ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES | ANC slipping below 50%

November 02 2021 - 22:42

You will not get load-shed if you live in an area with an IEC results centre

The IEC has reached an agreement with Eskom to hold back on load-shedding in areas where election results centres are situated.

This was revealed by IEC boss Sy Mamabolo during a press briefing at the national results centre in Tshwane on Tuesday night.

The electoral commission will be hoping that their agreement with Eskom will debunk claims by EFF leader Julius Malema that load-shedding was meant to enable vote-rigging in favour of the ANC.

November 02 2021 - 21:39

DA claims historic KZN council victory

If you want hope you have got to change and if you want change you have to use the ballot — and the residents of uMngeni have demonstrated that they want change, hope and they want a party that gets things done.

This was the reaction of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal after the news that they had claimed a historic win with an outright victory for the first time in a KZN municipality.

Residents of uMngeni municipality in the KZN Midlands — which includes Hilton, Merrivale, Howick and Mpophomeni — elected the DA to govern.

October 02 2021 - 21:32

LISTEN | DA will retain Tshwane, says confident executive mayor Randall Williams

Tshwane’s executive mayor Randall Williams cut a confident figure at the Electoral Commission's national results operation centre in Pretoria on Monday.

He is 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.

November 02 2021 - 21:29

ANC emerging as the biggest loser in KZN — but it is still early days

If the ANC ever felt invincible, the people of KwaZulu-Natal are showing the party that it is not too powerful to be booted out of power.

While final election results are not due to be released until Thursday, the ANC is emerging as the biggest loser, with more losses suffered than any other party in Monday’s local government elections.

As election results began trickling in on Tuesday, the IFP was steadily regaining lost ground in former strongholds it lost in 2011 due to the breakaway that resulted in the NFP.

November 02 2021 - 21:20

Voters undecided: IEC announces 12 hung councils in the Western Cape

Only three of the Western Cape's 15 municipalities whose results were finalised by 5pm on Tuesday had outright majorities.

For the remainder [12], the councils were hung.

“We have three municipalities that have an outright majority — Berg River, Swartland and Hessequa,” said IEC provincial head Michael Hendrickse just after 5pm on Tuesday.

November 02 2021 - 21:18

LISTEN | ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba excited by his party’s performance, but unenthralled by the IEC

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba believes his new political party is doing well in its first electoral race.

November 02 2021 - 21:12

November 02 2021 - 18:45

ANC retains Lesedi in Gauteng with just over half of the votes

The ANC has retained the Lesedi municipality after it received 50.43% of the votes in Monday’s local government elections.

This is the first municipality in Gauteng whose results have been fully counted and processed.

The result means the ANC will get 13 council seats, the opposition DA will be allocated five and the EFF will get four seats.

November 02 2021 - 18:26

‘It was a difficult election’: ANC admits challenges as it looks into coalitions

ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula has conceded the party does not appear set for a clean sweep in all municipalities, citing time constraints, internal battles and grievances about candidate selection.

Speaking to TimesLIVE on Tuesday at the national results centre in Pretoria, Mbalula said despite declining electoral support which has put the ANC below 50% in the country’s widely contested metros, they were happy with the numbers because it could have been worse.

“We love what we see on the screen for the ANC,” said Mbalula, referring to the results on display at the Electoral Commission (IEC) results centre.

November 02 2021 - 17:57

KZN had a 36% voter turnout, says IEC as counting is completed

KwaZulu-Natal recorded a 36% voter turnout in Monday’s local government elections.

The Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Tuesday that counting at voting stations had been completed and officials have started capturing and auditing the results.

“There are 13,943 results the commission is expecting, including all wards, local municipalities and district municipalities.

November 02 2021 - 17:54

ANC introduces performance contracts for incoming councillors

New ANC councillors will be expected to enter into performance contracts with the party.

They will be required to undergo lifestyle audits, performance evaluations and face removal by the national executive committee (NEC) for non-performance.

TimesLIVE can reveal that at its special extended national working committee (NWC) meeting, which has been scheduled for Friday, the ANC’s top leadership will discuss the adoption of “contracts of deployment for ANC local government councillors” — a first for its public representatives.

November 02 2021 - 17:17

LISTEN | The blame game — who should be held responsible for the low voter turnout?

The National Results Operations Centre (ROC) is hard at work counting, but unfortunately there are not as many votes to count as were expected.

Paul Berkowitz, director of The Third Republic, said this year’s voter turnout is likely to be the lowest SA has seen since its first democratic elections.

