IEC announces final election results
The 2021 local government elections results have been officially announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The figures were announced on Thursday evening after 12.3 million South African cast their votes earlier this week.
The African National Congress (ANC) claimed the majority of the 213 municipalities which were being contested.
IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini said the ruling party won 161 municipalities, while the Democratic Alliance will govern in 13. The Inkatha Freedom Party will run 10 councils.
Mashinini said there were 66 hung municipalties across the country.
In the hotly contested eThekwini metro, Mashinini said the final results showed the ANC lost its majority rule, which means the parties will have to go into a coalition.
"In the eThekwini Municipality, the ANC got 42.02%, the DA got 25.62% and the EFF got 10.48%."
The ANC has retained Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape, receiving 59.3% of the votes. The City of Cape Town will be run by the DA again after it took 58.22% of the votes.
"In the City of Johannesburg, the ANC got 33.6%, the DA got 26.47%, and ActionSA got 16.05%,” said Mashinini.
"In Mangaung, the ANC got 50.63%, the DA 25.73%, the EFF got 11.31%. In Nelson Mandela Bay, the DA got 39.92%, the ANC got 39.43% and the EFF got 6.4%.
"In the City of Tshwane, the ANC got 34.31%, the DA got 32.34% and the EFF got 10.62%."
Mashinini said the elections were declared free and fair but that there were some challenges experienced.
"Among them, this is taking place under the Covid pandemic, the truncated timeframe that the elections were conducted instead of 86 prescribed days and having to do it 42 days, the bad weather which is still threatening us even today and our power interruptions."
He said after the commission's investigation, it cleared 290 objections.
"We congratulate the 10 461 councillors who have won the right to serve our people. To them, we remind them of the words of wisdom from the great Pan-Africanist revolutionary and thinker Amilcar Cabral, who said: ‘Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children’.
"We urge them [councillors] to go out and make the lives of our people better."
In his speech, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the results marked a milestone for the country's democracy and highlighted its diversity.
"This local government election was contested by a record 325 political parties and nearly 95,000 candidates, of whom over 1,500 were independent candidates.
"This is a sign that multiparty politics is flourishing in South Africa, and that everyone has an equal chance and opportunity to run for public office."
He thanked those who voted for ensuring peaceful and fair elections.
Ramaphosa urged those who have been elected to set aside their differences and work together.
"If we are to make this a new and better era, we, as leaders, must put aside our differences and work together in a spirit of partnership and common purpose.
"At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: to better the lives of the South African people.
"We need to strengthen the trust between citizens and elected representatives through competence, integrity, performance and delivery.
“Public representatives need to be more visible and active in our communities.”
