ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES | 'Don't try to organise an election of this size in 42 days': IEC

IEC's free advice: 'Don't try to organise an election of this size in 42 days'

The IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo on Wednesday night said the November 1 elections were the most difficult the commission had ever had to organise.

November 03 2021 - 21:47

Cape Town mayor-elect Hill-Lewis thanks voters, vows to earn their faith

Cape Town mayor-elect Geordin Hill-Lewis has thanked Capetonians for giving the DA another mandate to govern the city, promising to earn the faith that voters have shown the party in the polls.

November 03 2021 - 20:19

Ramaphosa to visit IEC results centre on Thursday 'in his capacity as president'

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit the IEC's national results centre on Thursday evening, signalling his return to focusing on state matters after a month-long election campaign.

November 03 2021 - 19:55

Losing candidate disrupts WC results announcement, brings proceedings to an abrupt end

The instability of coalition governments and the endless change of mayors as seen in Tshwane, Joburg and Nelson Mandela Metro in the past five years is a good thing.

November 03 2021 - 19:44

LISTEN | DA’s Steenhuisen confident party will retain grip on Cape Town

DA leader John Steenhuisen told journalists on Wednesday that early predictions showed the party would again govern Cape Town.

November 03 2021 - 19:18

LISTEN | 'I don’t want to go into unstable coalitions': John Steenhuisen outlines coalition negotiation plans

As political parties begin to consolidate their grip on various municipalities, one thing that DA leader John Steenhuisen said he does not want to do “is to form unstable coalitions”.

November 03 2021 - 19:14

ANC could lose full control of all Gauteng's nine municipalities

The ANC in Gauteng finds itself in even deeper trouble as IEC results show it has so far failed to secure an outright win in any of the province's councils.

Gauteng has three metros, and six local and two district municipalities.

So far the story of this year's local government elections has been about the party's failure to win back outright majorities in the three metros of Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. By Wednesday afternoon, all three councils were hung.

November 03 2021 - 19:04

'We are not desperate,' says ANC as it prepares to enter coalition talks

The ANC said on Wednesday it was not desperate to form governments of coalition in several municipalities across the country after it failed to win them with an outright majority.

The party has maintained that despite a poor showing in the local government elections, it will not be going into coalition negotiations from a position of weakness.

The ANC dipped below the 50% mark nationally in the election and is heading towards losing several of its municipalities.

November 03 2021 - 16:45

Losing candidate disrupts WC results announcement, brings proceedings to an abrupt end

Cape Town mayor-elect Geordin Hill-Lewis had his thunder stolen by a ranting former Cape Town councillor who disrupted the IEC's final press briefing, bringing to an abrupt end the proceedings on Wednesday afternoon.

Democratic Independent leader Anwar Adams, a former PAC councillor, arrived as IEC provincial head Michael Hendrickse was briefing journalists on the Western Cape final results and accused the IEC, Icasa and the media of bias.

Adams also directed his anger at Hendrickse, calling him “a puppet”.

November 03 2021 - 15:40

'We will not tolerate corruption': IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa on coalitions in KZN

Ready to govern is slowly becoming ready to co-govern in many municipalities across KwaZulu-Natal as political parties prepare themselves for the reality of coalition governance.

The IFP, according to its leader Velenkosini Hlabisa, is projecting victory in at least 22 municipalities in the province, and while the picture of the distribution of votes across the province is slowly becoming clearer, coalitions may be the future.

“Generally we are open but there are key issues like a party that promotes racism, under no circumstances will we work together,” said Hlabisa. “A party that would want us to compromise our stance when it comes to corruption, we would rather break that coalition, we are not going to tolerate anything that is corrupt. Even if we are in a coalition we will not condone that,” said Hlabisa.

November 03 2021 - 15:30

WATCH: Steenhusisen explains how the party's coalition team and federal executive will approach possible partnerships

November 3 — 14:33

IFP open to coalitions but with conditions: Velenkosini Hlabisa 

November 3 — 14:11

IEC numbers show ANC battling to win outright majority in major metros

The ANC looks set to lose outright control in almost all metro municipalities in the country after Monday’s local government elections. The Electoral Commission is yet to finalise results, but trends show the ANC may only be guaranteed an outright majority in two metros: Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape and Mangaung in the Free State.

