IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya announced the final results of the 2026 Local Government Elections at the National Results Operations Centre at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. The results paint a picture of South Africa’s changing political landscape, with the ANC leading nationally, followed by the DA and uMkhonto weSizwe Party. Meanwhile, 137 municipalities have been identified as hung councils, setting the stage for coalition negotiations.
Following the November 4 local government elections that left 34 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal hung, including the eThekwini Metro, political leaders are signalling an openness to coalition negotiations while setting firm, non-negotiable boundaries for power-sharing.
Recently, ratepayer associations across eThekwini have emphasised that any incoming coalition government must prioritise fiscal discipline, transparent financial management, and urgent service delivery improvements over political survival.
Political parties like ActionSA, the EFF and the IFP advocated structured, written coalition agreements to ensure financial oversight, administrative meritocracy, and business stability. The DA favoured an outright majority to prevent service delivery delays caused by budget negotiations, the MK Party stressed ethical leadership, and the ANC maintained that current cross-party governance in council was already operating smoothly under established leadership.
According to the IEC Results Dashboard, in KZN, 34 municipalities are hung, and 10 are controlled councils. The MK Party led with 34% support, followed by the IFP and the ANC with 20% each, and the DA with 14%.
In eThekwini, support for the MK Party is at 38%, followed by the DA at 25%, the ANC at 16% and the IFP at 6%.
The MK Party and DA remain unwavering on clean administration and accountability, insisting that any coalition agreement must prioritise rooting out corruption, removing incompetent officials, and urgently fixing failing basic services such as water and sewage infrastructure.
MK Party electoral task team KZN convener Willies Mchunu said they are open to discussions with all political parties that are prepared to speak to them. Their national office secretary-general is writing to parties who are not against talking to them.
“We have said we will go into the negotiations with open minds. In which we will be guided by our own need to deliver services to our constituencies, mainly the black communities. So that is what will guide us,” Mchunu said.
“All negotiations will be informed by the attitudes of the other parties, and we will learn from that. We do not go there with any particular conditions. We have a framework that we are talking to.”
He said that for eThekwini, they first want to deal with the administration and ensure proper administration; no corrupt managers, clear systems, clear policies, and clear policies of accountability.
Mchunu cited other issues like infrastructure (water, water delivery services, water delivery systems, electricity systems, sewage systems), and beaches which need to be addressed. Bylaws need to be amended to suit the current state, and local economic development needs to be boosted to ensure the city fosters an investment-friendly environment.
DA KZN leader Sithembiso Ngema said the party is open to negotiations with any political party in eThekwini and other hung municipalities.
He said that upon entering government in eThekwini, priorities will include tackling E. coli, sewage pollution, crime, hijacked buildings, and drugs to clean up the city. Crucially, this means providing reliable tap water by dismantling the water tanker mafias that manipulate valve supplies to force dispatches. Similarly, in other hung municipalities, they would do the same; the party would deploy its governance team to audit, assess, and fix municipal problems.
“We will go into coalition with organisations that are saying: deal with the issue of corruption within the municipalities, deal with the incompetent staff within the municipalities, provide services to our people, provide water, provide electricity,” Ngema said.
“Those who are found to be the engineers of corruption, send them to Westville (Prison), give them an orange uniform because that’s where they belong.”
Ngema stated that even if the party remains on the opposition benches, it will continue holding the government accountable to its core responsibilities: providing safe communities, clean water, and equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of race, colour, or gender.
University of KwaZulu-Natal-based political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu noted similarities between recent local government and 2024 national elections, highlighting that while the MK Party won the most wards across KZN municipalities, the performances of the IFP and DA stood out, compared to 2024.
He said coalition formations in eThekwini and other municipalities will mirror the patterns seen in 2024.
“It appears that the ANC and the DA are going to work together in most municipalities and try to muscle out the MK Party, which happens to have won more votes,” Ndlovu said.
“It’s going to be interesting to see which smaller parties will be co-opted to work with these three parties, the ANC, DA, and the IFP. I suspect that ActionSA could partner with these three political parties.”
Ndlovu added that the South African Communist Party (SACP), traditionally an ANC ally, contested elections for the first time, making its potential role in eThekwini coalition formations, alongside smaller parties, a key development to watch.