PRETORIA / MIDRAND — South Africa's Electoral Commission (IEC) announced the final results of the 2026 local government elections on Sunday, November 8, Newsday reported from the IEC's results announcement. The declaration formally closes a contested count in an election held from Monday, November 2 to Wednesday, November 4, and it confirms the picture that had formed as the count passed 99%: the ANC remains the country's largest party, but at a level of support it has never fallen to before.
Source: Newsday (South Africa), Nov 8 2026 — IEC announces final 2026 local government election results
The final declaration follows the near-complete count reported earlier, when the ANC stood at 30.8% with 99% counted and the number of hung councils had risen to 136. Read the earlier report: South Africa count nears end at 99%, ANC on 30.8%, hung councils rise to 136
The final national numbers
The ANC achieved the highest share of the vote at 30.76% and won 3,246 council seats, Newsday reported from the IEC announcement. The DA was second with 24.64% and 1,695 seats. Former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe Party finished third with 9.76% and 785 seats, followed by Julius Malema's EFF on 6.22% and 588 seats and Herman Mashaba's ActionSA on 5.67% and 313 seats. Daily Investor's report of the same declaration put the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on 4.69% and the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) on 2.99%.
The scale of the fall is measured against the ANC's own history. Its 30.76% is down sharply from the 45.59% it received in the 2021 municipal elections, and AFP described Sunday's final tally as the party's worst-ever electoral performance — the party of Nelson Mandela won nearly two-thirds of the vote in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 and has led the country since then. The ANC failed to win more than half the seats in any of the eight metropolitan councils.
Source: AFP, Nov 8 2026 — ANC suffers worst-ever election result in South Africa
The metros: only Cape Town settled outright
Daily Investor reported that the ANC failed to achieve an outright majority in any of South Africa's metros, despite still being the largest party nationally. The DA secured an outright majority in Cape Town — the only one of the eight major cities that does not require coalition negotiations, AFP said — and was the largest party in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay. The ANC came out on top in Buffalo City and Mangaung, and the MK Party came out on top in eThekwini, which includes Durban.
Source: Daily Investor, Nov 8 2026; AFP, Nov 8 2026
Nationally, the ANC leads in 128 municipalities and won 53 municipalities outright, while the DA leads in 32 municipalities and won 12 outright, Newsday reported. Only 74 of the 213 municipal councils returned an outright majority for a single party, leaving 139 hung councils requiring coalitions — three more than the 136 counted at the 99% stage.
Source: Newsday, Nov 8 2026 — ANC leads in 128 municipalities, 74 outright majorities of 213
One result nullified, a revote ordered
One result did not stand. The IEC ordered the result in the Northern Cape town of Douglas to be revoked and a revote held, after supporters stormed the vote-counting station and destroyed ballot papers before counting could begin, NOW in SA reported from the declaration. IEC Chairperson Mosotho Moepya said voter turnout stood at 52%, six percentage points higher than the 2021 municipal elections, which were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, AFP reported, and Moepya also disclosed that voting would be repeated in the affected municipality.
What the parties said
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula described the outcome as 'catastrophic' and acknowledged the party's shortcomings, AFP reported. 'Where we have fallen short, this movement does not dispute it. Communities have gone without water. Refuse has not been collected. Roads have not been maintained,' Mbalula told reporters. 'We have been weighed in the balance, and where we have been found wanting we dare not quarrel with the scale.' President Cyril Ramaphosa urged parties to prioritise the interests of communities in coalition negotiations and warned against letting political disagreements disrupt essential services: 'The people have spoken. Their verdict must be respected. Their concerns must be heard and their expectations must now be met,' he said on Sunday.
Source: AFP, Nov 8 2026 — Mbalula and Ramaphosa statements
The campaign issues behind the result were local and concrete. Water shortages, electricity outages and poor service delivery were among the major issues that shaped Wednesday's elections, AFP reported, alongside widespread unemployment above 34%, crime and corruption scandals — the pressures that had made this the ANC's hardest local test since 1994.
Source: AFP, Nov 8 2026 — issues behind the ANC decline
The operation behind the declaration, and what happens next
The IEC's chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, set out the scale of the operation the declaration rested on: 520 political parties contested the elections, with 137,000 candidates for 10,526 seats in 213 councils; 56,000 voter management devices were deployed and 188,000 electoral personnel were mobilised to administer 23,696 voting stations, Newsday reported. Just over 100 million ballot papers were printed, and 28 million were superseded following a Constitutional Court order. 'These are not merely operational statistics. They represent the scale of institutional capacity required to administer elections in South Africa,' Mamabolo said.
Source: Newsday, Nov 8 2026 — IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo on the operation
What happens next is coalition bargaining under a deadline. Newly elected councils are legally required to hold their inaugural meetings within 14 days of the formal declaration of results to elect mayors and other office-holders, AFP reported — which puts the deadline in the week of November 22. With 139 of 213 councils hung, most of South Africa's local governments, and seven of its eight big cities, will be formed in negotiation rooms over the next two weeks rather than at the ballot box; AFP noted that previous South African coalitions have often been marked by internal disagreements and shifting alliances, bringing administrative instability and disrupted services — the very failures voters punished on Wednesday.