South Africa Municipal elections 2026 (local government elections / LGE) — Results

Results declared by the IEC on 8 November
Election day: November 4, 2026 · voting 05:00–19:00 UTC (07:00–21:00 SAST)

Figures from official electoral authorities · last checked 11 Nov 2026, 10:00 SAST · 08:00 UTC

South Africa

  • African National Congress (ANC): 30.76%
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 24.64%
  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 9.77%
  • Other parties: 8.63%
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 6.22%
  • ActionSA: 5.67%
  • Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 4.69%
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 2.99%

City of Johannesburg

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 34.79%, 91 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 20.25%, 63 seats
  • ActionSA: 16.27%, 43 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 6.52%, 17 seats
  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 5.57%, 15 seats
  • Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 2.46%, 7 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 2.00%, 5 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 1.83%, 5 seats

City of Cape Town

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 56.42%, 133 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 13.95%, 33 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 3.77%, 9 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 3.73%, 9 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 3.42%, 8 seats
  • ActionSA: 2.75%, 7 seats
  • Al Jama-ah: 2.38%, 6 seats
  • GOOD: 2.29%, 6 seats

eThekwini (Durban)

  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 38.29%, 86 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 25.45%, 57 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 16.43%, 37 seats
  • Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 6.79%, 15 seats
  • ActionSA: 2.85%, 7 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 1.62%, 4 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 0.86%, 2 seats
  • African Transformation Movement (ATM): 0.79%, 2 seats

City of Tshwane (Pretoria)

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 34.37%, 74 seats
  • ActionSA: 22.07%, 48 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 20.22%, 44 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 7.63%, 17 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 5.77%, 13 seats
  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 1.96%, 4 seats
  • South African Communist Party (SACP): 1.19%, 3 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 0.65%, 2 seats

Ekurhuleni

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 30.68%, 66 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 22.11%, 59 seats
  • ActionSA: 18.50%, 40 seats
  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 7.02%, 15 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 6.49%, 14 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 4.95%, 11 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 1.55%, 3 seats
  • Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 1.17%, 3 seats

Nelson Mandela Bay

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 44.17%, 53 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 25.48%, 32 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 5.55%, 7 seats
  • South African Communist Party (SACP): 3.19%, 4 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 3.04%, 4 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 2.48%, 3 seats
  • United Democratic Movement (UDM): 2.41%, 3 seats
  • Mayibuye Civic Movement: 1.93%, 2 seats

Buffalo City

  • African National Congress (ANC): 41.93%, 42 seats
  • United Democratic Movement (UDM): 18.39%, 19 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 16.85%, 17 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 6.79%, 7 seats
  • South African Communist Party (SACP): 4.45%, 5 seats
  • African Transformation Movement (ATM): 2.04%, 2 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 1.69%, 2 seats
  • ActionSA: 1.63%, 2 seats

Mangaung

  • African National Congress (ANC): 33.91%, 35 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 33.49%, 34 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 8.59%, 9 seats
  • Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus): 5.92%, 6 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 4.34%, 4 seats
  • ActionSA: 2.72%, 3 seats
  • South African Communist Party (SACP): 1.57%, 2 seats
  • National Service Delivery Forum: 1.16%, 1 seats

Eastern Cape

  • African National Congress (ANC): 46.06%, 706 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 18.13%, 194 seats
  • South African Communist Party (SACP): 6.29%, 97 seats

Free State

  • African National Congress (ANC): 37.16%, 244 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 27.53%, 161 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 8.24%, 52 seats

Gauteng

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 33.92%, 348 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 21.57%, 266 seats
  • ActionSA: 16.87%, 152 seats

KwaZulu-Natal

  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 34.35%, 599 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 20.28%, 388 seats
  • Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 20.13%, 468 seats

Mpumalanga

  • African National Congress (ANC): 43.65%, 359 seats
  • uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK): 9.55%, 84 seats
  • Service Delivery Party: 5.28%, 43 seats

Northern Cape

  • African National Congress (ANC): 41.55%, 191 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 21.73%, 94 seats
  • Rise Tsantsabane Communities: 1.69%, 9 seats

Limpopo

  • African National Congress (ANC): 54.44%, 628 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 11.21%, 126 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 8.17%, 95 seats

North West

  • African National Congress (ANC): 44.05%, 370 seats
  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 14.30%, 109 seats
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 12.46%, 97 seats

Western Cape

  • Democratic Alliance (DA): 53.95%, 418 seats
  • African National Congress (ANC): 14.69%, 130 seats
  • Patriotic Alliance (PA): 7.42%, 91 seats

Government and coalitions

In office now

South Africa has been governed since 2024 by a ten-party Government of National Unity under President Cyril Ramaphosa (ANC); the ANC holds 159 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly. The councils being renewed were elected on 1 November 2021, when the ANC took 45.59% of the national municipal vote and lost control of most of the largest cities.

Possible coalitions

Each council elects its own mayor, so coalitions are settled municipality by municipality. In Johannesburg the DA's mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, has ruled out governing with the MK Party, the EFF or the ANC; the MK Party's candidate, Bongani Baloyi, has ruled out the DA and stated no position on the ANC or the EFF.

About this election

How the vote works

Voters elect the councils of all 257 municipalities. In the 8 metropolitan and 205 local municipalities, half the councillors are elected in single-member wards, where the candidate with the most votes wins, and half from closed party lists; the list seats top up each party so that the council is broadly proportional to its overall vote. Voters in local municipalities also cast a list vote for their district council, which is completed by delegates from the local councils. Each council then elects its mayor.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.

In numbers

  • 6.12 points separated African National Congress (ANC) from Democratic Alliance (DA) — 1,822,061 votes.
  • The top two shared 55.40% of the vote between them, and 6 lists cleared 5%.
  • Support for African National Congress (ANC) ranged from 54.44% in Limpopo to 14.69% in Western Cape — a spread of 39.75 points across 9 regions, and it led in 6 of 9.

Calculated from the official figures on this page and from the other elections of this type in our archive.

Understanding this election

All South Africa elections & results →