Veteran community activist takes Ward 104 as ANC holds overcrowded Dunoon ward
Peter Luhanga
- ANC secured 47.30 percent of the vote.
- New councillor inherits worsening overcrowding and expanding informal settlements.
- No state-subsidised homes have been built in Dunoon since 1999.
Bulelwa Mayende prevailed over six rivals in a seven-candidate municipal by-election to win Ward 104 in Cape Town, preserving the seat for the African National Congress (ANC) in one of the city’s most densely populated and under-serviced communities.
The by-election, held on 25 March, returned Mayende as councillor for the ward encompassing Dunoon and surrounding areas, where residents continue to confront overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and a housing backlog stretching back decades.
Declaring the official result on Thursday 26 March, the Electoral Commission’s Western Cape provincial electoral officer, Michael Hendrickse, said the ANC secured 47.30 percent of votes cast, with a voter turnout of 27 percent.
Mayende succeeds former councillor Messie Makuwa, who resigned because of ill health.
She assumes office in a ward where no new RDP housing has been delivered since 1999.
A veteran organiser in local civic and political structures, Mayende said her work had long been rooted in public service.
“You do not need a title to serve people,” said Mayende.
She has spent nearly two decades in community development roles, including serving as personal assistant to previous ward councillors and holding senior office within the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO).
Her professional background also includes work with the Western Cape’s former Red Door business support programme and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), where she helped aspiring entrepreneurs secure support and funding.
She said her tenure in office would be shaped by consultation rather than empty promises.
“I will not promise what cannot be delivered,” she said.
Mayende saw off candidates from the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Democratic Alliance (DA), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Organic Humanity Movement (OHM), South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Truth and Solidarity Movement (TSM).