{"version":"1.9","identifier":"75e2560a-ca31-40cf-b74f-9a02af771629","language":"en-US","title":"South Africa votes in local elections as polls point to coalition councils in big cities","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/south-africa-local-elections-special-votes-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-01T16:17:26.786298Z","dateModified":"2026-11-02T20:10:04.084503Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"Special voting starts Monday before Wednesday's vote. Polls show the ANC and DA close nationally and no clear majority in most large metros.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/75e2560a-ca31-40cf-b74f-9a02af771629/efe33b89cd1c663fd24674f84a980d1c.jpg","keywords":["za"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"South Africa votes in local elections as polls point to coalition councils in big cities","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Special voting starts Monday before Wednesday's vote. Polls show the ANC and DA close nationally and no clear majority in most large metros.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 1, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/75e2560a-ca31-40cf-b74f-9a02af771629/efe33b89cd1c663fd24674f84a980d1c.jpg","caption":"The Union Buildings in Pretoria, part of the Tshwane metro, seat of South Africa's national government. Representative photo, not taken during the campaign. · Portiatn, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons","accessibilityCaption":"The Union Buildings in Pretoria, part of the Tshwane metro, seat of South Africa's national government. Representative photo, not taken during the campaign.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"The Union Buildings in Pretoria, part of the Tshwane metro, seat of South Africa's national government. Representative photo, not taken during the campaign. · Portiatn, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"South Africans begin voting on Monday in local government elections that could reshape who runs the country's largest cities. Special voting runs on Monday, November 2, and Tuesday, November 3. The main election day is Wednesday, November 4. Voters will choose councils for all of the country's 257 metropolitan, district and local municipalities, according to Ipsos. These are the first municipal elections since the African National Congress (ANC) lost its national majority in 2024. It then formed a government of national unity (GNU) with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other parties.\n\nThe campaign ended at the weekend with final rallies by the main parties. Two published polls suggest no party will win a majority in most of the big metros. That would mean another round of coalition talks after the results. This article sets out the voting arrangements, what the polls show and how they were done, what each party argued in its closing pitch, and the funding records published by the Electoral Commission.\n\n## How and when people vote\n\nThe Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says 29.2 million people are registered to vote. Ipsos puts the eligible population, adults 18 and older, at 44.9 million. That means about 65% of eligible adults are registered.\n\nSpecial votes are for people who cannot get to their voting station on election day. They include police, soldiers, health workers, journalists on assignment, older people and voters with disabilities. [SABC News](https://elections.sabcnews.com/election-news/article/record-number-of-south-africans-to-cast-special-votes/) reported that the IEC approved 2.6 million special votes nationally. The broadcaster said that is the highest number ever and close to 10% of registered voters. IEC chief executive Sy Mamabolo gave the 29.2 million and 2.6 million figures on October 28, SABC reported. Special voters must go to their registered voting station between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. local time on Monday or Tuesday, unless a home visit was approved.\n\nAn IEC official in the Northern Cape told SABC that more than 130,000 people there applied for special votes, up from 90,000 in 2021. \"It's heartening in the sense that you're splitting out your voting days now,\" said Alkin Topkin of the IEC. He said spreading the vote over three days could reduce \"congestion and long queues\" on Wednesday.\n\nThe contest is crowded. The [IEC reported](https://www.elections.org.za/content/About-Us/News/Over-140-000-candidates-submitted-nominations-to-contest-10-500-seats-in-LGE-2026/) that 142,072 candidates were nominated for 10,526 council seats. It said 546 registered parties are contesting, and that the number of candidates is about 43% higher than in 2021. Ipsos said there are 4,488 wards. Under South Africa's mixed system, voters pick a ward councilor and also vote for a party list that fills the remaining council seats in proportion to party support.