DA in ICU in the Western Cape – Gayton McKenzie

Hot off the heels of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) snatching another ward off the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape, PA President Gayton McKenzie believes that the “DA’s time is over.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2026, McKenzie gushed about his party’s performance.

“We are the fastest-growing political party in the country. Not on polling, polling is for strippers. In three weeks, we won 3 awards in the Western Cape. In the Western Cape, the DA’s time is over. The DA is in ICU,” said McKenzie.

In the George Local Municipality in the Garden Route, the PA has won five by-elections, three of which came in 2026 from former DA stronghold wards.

Independent election analyst Wayne Sussman said that the “win is better for the PA than the PA’s two ward pickups in January 2026.”

Firstly, the PA won over GOOD, Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI) and ANC voters, largely from the first two who did not contest.

“The PA turned out new voters who sat out the last by-election, and the PA won over a chunk of DA voters,” said Sussman.

The PA has emerged as a major disruptor in local politics ahead of the 2026 municipal election season, steadily flipping wards previously held by the ANC and DA.

Its momentum has been driven by key by-election wins across provinces, including a breakthrough in George in January 2026 where it won two seats in one night.

In Conville/Rosemoor, the PA’s support surged from about 1% to 60%, dealing a major blow to the DA.

The party also recorded a significant Gauteng victory in Noordgesig, Soweto in late 2025, defeating both the ANC and DA, while also expanding beyond the Western Cape by winning a seat from the ANC in Kou-Kamma in the Eastern Cape.

Additional gains in areas such as Swellendam have further weakened the DA’s rural dominance.

These victories have stripped larger parties of outright majorities in municipalities such as George and Cederberg, and increased the PA’s leverage as a coalition kingmaker.

Nationally, the party went from a mere 7,029 votes in the 2019 general elections to 330,425 in 2024, propelling them to Parliament with nine seats and securing McKenzie as Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture.

When asked what he attributes this to, McKenzie said that “every party has a base. ANC’s base is black. Freedom Front base is white. IFP’s base is Zulu. The PA’s base is coloured.”

“Coloured people are organising themselves successfully so. But we want to show them that you want to bring all races together. We have the fastest-growing political party in the country,” he added.

The DA threat

Ahead of the 2026 local government elections, the DA remains the governing party in the Western Cape, controlling roughly 80% of municipalities through outright majorities or coalitions.

The DA has positioned itself as the province’s stability and service delivery party, campaigning on its track record of infrastructure maintenance, clean audits and comparatively strong governance in contrast to coalition-run or ANC-led municipalities.

Strategically, it is also focusing on targeting “hung councils” in an effort to regain outright majorities.

While the DA recently won two wards from the ANC in Langeberg and Cederberg, it has also suffered high-profile setbacks elsewhere, particularly against the PA.

Sussman has said that the PA is emerging as one of the DA’s most serious threats in the Western Cape, saying the DA is in “deep trouble” in areas like George, where the PA has begun directly capturing DA seats and converting DA voters.

Speaking to BizNews, he cited the February 2026 by-election in Ward 16 in New Dawn Park, George, where the PA delivered what he described as a “shellacking,” surging from 22% to 65% of the vote.

This is while the DA dropped from 46% to 34%. Sussman noted that in just three weeks, the PA managed to take three seats from the DA, signalling rapid momentum rather than isolated wins.

The PA has positioned itself as the DA’s primary challenger for the working-class Coloured vote, a critical demographic in the Western Cape.

The party has also benefited from high-profile defections, including the acting mayor of Saldanha Bay, who joined the PA in February 2026, and former DA MP Liam Jacobs, who has been named as the PA’s mayoral candidate for Cape Town.

The PA’s pitch is further boosted by its participation in the national Government of National Unity (GNU), which it uses to argue that even a smaller party can deliver direct access to national influence and cabinet power.

DA leader John Steenhuisen has acknowledged the growing threat, calling for “honest introspection” into why Western Cape voters appear to be shifting toward the PA.