The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West on Tuesday vowed to retain its seat in the Mamusa municipality in a by-election contested by eight political parties and one independent candidate.

"The first price we would like to have is to win the ward that we currently have, ward nine and in addition have one candidate as a PR [proportional representative]," DA provincial leader Joe McGluwa said. 

Wednesday's by-election will be held after the provincial government dissolved Mamusa council due to a collapse of services.

The DA had one seat in the dissolved council, while the African National Congress (ANC) had 11 and the Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) was the official opposition with three seats. The Economic Freedom Fighters had two seats and Freedom Front Plus had one.

Political parties have campaigned vigorously ahead of the election, with the ruling ANC driving in branded cars and blasting messages from hailers throughout the council's wards. F4SD and the DA have also been active.

F4SD leader Mbahare Kekana said the party, which is contesting in eight wards, wanted to take control of the municipality.

"We only need 13 000 votes to take control of the municipality," he said.

"In 2016 we contested only five wards out of nine. We did not have resources at that time."