KwaDukuza municipality set for hung council – coalition likely to follow

Despite the African National Congress (ANC) winning 27 of 30 wards, KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) will have a hung council.

Election results have confirmed that the ANC received 49.56% (down from 62.76% in 2016) of the vote, just short of the 50% needed for total council control.

KDM has 59 available seats, 30 of which are determined by ward elections, the other 29 of which are decided as a result of proportional representation (PR).

PR seats are decided by the total amount of ward and municipal votes combined so that seats in council are representative of the total votes each party received.

The ANC will have 29 seats in council, 27 ward councillors and 2 PR councillors.

The seat allocation in KDM council is:

• ANC – 29, down from 36 in 2016.
• Democratic Alliance (DA) – 9, down from 11 in 2016.
• ActionSA – 5, first election.
• Independent Alliance (IA) – 5, first election.
• Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – 4, up from 2 in 2016.
• Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – 4, same as 2016.
• African Independent Congress (AIC) – 1, same as in 2016.
• African Transformation Movement (ATM) – 1, first election.
• African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) – 1, up from 0 in 2016.
• Al Jama-ah – 0, down from 1 in 2016.

KDM’s 2 biggest parties, the ANC and DA have both lost ground this year, with new parties ActionSA and the Independent Alliance putting in strong performances in their first election.

A low voter turnout may have affected these results, with only 74 099 residents (54.17% of registered voters) casting their votes this year, compared to 85 196 (66.23%) in 2016.

In order to have effective control of the municipality, the ANC will be forced to go into coalition with another party that has won a council seat.

Once the results have been audited and announced by the IEC, a municipal council must meet within 14 days, per the Local Government Municipal Systems Act.

In this meeting, presided over by the Municipal Manager, council must elect a Speaker which is done by a simple vote majority.

In KDM’s case, although the ANC nomination would likely get an automatic 29 votes from their own party, no majority would be reached.

This is the same for the election of the Mayor and Deputy-Mayor. The ANC will therefore need the cooperation of at least one party to swing votes.

Similarly, in theory, but extremely unlikely in practice, all eight other parties could form a coalition to ensure that the ANC has no voting power. This would require an extraordinary turn of events, however.

Who are the 30 ward councillors in KwaDukuza?

Councillors marked with a * indicate they are a new councillor, those marked with a + indicate they retained their seat.

New councillor refers to a seat that has changed hands. Some councillors may have previously held seats, but did not in 2016.

Ward 1 – ANC, Scelo Kenneth Shandu *.
Ward 2 – ANC, Dumisane Nkosinathi Ngema * – Ward previously an independent candidate.
Ward 3 – ANC, Sifiso Obed Nxele *.
Ward 4 – ANC, Jetro Mohammed Banda *.
Ward 5 – ANC, Aubrey Mtolo Baardman * – Ward previously IFP.
Ward 6 – DA, Tamsyn Colley +.
Ward 7 – ANC, Blessing Cebo Fakazi *.
Ward 8 – ANC, Muzi Emmanuel Ngidi +.
Ward 9 – ANC, Nkitimene Judith Mpanza *.
Ward 10 – ANC, Thubelihle Trueman Dube +.
Ward 11 – ANC, Sicelo Sithole *.
Ward 12 – ANC, Humphrey Mbatha +.
Ward 13 – ANC, Nkululeko Qwabe *.
Ward 14 – ANC, Welcome Njabulo Mntambo *.
Ward 15 – ANC, Bhekuyise Petros Ndlovu *.
Ward 16 – ANC, Sabelo Sanele Mthiyane *.
Ward 17 – ANC, Chellappa Mariemuthoo Naicker * – Ward previously DA.
Ward 18 – ANC, Sphesihle Brian Ntuli *.
Ward 19 – ANC, Former KDM Mayor, Govindammal ‘Dolly’ Govender +.
Ward 20 – ANC, Nicholas Siniko Bhengu *.
Ward 21 – ANC, Nkululeko Humphrey Sithole *.
Ward 22 – DA, Privi Makhan +.
Ward 23 – ANC, Nkanyiso Collen Mdletshe *.
Ward 24 – ANC, Virginia Mwandla *.
Ward 25 – ANC, Sifiso Petros Khuzwayo *.
Ward 26 – ANC, Thembinkosi Cedric Nxele *.
Ward 27 – ANC, Samson Good-Enough Mcineka * – Ward previously an independent candidate.
Ward 28 – ANC, Vishnugopal Govender *.
Ward 29 – ANC, Sicelinjabulo Lewsin Ce
Ward 30 – DA, Faghmi Jack Abrahams *.