Former Presidents of the ANC hold the unenviable distinction of living in wards - in their personal residences - that are controlled by other political parties.
Incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is on record as having praised municipalities run by the rival DA, also joins this group.
uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) failed to win the ward of its leader, former president Jacob Zuma, in the Nkandla Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal by two votes as the IFP retained the seat.
The IFP held the ward with 44.87% (2,192 votes) while MKP garnered 44.83% (2,190), according to results released by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
In total, the MKP won only three of Nkandla’s 14 wards and the rest were taken by the IFP.
The municipality will continue to be run by the IFP and is one of five it controls with an outright majority in the province including Mthonjaneni, Nongoma, Msinga and Ulundi.
The IFP expressed its sincere appreciation and gratitude to the electorate for the confidence and support demonstrated towards the party.
“We receive this mandate with humility and reaffirm our commitment to serving communities through accountable, ethical and effective local government,” the IFP stated.
The MKP has urged its new councillors to prioritise service delivery as preparations for the 2029 national and provincial elections start.
In late former president Nelson Mandela’s village, Qunu in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, the ANC did not field a candidate for the first time since the inaugural municipal polls in 1996.
The African Transformation Movement’s (ATM’s) candidate Sabelo Ngqeleni won ward 19 in the municipality.
Another ATM proportional representation councillor is expected to be Qunu’s traditional leader, iNkosikazi Nokwanele Balizulu, whose homestead is across the N2 road from Mandela’s gravesite and home.
DA candidate Jo van Onselen also won ward 90 in Joburg, where President Cyril Ramaphosa lives and voted.
Where Ramaphosa previously voted at Hitekani Primary School in ward 11 in Chiawelo, Soweto, the ANC won by 34.4%.
Another DA candidate Dominic Günther Bauer secured ward 73 in the City of Johannesburg, where former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe reside.
Their party, the ANC, could only garner just over 10% of the vote.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said it was pleased with the election outcome but admitted its a mixed bag of results.
“Where we did not do well, we lost municipalities and wards in KwaZulu-Natal as the ANC, which we did not expect but we accept the results as the democratic outcome,” ANC provincial convenor Mike Mabuyakhulu said.
He added that the results were encouraging for the ANC as it increased its share of the vote in the province as evidenced by the wards the party won in the local government elections.
Ac c o r d i n g t o Mabuyakhulu, the ANC increased its support from 16.9% in 2024 to more than 20% this year.
He said the ANC increased from 598,000 votes to 637,000, which he explained showed that the party still has support in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We urge our communities to come out in their numbers because if the turnout was more than the 49% we saw, the ANC would have secured more votes,” said Mabuyakhulu.
The ANC, which held its first post-election national executive committee (NEC) meeting, has indicated that it accepts the results and that the people have spoken and that it must have the honesty to hear all of what they have said.
The extended special ANC NEC meeting was expected to deliberate on the election outcome and which the party said placed before it a serious political responsibility to listen to the people, confront its shortcomings and provide leadership as municipalities prepare to establish governments.
“The ANC’s response must not be reduced to negotiations for municipal positions. It must address the lives of South Africans, the stability of local government and the renewal of the movement,” the party said.
The extended special NEC meeting will also consider and adopt a mandating guide for the ANC’s coalitions negotiations team and receive reports on initial engagements with other political parties.
Meanwhile, the IEC will hold a revote in the Bongani Community Hall voting district in the Siyancuma Local Municipality in Douglas in the Northern Cape after a group of people stormed a voting station while counting was underway and destroyed ballot papers.
S i x p e o p l e appeared before t h e D o u g l a s Magistrate's Court charged with contravening the Municipal Electoral Act, malicious damage to property, assault and intimidation.
The IEC has ordered a revote next Wednesday as part of the 2026 local government elections in terms of the act, which allows the commission to order a revote where ballot papers are lost, destroyed or unlawfully removed before counting is completed.
According to the IEC, its decision for a revote followed the storming of the counting centre and the destruction of over 100 cast but uncounted ballot papers.
“The revote is intended to give the affected community a fair and equal opportunity to exercise their democratic right to vote,” the commission said.
About 1 300 ballots were cast at that voting station.