The African Independent Congress (AIC) is a minor political party in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. Founded in

Matatiele Matatiele is a town located in the northern part of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, its 12,466 residents (1,113.44 per km²) and 4,107 households (366.83 per km²) make Matatie ...

on December 12, 2005, the AIC was a protest against the location of the area within the boundaries of the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

rather than

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

as a result of the 12th Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa put forward by the ANC government. The disputed boundary change went to court; it was eventually confirmed by the 13th Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa. The AIC won ten seats in the Matatiele municipality in the 2006 local government elections, seven in the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

elections, and one seat in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature in the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

. In the

2014 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 7 May 2014, to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures in each province. It was the fifth election held in South Africa under conditions of universal adult suffrage since ...

, the AIC received 97,462 votes, 0.53% of the total, winning three seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. It retained its seat in the

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Eastern Cape. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading pa ...

. The party did not run a candidate in seven of the nine provinces, and was thought to have only a small, regional base. Some analysts believe the party picked up mistaken votes due to its proximity on the

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...

with, and close similarities to, the name and logo of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

. In the South African municipal elections of 2016, AIC support declined further in Matatiele, but it campaigned for the first time in many other municipalities, winning a total of 55 seats across eight of the nine provinces and 0.78% of votes. In March 2019, in the run-up to the 2019 general election, the party's national executive was dissolved by a court ruling, the aftermath of disputes between factions supporting the party's president Mandla Galo, and deputy president Lulama Ntshayisa, over credentials for the elective congress, which took place in August 2018. The party was left with R83 in its bank account due to the legal costs, leaving its participation in the national elections in doubt. In the 2019 general election, the AIC won 48,107 votes (0.28%) and two seats in the National Assembly, one fewer than in 2014; it did not win any seats in the provincial legislatures, so losing the one previously held in the Eastern Cape. In December 2019 following instability in the

Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipalities (als ...

council, covering

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

and surrounding areas, and after the deposition of mayors from the DA and UDM, Thsonono Buyeye of the AIC became acting executive mayor. The

2021 South African municipal elections The 2021 South African municipal elections were held on 1 November 2021, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It is the sixth municipal election held in South Afric ...

saw the AIC win 43 council seats in seven provinces ( two in Matatiele) with 0.49% of the votes.Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) dashboard
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Election results

National Assembly

, - ! Election ! Total votes ! Share of vote ! Seats ! +/– ! Government , - !

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 97,642 , 0.53% , , – , , - !

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, 48,107 , 0.28% , , 1 ,

Provincial elections

! rowspan=2 , Election ! colspan=2 ,

! colspan=2 , Free State ! colspan=2 ,

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

! colspan=2 ,

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

! colspan=2 ,

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

! colspan=2 ,

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

! colspan=2 ,

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

! colspan=2 ,

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

! colspan=2 ,

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, - ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats , - !

, 0.77% , , 1/63 , – , , – , – , , – , – , , – , – , , – , – , , – , – , , – , – , , – , 0.31% , , 0/42 , - !

, 0.42% , , 0/63 , 0.45% , , 0/30 , 0.21% , , 0/73 , 0.26% , , 0/80 , 0.27% , , 0/49 , 0.36% , , 0/30 , 0.46% , , 0/33 , 0.55% , , 0/30 , 0.14% , , 0/42

Municipal elections

, - ! Election ! Votes ! % , - !

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, 333,655 , 0.87% , - !

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, 146,693 , 0.48% , -

References

{{South African political parties 2005 establishments in South Africa Conservative parties in South Africa Eastern Cape Political parties established in 2005 Political parties in South Africa Social conservative parties African National Congress breakaway groups