These trends seem to confirm an earlier prediction by the CSIR, which placed the ANC below 50% in most metros except Buffalo City and Mangaung. If the current trend continues it would also mean the ANC performed worse than it did in the 2016 local government elections, when it managed to win eThekwini outright but had to cobble together a coalition to govern Ekurhuleni.

November 3 — 13:45

Politicians on coalition possibilities

Coalition is the buzzword for the 2021 local government elections as political parties fail to win outright majorities in at least 36 municipalities.

Political ideology and shared interests will be a big deciding factor in who agrees to combine forces over the next five years.

November 3 — 13:41

ATM is growing, with 12 seats won so far: Manyi

November 3 — 13:22

‘Anyone but the ANC’: ActionSA on coalition talks

The City of Johannesburg is likely to have a coalition government that will exclude the ANC — if ActionSA has its way. On Tuesday night the party held its senate meeting on coalitions, where it was decided they should consult with their voters — in a similar fashion to that of the Political Dialogues — to get a mandate on which party they should get into bed with.

TimesLIVE understands that when these consultations take place, ActionSA will tell its voters they should pick “anyone but the ANC”.

November 3 — 13:15

Voters ‘overwhelmingly confident’ of free and fair election: HSRC survey

The Human Sciences Research Council has attributed the lower voter turnout in the elections to a decline of trust in democracy, according to surveys it conducted over the past two decades. 

The voter turnout in these elections is estimated at about 47%. But those who did cast their ballots told the HSRC they were confident the elections were free and fair. 

November 3 — 13:13

DA celebrates in uMngeni

November 3 — 12:53

Helen Zille speaks about being dragged out of voting station

A video of DA federal council chair Helen Zille being hauled out of a voting station by a police officer in Bethelsdorp, Nelson Mandela Bay, went viral on Monday as millions of South Africans were casting their votes.

The ANC accused her of canvassing for votes, saying she was “treated like the criminal she is”, but Zille maintained she was merely greeting voters and encouraging them not to be deterred by the long queue.

Listen as Zille and the ANC’s Luyolo Nqakula speak on this incident in this week’s episode of Behind The Herald Headlines with Daron Mann.

November 3 — 12:42

Decline of ANC & DA due to arrogance, ignoring feedback: Eusebius

November 3 — 12:23

ANC vs DA results so far in Gauteng metros

November 3 — 12:04

Phumzile Van Damme is enjoying watching election results as an ordinary member of the public

Former DA MP Phumzile Van Damme has reflected on her exit from politics, saying she is enjoying watching the results of the local government elections trickle in as a non-partisan and ordinary member of society. 

Van Damme said she was looking forward to seeing “disruption” and change in the political arena.

November 3 — 11:26

ANC leading in North West

November 3 — 11:06

IFP made KZN gains ‘because ANC wouldn’t stop its infighting’

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said it had expected to drop its electoral share in districts where the IFP was leading on Tuesday afternoon. In fact, the party said it had issued several warnings and tried to intervene in the poor governance of those councils.

This is according to ANC KZN spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela, who attributed the ANC’s poor showing to the neglect of communities by party deployees whose focus had been on infighting.

“This is something the ANC articulated to comrades, that if we don’t turn the corner in those areas, we are going to have a problem,” Ntombela said.

November 3 — 11:02

ActionSA won't be distracted by 'barking dogs': Mashaba

November 3 — 10:59

Duduzile Zuma slams Ramaphosa visit to Eswatini: ‘ANC isn't doing well and he left the country’

Former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, has again taken aim at President Cyril Ramaphosa, after his departure to Eswatini amid vote counting for the local elections.

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa undertook a working visit to Eswatini for deliberations on political and security developments in the kingdom. According to the presidency, Ramaphosa would have an audience with King Mswati III.

November 3 — 10:54

Political parties in good spirits at provincial results centre in Cape Town

November 3 — 10:40

Several politicians express gratitude as election results come in

As voting results continue to trickle in, several politicians have expressed their gratitude to voters. According to the Electoral Commission (IEC), 58% of the 64,504 results expected had been finalised by Wednesday morning. Of the 213 councils, 110 have not yet been counted. 

Here is what politicians had to say:

November 3 — 10:27

HSRC preliminary report on election satisfaction survey

November 3 — 10:23

John Steenhuisen wants the IEC to account for ‘glitches’ during elections

DA leader John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday the Electoral Commission should be held accountable for all the glitches experienced during the local government elections on Monday.