November 02 2021 - 16:56

IEC says it’s not to blame for poor voter turnout, set to release final results on Thursday

The Electoral Commission (IEC) says it is not responsible for the poor voter turnout in the 2021 local government elections, saying it predicted this three months ago.

The turnout is estimated at 47%, the lowest since 1994.

Providing an update from the national results centre in Pretoria on Tuesday, the commission condemned attacks levelled against it.

November 02 2021 - 15:59

POLL | Are you surprised by the voter turnout at this year’s elections?

As election results continue to trickle in, early indicators suggest this year’s local government elections might have seen a record low voter turnout.

On Monday, millions of South Africans went to the polls to cast their votes. However, the number of those who turned up was a fraction of  those who had registered to vote.

According to a Bloomberg report, less than half of the 26.2-million registered voters showed up at the polls this year.

November 02 2021 - 15:38

CSIR predicts losses for the ANC in most major metros

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is predicting a poor election performance by the ANC in most major metros.

A report by the CSIR into metros around the country shows the ANC is winning outright in two metros only, Buffalo City and Mangaung.

In Gauteng, the ANC is failing to claw back its power in all three metros. The report shows the party getting 36.1% on the proportional representation (PR) ballot in Johannesburg.

November 02 2021 - 15:27

Steenhuisen elated about Kouga outright win, mum on his future in the DA as numbers drop

The DA is elated to have retained the Kouga municipality in the Eastern Cape with a majority win in the 2021 municipal elections, party leader John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday. 

This means the DA will run the municipality for the next five years. Steenhuisen said the win was a huge vote of confidence.  

However, the party’s numbers in several widely contested metros, including Tshwane and Johannesburg, appear to be on the decline.

November 2 — 14:55

Fewer than half of registered voters showed up at the polls

Initial results from Monday’s municipal polls suggest the ANC will garner 46.6% of the vote, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said in a forecast posted on its website.

That would be its lowest share since SA’s first multiracial elections a quarter of a century ago, and compares with 54% in the last local government elections (LGE) in 2016.

The weak turnout is “an urgent call for the acceleration of reform”, said Razia Khan, head of research for Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered Plc.

November 2 — 14:52

Eskom announces stage 2 load-shedding from 4pm

November 2 — 14:30

DA retains Kouga municipality in Eastern Cape

November 2 — 14:11

ANC ahead in KwaZulu-Natal

November 2 — 13:52

Only one can be a winner: Family foursome contest same ward

Irrespective of who wins the local government elections in Matatiele’s ward 10, an Eastern Cape family will emerge victorious, as any of its four “sons” is set to take over the ward.

In an unprecedented move, politics pitted the Ntabenis against each other in SA’s local government elections on November 1, with any of them guaranteed a council seat.

The foursome — two blood brothers and the other two their cousins — represented different political parties in a ward currently led by the ANC.

November 2 — 13:45

‘We regret that — it ought not to happen’: IEC on ballot paper shortages

The IEC has come under fire as a result of ballot paper shortages that prevented scores of people from casting votes in the 2021 municipal elections which saw a low turnout of voters. Providing an update from the national results centre in Pretoria on Tuesday, the commission was unable to explain the ballot paper blunder but shifted the blame to distribution chains.

The commission’s Sy Mamabolo said: “We had provided sufficient ballots and therefore there shouldn’t have been a shortage. There is no reason there should have been one because sufficient ballots were printed at 100% across the country.

“What we do regret is that in the distribution chains, our officials made a decision about how much to take to the voting stations. And in making those decisions, it resulted in the shortages. We regret that. It ought not to happen because it has created undue frustration on the side of voters.”

November 2 — 13:28

Two short videos with a very happy Herman Mashaba

November 2 — 13:10

ANC slipping below 50%

Early results from South Africa's local government elections on Tuesday gave the ruling ANC 46% of the vote, with results in from just over a quarter of polling stations nationwide. At the last municipal polls in 2016 the party got around 54% of the vote. – Reuters

November 2 — 12:40

DA picking up wards in KZN

The ward in which Duduzane Zuma kicked off his presidential bid has fallen to the DA. Voters in Newlands East in the eThekwini metro have elected a DA candidate. 

The DA has also for the first time won the ward in which the Durban beachfront falls under, ward 26. The DA won the ward by one vote.

The party also managed to take away from the ANC ward 52 in Phoenix, ward 71 in Shallcross, ward 90 in Isipingo and ward 110, which is made up of Sunningdale and Mount Moriah. — Zimasa Matiwane

November 2 — 12:16

Plans in place to minimise impact of load-shedding: IEC

The Electoral Commission reports that as at 10.30am this morning, 27% of the 64,502 results expected had been finalised. This status is in line with expected result capturing process. It is estimated that 90% of results would be finalised by evening. The balance of 10% would take another 24 hours to complete.

