Expect a coalition to govern Govan Mbeki Municipal Council
DA snatches two wards from the ANC.
After the votes were tallied and the results for the 2026 Local Government Elections are in: Govan Mbeki Municipality is a hung council, with no political party securing a majority of the votes.
A party needs to obtain at least 34 of the 65 seats to govern alone. A hung council could result in a deadlock, with decisions potentially not being implemented.
Residents of Govan Mbeki Municipality can therefore expect political parties to begin forming coalitions in an attempt to secure a majority in council.
The ANC’s support dipped substantially in this election, with the party losing two wards to the DA. However, the ANC, with 23 wards, and the DA, with 10, are the only parties to have secured ward victories.
The DA retained its seven traditional wards, as well as the newly established Ward 33. It also wrested one ward in Leandra and another in Bethal from the ANC. Add to this the DA’s extra 8 proportional seats, the party now has 18 votes on the council.
According to the IEC’s seat allocation, which includes ward councillors as well as proportional representation seats determined by the overall number of votes secured by each party, the ANC keeps its 23 seats on the new council.
The new kids on the block, Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK), made a strong debut in the council, securing enough votes to obtain 7 proportional representation seats.
The EFF polled enough votes to secure 5 proportional representation seats, while the Freedom Front Plus obtained 4. The Service Delivery Party secured 3 seats and the SACP 2.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, the African Independent Congress and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) each secured 1 seat.
The remaining 12 parties that appeared on the ballot collectively received 3 861 votes. These votes were excluded from the quota calculation.
