The African National Congress (ANC) had the best performance in Wednesday's by-elections, the first since November, holding onto all of its wards and winning two more.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) continued its upward trend, and although their candidates didn't win any wards, they managed to build support in wards where they had little before.

Although it held onto one of its wards in Cape Town, the Democratic Alliance (DA) lost a crucial one in the hotly contested Knysna, and failed to make inroads in the Northern Cape.

In Knysna's Hornlee ward, Lorraine Opperman enabled the ANC to win the ward off the DA.

Opperman defected from the DA to the ANC after voting with the ANC to retain the Congress of the People (Cope) mayor. Her election has tipped the scales in favour of the ANC coalition, which is now in charge with a majority of one seat.

Elections analyst Wayne Sussman tweeted that the ANC managed to pick up some of the votes from Cope, the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners and Icosa, which didn't run in the election. It also hurt the DA in its stronghold around the Koinonia Church.

He tweeted that Hornlee was where Cope performed best in the 2019 elections, but it didn't contest this by-election.

The ANC held onto a number of wards. This included Steinkopf Vioolsdrift in the Nama Khoi Municipality and Bankhara Bodulong in Ga-Segonyana, both in the Northern Cape; Kwa-Mandlenkosi Town Centre in Beaufort West in the Western Cape; Sakhile in Lekwa, Mpumalanga; Segwaelane Sonop in Madibeng, North West; and Sekgosese in Greater Letaba, Limpopo.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC managed to hang onto Kromhoek Tembeni in the Umzimkhulu Municipality; Mpumalanga Hammarsdale in eThekwini; Ixopo Mariathal in the Ubuhlebezwe Municipality; and Qwabe Mthandeni in the Maphumulo Municipality, where it also won the rural ward of Indukwende from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

The DA managed to hold onto Delft (ward 20) in Cape Town, but it was the newcomer Cape Coloured Congress, with 19% of the vote, that showed promise here.

The IFP held onto Lindelani in KwaDukuza, but lost votes to its former representative Aubrey Baardman, who ran as an independent and got 15% of the votes. It also lost votes to newcomer party the Independent Alliance, whose candidate got 9% of the votes.

The EFF showed good growth in Delft, Sakhile and a number of KwaZulu-Natal wards, like Kromhoek Tembeni, Mpumalanga Hammarsdale (an ANC stronghold) and Ixopo Mariathal.

Sussman has predicted that the Patriotic Alliance, which had well-known politician Truman Prince campaigning for it, could make inroads in ANC and DA areas in Beaufort West in October's local government elections after getting a good percentage of votes there.

The SABC reported that the by-election in Buffalo City's ward 20 was cancelled. This came after former ANC councillor in the ward, Ntombizodwa Gamnca, obtained a court interdict against her expulsion from the council by Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha in January.

She was expelled after she was found guilty of robbery and intimidation and fined R10 000 by the East London Magistrate's Court. She has also allegedly been implicated in the sale of government-subsidised houses.