The African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA) are going head to head once again in the Matzikama Municipality, vying to secure victory in a by-election in Vanrhynsdorp on Wednesday.

Residents of Ward 7 will be heading to the polls to elect a new councillor to replace Christo Boks who resigned from Patriotic Alliance (PA) to join the DA last month.

Matzikama is currently controlled by an alliance between the DA and Freedom Front Plus.

PA leader Gayton McKenzie withdrew his party from the alliance following a disagreement.

However, the DA is confident it will retain control over the hotly contested region of the municipality and is using the discovery of 2 000 solar panel geysers, which the ANC failed to install while in office, to get voters to cast their ballots in its favour.

The then-governing ANC coalition received the geysers last year but never handed it over to residents.

The DA's communications manager, Melt Botes, said the national government handed them over to the municipality early last year, but no attempt was made to install them.

"In addition, there is currently a dispute between the national government and the supplier," he added. 

The geysers were earmarked for residents of Vanrhynsdorp and Klawer, which are hard-hit by ongoing load shedding.

"If the ANC government had done their job and made sure the solar panel geysers were installed last year, the people would have had hot water every day."

The DA has put forward its candidate, Christo Boks, promising the geysers would be installed within three months if the party is voted into power.

"The residents of Vanrhynsdorp must make sure that the ANC and its partners do not come to power again in Matzikama. They will only disappoint us again," Botes said. 

ANC Western Cape leader Cameron Dugmore lambasted the DA and its candidate.

"The DA's candidate must take the blame for the theft of the solar panels. When he was a PA ward councillor, he pushed for the appointment of a certain service provider to secure the equipment. Why has the DA appointed him as their candidate? On Wednesday, the voters will speak," he said.

Dugmore added: "The DA was so desperate that they appointed this person as their candidate."

DA provincial leader Tertius Simmers said this was a clear display of the ANC's indifference towards residents who were struggling the most.

"In a time where we are all suffering from load shedding, another ANC-created problem, these geysers should have been installed, providing warm water to residents," he added.