\n\nCampaigning had to stop at midnight before election day. [The Sowetan reported](https://www.sowetan.co.za/politics/on-the-campaign-trail/2026-11-01-parties-hold-final-rallies-for-votes-as-local-elections-near/) that after that, \"no marches, rallies, demonstrations, public meetings or political events may be held.\"\n\n## What the polls show\n\nTwo pre-election polls were published in the last week of the campaign. They used different methods and should be read side by side rather than averaged.\n\nThe first is the Ipsos Khayabus \"Pulse of the People\" study. [Ipsos](https://www.ipsos.com/en-za/nationally-no-party-commands-strong-majority-support-south-africa-heads-coalition-territory-ahead) interviewed 3,600 randomly selected adults in their homes and home languages from September 12 to October 13. Of these, 2,533 were registered voters. Respondents marked an X on an electronic imitation ballot paper rather than saying their choice aloud. Ipsos says this simulates a secret ballot. The study was carried out by Ipsos itself, and the release does not name an outside sponsor. Ipsos gives a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 1.95 percentage points for registered voters at a 95% confidence level. The margins are much larger for individual metros.\n\nAccording to the national figures reported by [News24](https://www.news24.com/politics/ipsos-poll-predicts-coalitions-for-most-of-sas-metros-20261030-1075), the ANC had 30%, the DA 28%, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK) 12% and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 10%. ActionSA and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) each had 4%, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) 2%. The reported figures for the four largest metros follow.\n\n* Johannesburg: DA 30%, ANC 27%, EFF 12%, ActionSA 11%, MK 4% (margin of error up to 5.89 points)\n* Tshwane: DA 34%, ANC 31%, EFF 8%, ActionSA 8%, Freedom Front Plus 5% (up to 7.8 points)\n* eThekwini: MK 47%, DA 21%, ANC 10%, IFP 8%, EFF 4% (up to 6.42 points)\n* Cape Town: DA 51%, ANC 21%, EFF 10%, PA 4% (up to 5.95 points)\n\nSome of those leads are within the margin of error. In Tshwane, for example, the DA's three-point lead over the ANC is smaller than the maximum margin. Ipsos also said fieldwork took place while MK leader Jacob Zuma was in hospital. It said that \"may have influenced\" how some voters answered, but that it could not measure the effect.\n\nThe second poll comes from the Social Research Foundation (SRF), a think tank, and the publication The Common Sense, which commissioned it together. The fieldwork was done by Victory Research. It interviewed 3,100 registered voters by telephone from September 18 to October 12, using random digit dialing with quotas and weighting. The [published summary](https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/articles/lge-2026-latest-polling) does not give a margin of error or the exact question wording for vote intention. Nationally, it put the ANC at 32%, the DA at 26%, MK at 12% and the EFF at 8%. In Johannesburg it had the DA at 36%, the ANC at 22%, MK at 11% and ActionSA at 9%. In Tshwane it had the DA at 32%, the ANC at 26% and ActionSA at 12%. In eThekwini, MK led with 43%, ahead of the DA at 28%, the ANC at 13% and the IFP at 7%.\n\n```chart\ntype: column\ntitle: South Africa national party support in two pre-election polls, 2026\nnote: Percent of registered voters. Ipsos: 3,600 adults interviewed in their homes, Sept. 12 to Oct. 13 (results for 2,533 registered voters). SRF/The Common Sense: 3,100 registered voters by telephone, Sept. 18 to Oct. 12. The polls used different methods and are not averaged here. Other parties and undecided voters are not shown.\nsuffix: %\nsource: [Ipsos via News24](https://www.news24.com/politics/ipsos-poll-predicts-coalitions-for-most-of-sas-metros-20261030-1075), [The Common Sense](https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/articles/lge-2026-latest-polling)\n---\nParty | Ipsos | SRF/Victory Research\nANC | 30 | 32\nDA | 28 | 26\nMK | 12 | 12\nEFF | 10 | 8\n```\n\nBoth polls point the same way on the big picture. The ANC is narrowly ahead of the DA nationally. The DA leads in Johannesburg and Tshwane, and MK leads in eThekwini. Ipsos also has the DA above half in Cape Town; the SRF summary does not report that city. They differ on the size of some leads. Both pollsters stress that their numbers are not forecasts. Turnout will matter. Ipsos noted that if turnout matches 2021, only about 12.8 million people would vote.\n\nVoters are also unhappy with politics in general. In the Ipsos study, 53% of adults agreed that \"there is no political party that represents my views.\" Among registered voters, 68% agreed that \"politicians can't be trusted.