphasis on coloured communities and promises to address marginalisation had initially appealed to him. His experience in the party, however, had not matched his expectations.
He now maintains that the DA has stronger governance credentials and clearer policies. He also acknowledged that residents who followed him to the PA might have felt disappointed when he left.
Jaffer expressed confidence that the DA could rebuild its support, pointing to pothole repairs and grass cutting as examples of its efforts to help residents while outside the municipal executive.
PA councillor Juwairiya Kaldine, who is seeking another term, said her party’s record of accessibility and practical assistance should earn voters’ trust.
She described the party’s representatives as community activists and highlighted help with food and funeral costs. Drugs and substance abuse were among the area’s biggest challenges, she said, with rehabilitation an important part of the response.
Beyond individual assistance, residents want lasting improvements to infrastructure and services. Ward councillors can escalate complaints and scrutinise the administration, but municipal departments remain responsible for delivering those services.
Resident Sharias Pretorius said sewage had repeatedly overflowed into his street for about four to five years. Repairs offered only brief relief before the problem returned.
“Every second week we have sewer water running down our street,” he said.
Pretorius warned that sewage outside people’s homes posed a health concern.
The City announced sewer and water reticulation upgrades in Ward 18 in July 2023, saying excavation would start that month and estimating that the work would take no more than six months. Kaldine attended the project briefing with municipal officials and other stakeholders.
It remains unclear whether the street where the recurring overflow was reported formed part of that project, or what work was completed. Those details require confirmation from the responsible departments.
Pretorius also raised concerns about gun violence, substance abuse and difficulties in schools. He said political parties had failed to improve residents’ quality of life and that securing basic services remained a struggle.
Although he credited the DA with trying to help, he said his vote would depend on who was present in the community and working to resolve its problems.
Celeste Kupiro, who said she had lived in Extension 1 for 44 years, highlighted the difficulty of finding employment. Residents had submitted CVs and sought assistance from councillors, she said, but her two daughters, both matriculants, remained unable to find jobs.
She also identified gun violence, drugs and housebreaking as concerns.
ActionSA candidate Nomathamsanqa Lucky Mkhonza is seeking support from residents dissatisfied with their political choices.
Mkhonza said voters were unsure which party could improve their circumstances and questioned whether the DA would regain the ward.
She urged young people to vote, arguing that they suffered the effects of drugs and gangsterism while being left out of decisions affecting their future.
For resident Helen Spinnekamp, unresolved problems have deepened doubts about what another election will deliver. She accused parties of making empty promises while continuing to ask residents for their votes.
