The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has gazetted the names of councillors elected in the 2026 Local Government Elections -- a step that triggers preparations for the first sittings of municipal councils.
Addressing the media in Pretoria on Friday, IEC Chairperson Mosotho Moepya, said municipal managers must convene the first meeting of their councils within 14 days after councillors are declared elected.
“The publication of the list of councillors today, 13 November 2026, will enable planning for the inaugural sittings of the municipal councils,” Moepya said.
The Commission said the publication follows the announcement of election results on Sunday, 8 November, and the completion of processes required before elected councillors’ names could be gazetted.
These included notifying parties that had nominated fewer proportional representation (PR) candidates than the number of seats they won, and asking parties or independent candidates to choose between multiple seats to which they are entitled.
Parties had until Wednesday, 11 November, to make up candidate-list shortfalls or indicate which seat a candidate would take.
The Commission said this was not an opportunity to change candidate lists or replace nominees.
A party that failed to provide enough names could forfeit seats if the shortfall made it impossible for a municipal council to form a quorum.
Five ward by-elections will be scheduled after the elections. Two are now required after parties redesignated councillors who won more than one ward seat -- Ward 12 in Johannes Phumani Pungula Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and Ward 13 in Dihlabeng Municipality in the Free State.
Three further by-elections follow the deaths of ward councillors -- Ward 16 in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in the Eastern Cape, Ward 12 in Merafong Municipality in Gauteng and Ward 17 in uMlalazi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
Four ward contests were decided by lot after candidates received an equal number of votes. The winning parties were the African National Congress in Ward 7 of Mnquma Municipality in the Eastern Cape and Ward 5 of Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality in Limpopo; the African Content Movement in Ward 14 of Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality in the Free State, and the South African Communist Party in Ward 17 of Steve Tshwete Municipality in Mpumalanga.
There are 10 526 seats available across the 2026 elections. These comprise 8 825 local council seats, 4 485 ward seats and 4 340 PR seats, and 1 701 district council seats. Of the district seats, 707 are directly elected and 994 will be filled by representatives elected from local councils.
Women make up 33.6% of declared councillors, including 39.7% of PR councillors and 26.8% of ward councillors. The average age of councillors is 47.3 years. Councillors under 35 account for 10.8% of the total.
Objections
The Commission also provided an update on objections under section 65 of the Municipal Structures Act.
By noon on Friday, it had received 1 708 submissions, of which 433 were deemed to be section 65 objections. Of those, 252 had been finalised, three were upheld and 249 rejected. The decisions involved 12 recounts and seven edit windows, in addition to a revote in the Northern Cape scheduled for next week.
The Commission said the gazetted list excludes councillors for Siyancuma Municipality in the Northern Cape. The seat calculation and assignment there will be completed after a revote in a voting district in Ward 3. Special voting is scheduled for 17 November and voting for 18 November.
Moepya said the published list has several consequences, including establishing the effective date of councillors’ election and enabling district council preparations.
“The first is that the representatives are deemed to have been elected as councillors with effect from 8 November 2026 (the date of the result announcement),” Moepya said.
The Commission also reported a judgment in the Ngcobo Municipality impersonation matter. The Electoral Court barred the candidate who impersonated an IEC staff member from holding councillor office for the five-year term of councils elected on 4 November. The candidate’s accomplice was fined R100 000, suspended for three years. – SAnews.gov.za
