MK Party Moses Mabhida regional coordinator Promise “MaPro” Sithole speaks to IOL at the party’s offices at Arbor Arch in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday, as the party celebrates its early gains in the 2026 Local Government Elections.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has taken an early lead in KwaZulu-Natal’s 2026 Local Government Elections, with the party also claiming significant gains across several municipalities in the uMgungundlovu District, including the closely contested Msunduzi Municipality.
By Thursday morning, the MK Party had secured 11 wards in KwaZulu-Natal, putting it ahead of its rivals, with only 12% of the votes counted.
According to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) dashboard at the provincial results centre at the Durban International Convention Centre, the DA had secured five wards, while the IFP had won four.
Speaking to IOL at the MK Party’s offices at Arbor Arch in Pietermaritzburg, Moses Mabhida regional coordinator Promise “MaPro” Sithole said the party had secured 25 of Msunduzi’s 41 wards, with counting still under way.
She said the party had also secured one ward in uMngeni Municipality, despite the DA’s strong support in the area.
In Richmond, the party had won eight of the nine wards, while it claimed a clean sweep in Impendle. In uMshwathi, the MK Party said it had won 11 of the 14 wards, while in Mpofana it had secured three of the six wards.
The party also reported winning five wards in Mkhambathini. Sithole said the party was pleased with its performance, admitting that the results had exceeded its expectations.
“There have been so many challenges. But to everyone who did vote for us, we’d like to say thank you for putting your trust in the MK Party despite the challenges we have encountered since May, when we started our election campaigns,” she said.
She said the party intended to use the municipalities where it had performed strongly, including Richmond, to demonstrate its commitment to serving communities.
“We will use these municipalities to reassure the public that the MK Party is there to help the people it governs,” she said.
The early results come amid growing speculation that several municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal could have hung councils, requiring parties to negotiate coalition agreements to secure control.
Among the municipalities attracting particular attention are eThekwini and Msunduzi, where political competition has intensified in recent years.
Although counting remains at an early stage, the results could point to another fragmented political landscape in the province, similar to the outcome of the 2021 Local Government Elections.