The Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) is a minor

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

n political party. It was founded by former

Karoo District Municipality Pixley ka Seme is one of the five districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Pixley ka Seme is De Aar. The majority (77%) of its 186,351 people speak Afrikaans as first language (2011 Census). The district code is DC7. ...

manager Truman Prince, who was expelled from the

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

(ANC) in 2006. He was reinstated as municipal manager by the municipal council in June, 2007, after a protracted legal battle, but was fired from his post in August of that same year through provincial vote. Convicted child rapist Jeffrey Donson, formerly of the National People's Party (NPP), is the current president of ICOSA. The Democratic Alliance/ICOSA coalition took power in the

Kannaland Local Municipality Kannaland Municipality ( af, Kannaland Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality located within the Garden Route District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The municipal area is situated in the western part of the Little Kar ...

in August 2006 when the short-lived ANC-led coalition pact with the DA collapsed. The coalition of the DA and ICOSA collapsed when two ICOSA and three ANC councillors

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

giving the NPP five seats out of nine in the council or an outright majority (the only such council in SA that was governed by this fledgling new party at the time). The DA refused to recognise the new NPP-led council administration as it alleged that the two ICOSA defectors were sacked prior to the floor-crossing window being open and were then challenged in the Cape High Court. As such its former mayor refused to "step down" pending the outcome of the case, creating uncertainty and instability in this beleaguered council. In 2011, ICOSA regained its plurality in the Kannaland municipality, and has retained its plurality in the subsequent elections.

Controversy

Leader Jeffrey Donson was convicted of statutory rape and indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl while employed as Kannaland’s mayor in 2008, and his deputy Werner Meshoa was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice during his tenure as speaker on the Kannaland council. After 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 ...

, with the support of the

, Donson was again elected mayor and Meshoa deputy mayor, leading to strong criticism.

Election results

National elections

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

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 ...

, 12,386 , 0.07% , , – ,

Provincial elections

! rowspan=2 , Election ! colspan=2 , Eastern Cape ! 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 ! 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 ! 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 ! 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 , - !

, - , , - , - , , - , 0.03% , , 0/73 , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 0.46% , , 0/42

Municipal elections

, - ! Election ! Votes ! % ! Seats , - !

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, 44,242 , 0.11% , 11 , - !

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, 21,273 , 0.09% , 8 , -

References

2006 establishments in South Africa African National Congress breakaway groups Political parties in South Africa Political parties established in 2006 {{SouthAfrica-party-stub