ANC takes about 31% as South African cities face coalition talks

Who takes charge of a municipality matters for water supplies, road maintenance and the budgets behind everyday services. South Africa’s November 8 local-election declaration settled the announced results, but it did not by itself settle who would lead several major cities.

Following voting on November 4, the Electoral Commission’s November 8 declaration, republished by the South African government, put the African National Congress at about 31% nationally and the Democratic Alliance at roughly a quarter. Those national shares describe support across municipal contests. They do not translate into a corresponding share of control over each city.

The distinction is visible in the metropolitan results. Business Day reported on November 8 that the DA had won an outright majority in Cape Town, while Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and eThekwini faced coalition negotiations. A majority puts a party in a different position from finishing first without enough seats to govern alone. Negotiations, however, are not completed governing arrangements or confirmed mayoral appointments.

Three separate decisions explain the path from ballots to city leadership:

1. Voters determine council representation. The relevant starting point is each municipality’s allocation of seats. The largest party can still hold fewer than half the seats. A council without a single-party majority is commonly called a hung council.
2. Parties negotiate support. Where no party has a majority, governing requires support beyond one party’s own councillors. That can involve a formal coalition, but negotiated support need not take that form. Finishing first does not itself establish who will support a municipal administration.
3. Councillors elect municipal leaders. The first council meeting provides for electing the speaker and other office-bearers, including mayors where applicable. Political announcements must therefore be distinguished from the council’s formal decisions. SAnews’s account of government transition guidance explains these arrangements.

These elections concern municipal government. They do not allocate National Assembly seats or directly change control of the national legislature.

The negotiating positions reported on November 8 remained open. Business Day described preliminary ANC–ActionSA discussions without specific municipal agreements. It reported that the DA’s discussions would be coordinated nationally, while ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said his party could also choose opposition. These were reported approaches to talks, not evidence that particular partnerships had been concluded.

The timetable is also more specific than a single national countdown. According to the joint guidance described by SAnews, each council’s first meeting must be convened within 14 days after that council has been declared elected. District councils have a separate trigger: their first meeting must take place within 14 days after all members appointed by local councils have been appointed.

Those requirements concern the first meetings. They are neither a universal deadline for signing coalition agreements nor a guarantee that every leadership question will be resolved by then.

SAnews, a government-affiliated news service, was reporting on guidance from the Department of Cooperative Governance, National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association. That guidance draws a boundary between bargaining and administration: coalition agreements cannot override legislation, municipal officials must remain impartial, and municipal resources may not be used for coalition negotiations. Existing delegations—the authority assigned to officials and other municipal decision-makers—remain in force while incoming councils review them.

For households, the handover documents may be as consequential as the leadership announcements. The guidance calls for incoming councils to receive information about available cash, unpaid creditors, infrastructure condition, maintenance needs and service backlogs. It specifically highlights payments to Eskom and water boards because outstanding debts can threaten service continuity.

These are prescribed or recommended transition arrangements, not confirmation that every municipality has followed them. They explain what new leaders are expected to inherit and examine. A coalition agreement can establish political cooperation; it cannot establish that a repair has been funded, a creditor paid or a household’s service improved.