2008 South African municipal by-elections
A series of South African municipal by-elections was held in 2008 for ward seats on local municipal councils throughout the country. These by-elections were held to replace deceased, resigned or incapacitated councillors. January. Two seats in one province were up for election on 23 January. February. Two seats in one province were up for election on 13 February. 5 March. One seat in one province was up for election on 5 March. 19 March. Five seats in one province were up for election on 19 March. April. Five seats in three provinces  were up for election on 2 April. 7 May. On 7 May, Vusumuzi Moses Ncube of the IFP was elected as councillor for Ward 3 in Mtubatuba (Mtubatuba) – KZ275. 21 May. 11 seats in 6 provinces were up for election on 21 May. July. On 15 July, a municipal by-election was held in five provinces. Eastern Cape. Two wards were contested: In Ward 26 in Qaukeni Municipality [Flagstaff (Ingquza Hill)] – EC153 Sizakele Theophilus Hlongwane of the ANC is the new councillor, while Dean Neville Biddulph of the DA is the new councillor in Ward two in Nelson Mandela Bay  Municipality (Port Elizabeth) – NMA. Gauteng. Ward 55 in Tshwane Metro (Pretoria) – City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (TSH) was won by Suzette Fourie of the DA. KwaZulu-Natal. Ten by-elections were scheduled to take place in KwaZulu-Natal of which only nine took place. The Natal High Court interdicted the holding of the by-election in Ward four in eMadlangeni (Utrecht) – KZN253 on 15 July. The interdict was issued pending the outcome of a Court Application by M. E. Khoza involving the decision by the Executive Council of KwaZulu-Natal to remove him from office as a councillor of the  eMadlangeni Municipal Council. Of the nine, eight were won by the IFP and one by the DA. The new councillor for DA is Anton Michael Raubenheimer in Ward three in Endumeni Local Municipality (Dundee) – KZN241. This ward was previously held by the IFP. The new councillors for the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal are: Northern Cape. Ward two in Moshaweng Municipality (Kgalagadi) – NC451 was won by Kebonye Gladys Gasehete of the African National Congress. Western Cape. Ward 103 in City of Cape Town (Cape Town) – CPT was won by Johannes Frederik Hermanus van der Merwe of the DA. September. Four seats  in four provinces were up for election on 10 September: 15 October. 9 seats in 4 provinces were up for election on 15 October. 29 October. Three seats in two provinces were up for election on 29 October: December. On 10 December, a by-election was held in 41 local municipality seats in 5 provinces. By province. Free State. two by-elections took place and both wards were won by the African National Congress: Gauteng. three by-elections took place. KwaZulu-Natal. eight by-elections took place in KwaZulu-Natal. The new councillors for the African National Congress are: The  Inkatha Freedom Party has four new councillors in KwaZulu-Natal. They are: Northern Cape. Ward 5 in Dikgatlong (Barkly West) was won by Naledi Georginah Molete of the African National Congress. Western Cape. 27 seats were contested in Western Cape province. Cape Town. Of the eight wards contested in the City of Cape Town (Cape Town), two went to the Democratic Alliance and six went to independent candidates. They are: The new councillors for the Democratic Alliance are – Rest of province. In the rest of the province, the new councillors are: For the African National Congress For the Democratic Alliance : For the Independent Democrats: The following councillors are independent councillors: Controversy. ANC barring from ward elections. The ANC was barred from fielding candidates in 12 of the 27 seats up for election in Western Cape by the IEC, a decision that was contested by the ANC. Participation of COPE. The newly formed COPE party did not field candidates due to it not being formally constituted and registered with the Independent Electoral Commission in time. However, all ten independent councillors who won seats in the Western Cape were also members of the COPE party, and the by-election was seen as  the first electoral test for the party.