He said the party identified 151 voting stations across SA that experienced glitches with their voter management devices (VMDs), with voters turned back “in significant numbers” while some discouraged people decided not to vote. 

“Those people have been horribly disenfranchised. We’re busy running the numbers so we can come up with a quantum of what the IEC’s and the state’s inefficiencies cost us in terms of votes. We would use that as a basis for any potential complaint,” he said.

November 3 — 10:20

Overnight results show further ANC decline, even in traditional strongholds

ANC leaders would have woken up on Wednesday morning deeply concerned about the state of play in the country’s metropolitan councils — even those considered strongholds. More votes are coming in and patterns are starting to emerge in SA’s big cities — patterns that show a very high likelihood of coalitions in at least half, and as many as two-thirds, of the metros. 

Exactly who are the big winners and losers will be revealed when the IEC releases the official results on Thursday, but it is looking increasingly clear that the ANC has been this election’s big loser. However, the opposition has seemingly been unable to truly capitalise in the metros, where it is almost certain the leading party will fail to get the 50% vote they need to rule outright. Coalitions will be the order of the day in as many as two-thirds of the country’s metros.

November 3 — 10:04

ANC losses by metro over the last 10 years

November 3 — 09:00

Statement from IEC on results capturing

November 2 — 08:45

DA will retain Tshwane, says confident executive mayor Randall Williams

Tshwane’s executive mayor Randall Williams cut a confident figure at the Electoral Commission of SA’s national results operation centre in Pretoria on Monday. He is so buoyant in his belief that no party will dislodge the DA from governing the highly contested Tshwane metro that he cannot wait for the elections to end, so that he can go back and resume implementing the plans he started when he took over in November last year.

During the local government election campaign, several parties were eying Tshwane, which the ANC lost to the DA in 2016 by a small margin. The DA received 43.15% of the votes while the ANC got 41.25%.

November 3 — 08:01

Ntabeni family race: A clear front-runner as votes are counted

Of the four Ntabeni family members standing for ward 10 in Matatiele in the local government elections, ANC candidate Siphamandla Ntabeni is leading with 73.08% of the vote counted by Tuesday.

The IEC said he was followed by AIC candidate Luyolo Ntabeni with 6.29%, EFF candidate Loyiso Ntabeni with 5.56% and independent candidate Vuyani Ntabeni recording 4.33%, the Daily Dispatch reported.

November 3 — 07:20

Kingmakers and crucial cogs: coalitions beckon for most metros

Coalitions, coalitions everywhere. This is the situation emerging in SA’s metropolitan municipalities, particularly in Gauteng, where it is increasingly likely that residents will be governed by parties that have, leading up to Monday’s election and beyond, been at each other’s throats.

But now, as the dust settles on a vote with an apparent historic low turnout, they will have to find a way to work with each other.

November 3 — 07:13

We hope this is not part of 'stop the count' panic: Floyd Shivambu on Eskom troubles

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu slammed the announcement by Eskom about its system being under severe pressure, saying the party hopes the power cuts are not part of the “stop the count panic” as results from the local government elections stream in.

He said all results operation centres must have backup generators to prevent any disruptions in the vote-counting process. 

Shivambu’s insinuation that the power utility was part of the “stop the count” panic was met with mixed response.

November 3 — 07:05

Keep an eye on the results as they come in here

November 3 — 06:55

ANC at 40% in eThekwini

November 3 — 06:29

You didn’t vote? The lack of your X could make SA an ex-democracy

November 3 — 06:22

A taste of things to come? Analysts say election results 'the beginning of the end' for ANC

Voter apathy has dealt the ANC a deadly blow in the recent local government elections — and many experts believe it could be a precursor to the party's future fortunes. The ANC was already reeling from a poor performance in the 2016 local government vote, but it appears to be even worse this time around, according to experts and based on results counted by the end of Tuesday evening. 

What has worsened the ANC’s misfortunes are new kid on the block ActionSA, along with the DA proving to be resilient, despite a controversial election campaign. The EFF has also grown in key areas, as has the Freedom Front Plus.

While the ANC in 2016 mainly lost in Gauteng and in the Nelson Mandela Bay metros, it now appears set to get a bloodied nose in its traditional strong bases, including in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

November 3 2021 — 06:13

Welcome to our rolling coverage of the 2021 local government elections for Wednesday. To view the previous days' live updates, please see the links below: