On Wednesday 4 November about 29.2 million registered voters can choose the councils that run South Africa’s towns and cities, according to the IEC figure reported by Sowetan. Local government is where water, electricity distribution, refuse, roads and rates live. It is also the election people understand least. Here is how it works.
Three kinds of council
The IEC lists three categories of municipal council, each elected for five years:
- Metropolitan councils (Category A): 8, the big cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, eThekwini and Tshwane.
- Local councils (Category B): 206 towns and rural municipalities.
- District councils (Category C): 44, which group local councils together and handle some shared functions.
If you live in a metro, you have one council. If you live anywhere else, you have a local council and a district council above it.
Two ballots or three
According to the IEC’s guide to voting:
- In a metro you get two ballots: one to elect your ward councillor, and one for a political party on the proportional representation (PR) list.
- Outside the metros you get three: a ward ballot, a PR ballot for your local council, and a PR ballot for the district council.
On the ward ballot you vote for a person. Independent candidates can stand here as well as party candidates. On the PR ballots you vote only for a party. Independents cannot contest PR seats.
Make one clear mark on each ballot. If you spoil one, ask an official for a new one. And no selfies with your marked ballot: the IEC does not allow you to photograph it.
How the seats are shared
This is the part that confuses people, so take it slowly. The IEC’s voter education presentation on seat calculation, prepared for the 2021 elections and based on the Municipal Structures Act, sets it out like this:
- Half the seats are wards. In metro and local councils, seats are split equally between ward councillors and PR councillors. If the number is odd, there is one more ward seat.
- Wards are first past the post. Whoever gets the most votes in the ward wins it. No majority needed.
- Overall seats are proportional. The IEC adds up each party’s ward and PR votes across the municipality and uses a quota to work out each party’s total share of council seats. Seats won by independents are set aside first.
- PR tops up. A party’s PR seats are its total share minus the wards it won. A party that wins many wards gets fewer PR seats, and a party that wins few wards is topped up from its list.
The practical upshot: your ward vote counts twice. It picks your local councillor, and it also counts towards your party’s overall share of the council.
For district councils, 40% of seats are directly elected on the third ballot. The other 60% are appointed by the local councils in that district.
You do not vote for the mayor
This is the big one. South Africans do not elect mayors directly. As Explain.co.za puts it, you vote for the people who will choose the mayor. A mayoral candidate has to win a council seat first, and then win enough councillor votes.
Daily Maverick sets out the timeline:
- Counting starts at each voting station when it closes.
- The IEC has seven days to formally declare the result.
- From declaration, councils have 14 calendar days to be established.
- The municipal manager calls the first meeting. A majority of councillors must be present.
- Councillors first elect a speaker. With one nominee, that person is elected. With more than one, there is a secret ballot.
- The speaker then presides over the election of the executive mayor, who appoints a mayoral committee.
If there are more than two mayoral candidates and nobody wins a majority, Explain.co.za notes, the candidate with the fewest votes drops out and voting continues until someone has a majority of votes cast.
Why coalitions decide so much
Where no party has more than half the seats, parties must make deals. That is where small parties become kingmakers. Explain.co.za points to Johannesburg in 2023, when Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad became mayor with his party holding three seats in a 270-seat council.
Mayors can also be removed by council vote without a new election. That is an accountability tool. It is also why some cities have had a revolving door of leaders.
A Municipal Structures Amendment Bill to regulate coalitions was introduced in August 2026, but it is not law and does not apply to this election.
If a council cannot be formed at all, Daily Maverick explains, the provincial local government MEC can intervene under section 139 of the Constitution and, as a last resort, dissolve the council, which triggers fresh elections.
Before you go
- Vote only at the station where you are registered.
- Bring a smart ID card, green barcoded ID book or temporary identity certificate.
- Polls open 07:00 to 21:00 on Wednesday.
- Check your station on WhatsApp at 0600 88 0000, by SMS to 32810, or on 0800 11 8000.
Two or three crosses. One council. Then 14 days to see who your councillors decide to work with. Watch that part as closely as the results.