In the aftermath of the polls, the outcome has seen the rise of civic movements that received a slice of the cake.
In municipalities that have been dominated by the ruling party, in its strongholds, there has been a rapid rise of civic movements from the Northern Cape to the Eastern Cape to Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga and the Free State.
The civic movements have for years been demanding service delivery as some of the municipalities are in a state of collapse.
In the Free State town of Maluti-a-Phofung the ANC expelled its 16 councillors who had exposed alleged corruption.
But the 16 councillors have made a dramatic comeback to the council after their MAP16 Civic Movement got 28.55% of the vote.
The ANC received 39.2% of the support. The EFF is in third spot with 9.84%.
In Mpumalanga, the community of Lekwa got fed up with lack of service delivery.
The town has been plagued by service delivery protests for many years.
However, the Lekwa Civic Forum gave the ruling party a run for their money after it got 19.43% of the vote.
The ANC did not get an outright majority in the town after it scored 42.03% of the vote. The DA is in third spot with 13.36%.
In Thabazimbi, the residents association also performed well after they got 11.02%.
The Thabazimbi Residents Association’s 11.02% support in the area came after the DA got 15.3% and the ANC 47.4%.
In the Northern Cape, there are nine hung municipalities but civic movements were also active in this election campaign.
In Kai !Garib municipality, the Hope for the Future movement got 21.49% of the vote while the DA received 18.03% and the ANC 44.36%.
In Nama Khoi another civic movement campaigned in the area to wrest control of the municipality.
The Namakwa Civic Movement bagged 19.26% of the vote while the DA was in second spot with 30.07% and the ANC 42.01%.
In Gamagara municipality, the community forum contested the polls but there was no outright winner as all sides would have to find coalition partners.
But the Gamagara Community Forum received 17.14% and the DA 34.4% while the ANC received 43.06%.
The situation is the same in Siyathemba municipality where another local movement took a shot at the prize.
The Siyathemba Community Movement received 29.1% of the vote and the DA 12.73% while the ANC was at 44.4%.
In Kareeberg municipality, another civic movement decided to take political parties on as they demand more services for the community.
The Kareeberg Civic Movement got 17.26% and the EFF 18.26% and the ANC 44.17%.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
POLITICAL BUREAU