Mpumalanga DA aims to win 8 municipalities in local government elections

The Mpumalanga DA is aiming to win eight local municipalities in the upcoming local government elections set for November 2026 to January 2027.

“These are local municipalities we believe we can govern outright or through a local government of unity. Our estimation is based on evidence of previous election results and the work our councillors are doing in various communities,” said the provincial leader, Jane Sithole, at an exclusive media engagement at Friends Café on Friday, November 1.

Sithole also said the target of eight is not the limit, as the province boasts 17 local municipalities. “We have a footprint in every municipality and therefore we will contest at all of them to cement these footprints and make the impact we aim for. One thing people want to see is evidence of what we can do. We currently do not govern any municipality in Mpumalanga, but the only way we can claim outright victory like we did in uMngeni Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal is to serve the people. We can live with the narrative that the DA only serves white communities. However, this is not true. We want to serve the poorest villages.”

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The DA scored itself considerable presence in the ministerial cabinet after it signed into the National Government of Unity with the ANC and some other political parties.

Sithole claimed the position of the deputy minister of small business development, making her an MP. She said the party would consider a local government of unity in the province as a foothold to gain some sort of governing power at most local municipalities.

While the Independent Electoral Commission conducted by-elections at various local municipalities, the DA did not contest most of these elections.

“Contesting by-elections has been proved to be expensive. We would only contest at local municipalities with greater possibility for a victory. It costs a lot of money to contest, which for us is not quite possible. Why not save the funds to contest in local and national elections?” she said.

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The engagement also gave journalists the chance to interact with the three newly appointed DA members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, Annerie Weber, Tebogo Sekaledi and James Masango. They joined Bosman Grobler, who is also the provincial chief whip, Tersia Marshall and Trudie Grové-Morgan after the DA retained six seats in the Legislature following the national government elections.