The IEC noted the announcement by Eskom that the national electricity grid is under severe pressure and there may be a need to load-shed in the course of the day.

"Discussions are under way to insulate capturing sites in order minimise the impact on the results collation process. The national results operations centre does have generators which will be used in the event load-shedding affects the Pretoria West area," it said.

November 2 — 11:46

‘Not a paid post. I believe in the EFF’: Ntando Duma makes her stance clear

After campaigning for weeks with EFF leader Julius Malema and the rest of the squad, actress Ntando Duma has reflected on the journey and expressed her hope that people have heard what they EFF has to offer — an ideal she has made clear she believes in.

Despite having been met with negative feedback from some of her fans after making her political colours clear, Ntando has stuck by her guns by proudly showing her support for the EFF. In preparation for the local government elections, Ntando travelled from province to province as one of the people chosen to help the EFF win votes.

Taking to her Instagram on the day South Africans cast their votes, Ntando penned a heartfelt letter detailing what it meant to her to be part of the EFF team.

November 2 – 11:34

The future is independent, says Maimane

November 2 – 11:13

ActionSA celebrates strong showing in early results

November 2 — 10:31

IEC members ambushed in Mpumalanga after elections, votes secure

Members of the Electoral Commission were ambushed by unknown men in Mpumalanga on Monday night. According to the IEC, the officials were at Plaatjie Primary School in ward 24 in Bushbuckridge when they were ambushed.

The officials managed to flee the scene but their equipment and ballot papers remained in the car, which was abandoned.

November 2 — 10:14

‘Confident’ Malema says EFF will win elections with 65% of the vote

The EFF will receive 65% of the votes when the results of the local government elections are announced. This is according to the party’s leader Julius Malema, who said he was confident in the work put in by the party during its campaign across the country.

Malema, who spoke after casting his vote at Mponegele Primary School in Limpopo on Monday, said victory was imminent for the party and the youth vote could be decisive: “We are going to get 65% in Polokwane and the whole of SA. We are aiming for a decisive victory and we have done everything humanly possible and have been to all corners of SA.”

November 2 — 09:57

Very early days, but this is how SA’s metros are taking shape

It’s still early days as the vote counting starts after Monday’s local government elections. There is a long way to go, and the final picture of the big winners and losers will only be known down the line. At this stage, the situation is changing rapidly.

Nonetheless, it is worth having a look at the situation in the country’s metro municipalities.

November 2 — 09:35

Election officials escape late-night 'ambush' in Bushbuckridge

November 2 — 08:50

Praying for a saviour in remote Matebeleng village

Community members of  Matebeleng — a remote village next to the N1 highway en route to Polokwane — say it is only God who can redeem their forgotten and forsaken village which has been without basic services for decades.

TimesLIVE visited the village on Monday afternoon as South Africans cast their votes in the local government elections. Matebeleng has no proper housing, no electricity, no roads, no public transport and only acquired water tanks at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Residents are clinging to the hope that these elections might bring about some change.

November 2 — 08:05

From ‘criminal conduct’ to ballot shortages: here’s how the elections went

More than 8-million citizens voted in the municipal elections at over 23,000 voting stations. 

The IEC said on Monday it was satisfied with the overall running of the local government elections, despite incidents of criminality and protest action in some parts of the country.

IEC chair Glen Mashinini and national senior manager for electoral operations Granville Abrahams were among the officials who held media briefings throughout the day about the progress of the elections. Here’s a wrap of how it all went:

November 2 — 08:00

What you said about the ANC promising to fix load-shedding if it wins

Many TimesLIVE readers have shared their thoughts on ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement that Eskom’s load-shedding may not be dealt with if people don’t vote for the party. 

On social media, meanwhile, many echoed each other’s words, saying Ramaphosa’s statement was not convincing enough to vote for the ANC. 

November 2 — 07:39

Keep an eye on the results as they come in here

November 1 — 7:34

Reasons for low voter turnout: Eusebius

November 2 — 06:59

Early results from the Northern Cape

November 2 — 06:47

ActionSA 'cutting the ANC almost in half' in Soweto

November 2 — 06:36

Vote counting gets under way in Nelson Mandela Bay

November 2 — 06:27

First results announced in Eastern Cape

November 2 — 06:25

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

• November 1: Voting stations officially closed across SA
• October 31: Last day for special voters to cast their ballot
• October 30: Your vote is your voice, what will it say on election day?