LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: DA projected to win 79% in Ramaphosa and Malema’s Joburg home ward

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Local Elections Results 2026 | Daily Maverick

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The DA’s gains in Johannesburg were won, partially, on the back of high turnout in the suburbs. In Hyde Park’s Ward 90, home to President Cyril Ramaphosa and EFF leader Julius Malema, the party, according to provisional results, was expected to win 79.4% of the vote. The ANC ended with 4.6% of votes cast, and the EFF with 2.3%.

No party will win an outright majority in the city, and a coalition government could go many ways. No bets are off, party leaders said at the IEC’s Midrand results centre on Thursday, 5 November. Coalition talks are set to start within days. The city could end up with either the DA’s Helen Zille or ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba as mayor.

The DA’s federal chairperson, Ashor Sarupen, said that with the highest number of votes, the golden chains should be Zille’s, but previous coalition governments in the city excluded the ANC when it won the most votes in the 2021 local government election.

ActionSA’s national chairperson and chief negotiator, Michael Beaumont, said both the ANC and DA had already reached out to the party, which said that it had won 55 wards at the time of writing. This makes ActionSA the kingmaker.

Daily Maverick interviewed the DA’s Sarupen, ActionSA’s Gauteng leader Funzi Ngobeni and the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, on what the future holds for Johannesburg as well as the state of play for their parties.

Sarupen: DA smashed party’s race glass ceiling

We started by asking Sarupen whether the party was on track to meet its goal of being the largest party in 60 councils.

Question: How are you feeling today? The last time we spoke, you were expecting the DA to be the largest party in 60 councils. Are you on track for that?

Answer: I think we are. We’re looking at a lot of hung councils, possibly as many as 213. So we'll be the largest party in many, many councils.

I’m looking forward to the final collation of the results. I think I’d much rather be in the DA’s shoes today than those of any other party.

Q: Why so many hung councils, do you think? Are we developing a two-party system or a highly fragmented political landscape?

A: Well, the only parties that have grown in this election are the DA and ActionSA.

So, we are moving towards a fair amount of fragmentation, but that’s because the ANC was so dominant for such a long time that we were always going to undergo different types of political realignment.

I think the case for thresholds (where a bar is set for political representation to exclude micro-parties) is becoming stronger because of the scale of fragmentation.

It’s a combination of voters switching. We saw huge numbers of ANC voters switch to the DA. We will overtake the EFF among black voters and become a major party among black voters.

Q: Why does that matter? I think a million voters, in the bigger scheme of things, isn’t a lot, but it seems that, for the DA, this is a key moment.

A: Well, when you have possibly only eight million black voters voting, and the ANC gets four million, MK gets 1.5 million, and the DA gets one million, possibly 1.1 million, you’re at least the third-largest party.

We’ve always said we’re a party for all, but that means you’ve got to be a mainstream party in every community. We’ve been a mainstream party among white voters, coloured voters and Indian voters. And now we’re a mainstream party among black voters.

Why is it important? Because it should be unremarkable, regardless of the colour of your skin, to be able to vote for the DA. It shouldn't be an exception.

Q: Do you think you’ve broken that barrier this time around? And where are those black voters? I know you number-crunch a lot. How is it looking?

A: We did break the barrier because we’re going to overtake the EFF [in the number of black supporters]. Without giving up our core values or changing, we said we’re a party for all, and the voters came to us on that basis.

It’s across the board. We’re seeing swings in deep parts of KwaZulu-Natal. We picked up wards from the MK party and the ANC. In Gauteng, our performance is looking pretty strong. And in the Western Cape, in Khayelitsha and the urban townships of the Cape, we're getting our best-ever results and getting into double digits as well. So we're seeing a uniform swing across the country.

Q: What are you projecting to end on in Cape Town?

A: We’re very confident, ahead of the official results, of around 58%, so very similar to 2021.

Q: Are you disappointed in the outcome, or the potential outcome, in Johannesburg, where your candidate [Helen Zille] fought the most spirited and interesting campaign, and yet you’re projecting around 40%?

A: Well, the DA got 27% in Johannesburg in 2021 and 26% in 2024.

In a fragmenting environment, to consolidate that many votes and to be able to get close to 40% required a Herculean effort. And it puts us in the pound seats [in coalition talks]. It would be the biggest DA result in Johannesburg ever. Firstly, when the GNU was formed, we largely established the principle that the largest party should lead the government.

And if we are – and we will be – at least twice as big as the next-biggest party in Johannesburg – we don’t know yet if it’s the ANC or ActionSA – that certainly means we’ve got a democratic mandate from the voters to lead their government.

Q: Did black voters vote for the Gogo?

