The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has published the names of councillors elected in the 2026 local government elections in the government gazette. This step starts preparations for the first sittings of municipal councils, the Commission said.
IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya told the media in Pretoria on Friday that municipal managers must call the first council meeting within 14 days. The clock starts once 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.
Moepya said the list also sets the date from which councillors hold office. “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),” he said. He added that the list allows district councils to start their own preparations.
According to the Commission, results were announced on Sunday, 8 November. Some steps had to be finished before the names could be published. Parties that won more seats than the candidates they had listed were told about the shortfall.
Parties and independent candidates who won more than one seat were asked to choose which seat to take. They had until Wednesday, 11 November, to respond. The Commission said this was not a chance to change candidate lists or replace nominees.
A party that did not provide enough names could lose seats if this stopped a council from forming a quorum, the IEC said.
The Commission said five ward by-elections will follow. Two are needed because councillors who won more than one ward were moved. These are Ward 12 in Johannes Phumani Pungula Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and Ward 13 in Dihlabeng Municipality in the Free State.
Three more by-elections are due after ward councillors died. They are Ward 16 in Raymond Mhlaba in the Eastern Cape, Ward 12 in Merafong in Gauteng and Ward 17 in uMlalazi in KwaZulu-Natal.
Four ward races ended in a tie and were decided by drawing lots. The ANC won Ward 7 in Mnquma in the Eastern Cape and Ward 5 in Ba-Phalaborwa in Limpopo. The African Content Movement won Ward 14 in Maluti-a-Phofung in the Free State. The South African Communist Party won Ward 17 in Steve Tshwete in Mpumalanga.
The IEC said there are 10 526 seats across the 2026 elections. Local councils have 8 825 seats, made up of 4 485 ward seats and 4 340 proportional representation seats. District councils have 1 701 seats.
Women make up 33.6% of declared councillors, according to the Commission. The average councillor is 47.3 years old, and those under 35 make up 10.8%.
By noon on Friday, the IEC had received 1 708 submissions, and 433 of them counted as formal objections. Of the 252 objections finalised, three were upheld and 249 were rejected.
The Commission also said the Electoral Court barred a Ngcobo Municipality candidate who pretended to be an IEC staff member from holding councillor office for five years. The candidate’s accomplice was fined R100 000, suspended for three years.
The published list leaves out councillors for Siyancuma Municipality in the Northern Cape. A revote will be held in a voting district in Ward 3, with special voting on 17 November and general voting on 18 November.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.