By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The 2026 local government election vote count is 98% complete, with the African National Congress (ANC) leading nationally, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and MK Party.
This was revealed by IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya during a media briefing at the National Results Operations Centre (NROC) in Midrand on Saturday, where he provided an update on the completion of results processing.
At the time of the briefing, the ANC was leading nationally with 30.89% of the vote, followed by the DA with 24.58%, the MK Party with 9.63%, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 6.25% and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) with 5.68%.
Moepya said the results remained provisional until the Commission had determined all objections, warning that decisions could affect the final allocation of seats.
“Pertinently, provisional results may change as a consequence of the determination of an objection. In this regard, seats that are assigned in the provisional results may change because of the decision of the Commission in determining an objection,” he said.
Moepya said results processing had been finalised in all municipalities in the Free State,Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Three provinces were still completing the final stages of results processing.
In Gauteng, processing remained outstanding in Emfuleni, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. North West, Rustenburg was the only municipality where results processing had yet to be finalised.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the outstanding municipalities were Msunduzi and eThekwini.
Moepya said results processing in these municipalities was expected to be completed by Saturday evening.
“We urge contesting parties and candidates, citizens and the media to bear with the Commission as it winds up the rest of the remaining processes,” he said.
The IEC is scheduled to announce the 2026 Local Government Elections results at 6pm on Sunday.
Meanwhile, government has commended the 15.9 million South Africans who participated in the 2026 Local Government Elections, particularly young people who took part in the democratic process.
Government deputy spokesperson William Baloyi has described the reported turnout as an important milestone in the country’s democratic development.
While the Electoral Commission is still to provide the official voter turnout figures, Baloyi has welcomed reports of increased youth participation.
“More young people must be encouraged to take an active role in democratic processes and contribute towards shaping the future of their communities. Government has commended the security services for their role in ensuring that the elections were generally incident-free despite isolated challenges.”