\" In the SRF poll, about nine in ten voters said the country was heading in the wrong direction.\n\n## What the parties said in their final rallies\n\n**ANC.** President Cyril Ramaphosa closed the ANC campaign on Sunday at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in KuGompo City in the Eastern Cape. \"When we say, 'Siyanqoba', we mean that we are winning. But we do not win by proclaiming victory. We only win by working,\" he said, according to the Sowetan. He said the party has a \"clear and credible plan to build better communities.\" He said it draws on \"what we have done well and from what we have done wrong.\" The Sowetan reported that the GNU has set aside R54 billion for service delivery, mainly water and electricity in the eight metros.\n\n**DA.** DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis held his party's final rally in Mamelodi, Tshwane, on Saturday. He asked supporters to \"use this election to make the DA the biggest party in the country. The ANC's decline must become South Africa's recovery,\" according to the Sowetan. [SABC News](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/hill-lewis-urges-s-africans-to-vote-da-to-end-anc-governance-chaos/) reported that he called the vote \"the first step towards a DA-led national government in 2029.\" He led a call-and-response chant of \"stop the chaos\" and \"start delivery.\"\n\n**EFF.** Julius Malema addressed the EFF's final rally at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday. He blamed corruption for failing services. \"Commissars, the collapse of our municipalities is not an accident. It is a business model,\" he said, as reported by [News24](https://www.news24.com/politics/malema-invokes-winnie-madikizela-mandelas-spirit-as-eff-holds-final-election-rally-20261101-0577). He warned against GNU-style coalitions in councils. \"The DA does not have a plan for water, for roads, for housing or for jobs,\" he said. He called privatization the DA's \"only plan.\"\n\n**MK.** Zuma, 84, spoke at the MK Party's final rally in KwaMashu, north of Durban, on Sunday. It was his first rally since he spent 11 days in hospital in October, [News24 reported](https://www.news24.com/politics/i-am-well-says-zuma-at-mkp-final-rally-following-hospitalisation-20261101-0913). \"As you can see me, I am well,\" he told supporters. He attacked the GNU. \"How can you sit with your enemy and call the enemy your brother?\" he said. He also repeated his call to reclaim land: \"We are going to take our grandfathers' land. The land is ours.\"\n\n**IFP.** IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa spoke in Ulundi. \"To everyone who feels disillusioned, to every person who has lost faith in politics, I say this: 'Your disappointment is understandable. But do not let disappointment become surrender,'\" he said, according to News24.\n\n## The case for change led by the center-right\n\nThe DA and ActionSA argue that ANC-run councils have failed and that a change of management is the fastest way to fix water, roads and power. Hill-Lewis framed the choice as one between \"chaos\" and \"delivery,\" and he pointed to the 2029 national election as the larger prize. Supporters of this view point to the DA's long record in Cape Town, where Ipsos shows it with just over half of voter support.\n\nThere is some polling support for parts of that case. In the SRF survey, 49% of voters said they trust private citizens and local businesses more than municipalities to deliver services such as roads, water and refuse collection. That compares with 45% who chose municipalities. In the same poll, 68% said the ANC and DA should govern together where neither has a majority, which suggests many voters want the two largest parties to cooperate rather than fight.\n\nThe DA has also declared far more donations than its rivals this year, as the funding section below shows.\n\n## The case from the left\n\nThe EFF, MK and the ANC each argue, in different ways, that a DA-led turn would not serve poor and Black communities. Malema said the DA's approach amounts to privatization. He said the party wants people \"to buy water, electricity and sanitation the same way they buy data.\" He also rejected DA claims that EFF-backed coalitions bring chaos. \"When there is a black-led coalition in Johannesburg and Tshwane, they call it chaos, but when the DA governs, they call it good governance,\" he said.\n\nZuma argued that the GNU itself is a betrayal and called for land to be reclaimed. Ramaphosa defended the ANC's record while admitting mistakes. The GNU's R54 billion service delivery fund is part of the government's answer. Ipsos noted that the ANC has historically gained support late in campaigns. It said \"it remains to be seen\" whether that happens this year.