A: Yes, they did. Fifteen to 20% in various VDs [voting districts].

It’s South Africa’s most diverse city. If we didn’t get major growth, we could not have got beyond where we were. We were at the ceiling demographically in Joburg, and now we’ve broken through that ceiling.

Ngobeni: ActionSA came roaring back

ActionSA’s Gauteng provincial chairperson Funzi Ngobeni explains what went into the party’s success story.

Q: The results are higher than expected, and ActionSA is being described as a potential kingmaker. How is it looking?

A: It’s still early days. We have counted close to 54 wards that we have won, but they are not yet reflecting on the board. We anticipate those numbers growing.
We also anticipate doing surprisingly well in Mangaung and other municipalities outside the metros.

Q: Where are those 54 wards?

A: They are across the three metros. In Johannesburg, we are sitting at around 15 wards, in Tshwane close to 24, and in Ekurhuleni 16. In 2021, it was the proportional representation vote that carried us into councils. Now we can enter councils with mandates directly from communities.

Q: Is that because of the decision to establish a branch in every ward, making ActionSA present in people’s lives?

A: Absolutely. After the 2024 elections, Ferial, we had to start from scratch. Those were terrible elections for us. We decided to rebuild our structures completely. We cancelled all memberships and required everyone to join afresh. People thought we were crazy. We now have branches across the wards in the three metros. Those branches helped us drive issues, engage communities on the ground and take their concerns to a higher level.

Q: ActionSA is best known for its position on illegal immigration. What other campaigns and issues brought voters to the party?

A: In Johannesburg, hijacked buildings were a major issue, particularly in the inner city. In Soweto, it was infrastructure that wasn’t being maintained.

People called our councillors and branches to log service delivery complaints and follow up. As you correctly say, the rule of law is important. Others call it illegal immigration, but if you look at it holistically, it’s an issue of the rule of law.
Traffic lights and City Power infrastructure were being vandalised. Communities wanted these issues dealt with.

Q: How important were your candidates and [party leader] Herman Mashaba?

A: Herman remains very popular. Nasiphi Moya has been outstanding as mayor of Tshwane.

We made a painful decision to change the leadership there, but we focused on the work, infrastructure and good governance. People responded. Herman’s record as Johannesburg mayor still resonates with voters.

Q: Are you coming back to Johannesburg? [Ngobeni was a member of the mayoral committee when Mashaba was a DA mayor. ActionSA is a party split from the DA.]

A: No, I’m happy where I am [Merafong]. We must continue building the organisation. We still need to expand our footprint. I’ll help our colleagues because Johannesburg is a monster. Things have deteriorated, and we don’t have much time to turn them around.

Nomvula Mokonyane: We need to be inclusive

Q: How are you feeling about the ANC’s election performance, particularly in Johannesburg?

A: The good thing is that we contested throughout the country. It was our intention, of course, to improve our performance. But this is what the voters are giving to the ANC.

We will remain available to ensure stability in the city, contributing our numbers as one of the parties with significant voter support. It does look like no single party can govern Johannesburg alone.

Q: So the ANC will be open to coalition talks with everybody? Would Johannesburg be better served by a small coalition or a larger one?

A: My view is that you need a coalition grounded in principles, not convenience and the exclusion of others.

The ANC has always said this. Referring to others as small parties is also not the correct approach. We need to be as inclusive as possible. We would want to be the bigger person in this.

Q: What does that mean for the ANC’s coalition strategy in Johannesburg?

A: We need to take a big, bold decision about the kind of political government we want to build and the priorities for a municipality such as Johannesburg.

How do we enforce the law? How do we rely on the entities that are there? How do we build capacity within the municipality? How do we protect maintenance money and resources that come from electricity? How do we deal with unplanned development? These are important issues.

Q: Let’s talk about Johannesburg and its meaning to the ANC. It’s the place of the 1956 Women’s March, the Defiance Campaign. It’s where the ANC reached its heights of struggle and glory. It’s a big thing to lose.

A: It’s a city with a lot of struggle heritage and legacy. It’s the home of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. It’s a place for generations to come, knowing where we come from, including 1976. We have won a number of wards, and we are not written off in the redevelopment of Johannesburg.

Q: How do you feel about what has happened in Johannesburg? It’s central to the ANC and home to the party’s headquarters.

A: We go to elections to win and lead in implementing our mandate. We believe we could have done better. But other parties that have gained traction in the city might have done so based on issues not necessarily related to local government. These include [a campaign against] undocumented immigration and service delivery, which is affected by competition for scarce resources. It’s up to Johannesburg residents, and all of us working together, to deal with the common challenges of local government. DM