With 33% of the votes counted in Johannesburg, the DA has more than 38% support, ahead of the ANC at 17% and ActionSA at 16%.

Speaking at the IEC National Results Centre in Midrand, political analyst Xolelwa Kashe-Katiya says the incoming Johannesburg mayor will have a lot to clean up before fiscal growth can begin.

“There is going to be a lot of financial mess that that mayor has to clean up when they come in. And you could find that there could be a lot of reversal of some of the deals that have been made, especially these last-minute ones, where you see a potentially outgoing mayor making commitments that they’re not going to return to carry out, leaving those for another mayor to carry out. So these are the things that are going to have to be faced, and there is a need for Johannesburg to recover from those challenges.”

SABC News | 2026 LGE Coverage 4-6 November:

Meanwhile, the DA is maintaining a commanding lead in Midvaal as the counting of votes in Gauteng continues after Wednesday’s local government elections.

With 37 of the 39 voting districts in the Municipality having been counted, the DA has secured over 63 per cent of the votes. The ANC is a distant second on 14 per cent, followed by the Freedom Front Plus on 7 per cent.

The DA currently has 12 seats from the votes counted, compared to one seat for the ANC.

The EFF is on 3-point-86 percent, while the MK Party has 3-point-32 percent and ActionSA 3-point-20 percent.

Midvaal remains among the municipalities where the DA has established a significant lead, with six per cent of the results still to be processed.