138 South African councils lack a majority as municipal count nears end

Sunday 8th November 2026

By inAfrika Newsroom

South Africa’s Electoral Commission showed 138 of 213 municipal councils without an outright majority as the vote count neared completion on Sunday. Its provisional tally showed 74 councils with a majority and one still to be calculated.

The commission’s live results dashboard put the African National Congress at about 31% of valid votes nationally, the Democratic Alliance at about 25% and uMkhonto weSizwe at about 10%. The percentages describe vote shares. Control of a council depends on the distribution of its seats.

MzansiData’s tracker, which uses commission figures, recorded the same council breakdown at 18:38 South African time. It showed that 99.9% of voting districts had been counted at that point. The commission’s national dashboard still marked its figures as live results when checked on Sunday evening.

The ANC said on Saturday that it accepted the outcome and acknowledged losing councils it had governed for years. It said discussions in councils without a majority would determine who governs them.

South Africans voted on 4 November. The commission had worked through objections and outstanding counts on Saturday before the planned declaration.

Under transition guidelines reported by SAnews, the municipal manager or a provincial designee must convene a local council’s first meeting within 14 days of the council being declared elected. District councils follow a separate timetable tied to appointments by local councils.

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