\n\n## How the arguments hold up\n\nEach side uses a frame that should be read with care. The DA's \"stop the chaos\" message ties every coalition problem to the ANC and its partners. Ipsos said many coalitions formed after 2021 proved unstable, with \"frequent changes in leadership.\" But the slogan does not by itself show which parties caused each collapse. Malema, for his part, said DA critics \"cannot say openly that they do not believe black people can govern.\" That attributes a hidden motive to opponents without evidence. It is a form of argument that answers a criticism by questioning the critic's motives rather than the claim.\n\nBoth sides agree on the underlying problem. The Sowetan reported that parties campaigned on water shortages, crumbling roads and power infrastructure, poor financial controls and corruption. The Sowetan reported that Johannesburg went without water for weeks earlier this year. The dispute is over who should fix it and whether private providers should play a larger role.\n\n## Relations with Washington\n\nThe election is taking place during a sharp downturn in relations with the United States. In a December 2025 article, Secretary of State [Marco Rubio](https://567politics.com/politicians/marco-rubio) [wrote](https://statedept.substack.com/p/america-welcomes-a-new-g20) that President [Donald Trump](https://567politics.com/politicians/donald-trump) would not invite the South African government to take part in the G20 during the U.S. presidency this year. Rubio criticized what he called the \"radical ANC-led South African government.\" He accused it of \"redistributionist policies\" and of tolerating \"violence against its Afrikaner citizens.\" He also criticized its relationship with Iran, which is at the center of [Washington's current dispute with Tehran](https://567politics.com/news/iran-qatar-mediation-vance-letter-november-2026). These are the U.S. government's claims. We have not independently verified them.\n\nThe SRF poll asked about this. It found that 79% of voters said U.S. claims about the oppression of white South Africans make them less likely to support the United States on the world stage. Fifteen percent said such claims make them more likely to support it. Asked whether the GNU should align its foreign policy with the West or with Russia, China and Iran, 47% chose the latter group and 37% chose the West.\n\n## Funding disclosures\n\nSouth Africa does not have a U.S.-style federal election database, so we use the IEC's published party donation declarations under the Political Funding Act, in line with our [methodology](https://567politics.com/methodology). The IEC's [most recent quarterly report](https://www.elections.org.za/pw/News-And-Media/News-List/News/News-Article/Electoral-Commission-Publishes-Political-Party-Donations-for-First-Quarter-of-2026-27-Financial-Year?a=AISDGvpz75ps1usOfX7oii3V0IhhnGNSZrb5Bva49wM%3D), published August 27, covers April 1 to June 30, 2026. Four parties declared a combined R116.8 million in compliant donations. The DA declared R104.0 million, about 89% of the total. Its largest donors were Fynbos Ekwiteit (R30 million) and Fynbos Kapitaal (R25 million). ActionSA declared R5.5 million and RISE Mzansi R2.25 million. A party formed by the mineworkers' union AMCU declared R5 million from the union.\n\nThe IEC said ANC donations worth R15.27 million in the quarter, including R15 million from the Batho Batho Trust, did not meet disclosure requirements. They were left out of the compliant total. The ANC also reported several donations from the previous financial year late, the IEC said. The commission issued the party a formal direction to fix the problems. It stressed that this \"should not be construed as a finding that the underlying donations are unlawful.\" Donations below R200,000 do not have to be disclosed, so these figures are not a full account of any party's funding. This was the latest quarterly report we found.\n\nTrump and Rubio are not candidates in this election. Our federal funding records for them were not available or verified when this article was published, so we report no figures for them.\n\n## What to watch\n\nSpecial votes are cast on Monday and Tuesday, and the main vote is on Wednesday. Polls close at 9 p.m. local time, and results will be released as counting is completed. Key questions include turnout and whether the ANC stays ahead of the DA nationally, as both polls show by small margins. Others are whether MK holds its lead in eThekwini and whether any party wins outright in Johannesburg or Tshwane. If not, councils will move into coalition talks. Ipsos analyst Mari Harris said \"two weeks of intense speculation and uncertainty are likely to follow\" the final results. Readers can see how we handle polls and contested claims in our [editorial standards](https://567politics.com/editorial-standards).","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}