Your municipality · uMhlathuze
Esithombeni
ANC loses its majority
2021 results
Council seats
Other9 seats11.6% of votes
Explain SA CoalitionsWhy team up? And why is it tricky?
A coalition is two or more parties agreeing to govern together. Here’s how it works in a council.
An imaginary council · 10 seats · 6 for a majority
Most seats ≠ a majority
SA’s election system gives different parties a share of the seats. Sometimes none wins more than half. That’s a hung council.
A is the biggest. Four still isn’t six.
Make a deal. Vote together.
Parties negotiate who leads and what to do. Councillors elect the mayor and vote on budgets. Partners stay separate parties, but agree to work together.
Party A4+Party C2=Together6Enough seats. Now agree on a plan.
Who leads · What gets funded · How to settle disputesThe deal has to hold
Partners can disagree over policies, jobs or spending. A small party can tip the balance. If support breaks down, budgets and decisions can stall.
6 / 10back the deal
↑ 6 needed. No seats to spare.
What if Party C leaves?
4 / 10still back the deal
↑ Still 6 needed. Now 2 short.
C keeps its seats. A needs new support to pass a budget.
Why six? A council budget needs support from more than half of all councillors. Other votes can follow different rules. Losing a partner doesn’t automatically remove a mayor.
Vote breakdown
Combined ballot votes
Other: show remaining parties: hide remaining parties14.1%23 673 votes
How the vote changed
Swipe to see history
Seats unavailable for this election.
31 for a majority · 60 seats
31 for a majority · 60 seats
34 for a majority · 67 seats
34 for a majority · 67 seats
Swipe to see history
History data & sources
Ward + municipal PR votes. Connecting bands show the same party’s share or seats between elections, not individual voters moving between parties. Select a year to inspect its values; use the year selector in the results section to explore its places.
The chart names the five largest parties across these elections. The vote list also names parties gaining at least 2 percentage points since the previous election; remaining votes are combined under Other. Other’s change compares the same group of parties in both elections. Missing values remain unavailable.
- All points use the same ballot basis. Ballot totals are not counts of individual voters.
- Missing or grouped party rows remain gaps unless a complete, ungrouped list establishes zero votes.
- Municipal boundaries can change between elections. Published area results are not boundary-adjusted.
Council government
Who governed after 2021
Administrations & sources
MISTRA records the administrations that governed after the 2021 election, through 28 February 2026. The latest recorded administration is shown below, followed by its predecessors. Party roles and officeholders are recorded at formation; later changes may appear in the notes.
Members at formation · minority administration · 10 Aug 2023 · recorded active at source cutoff
Outside support at formation: ACDP + FF+. Supporters are separate from governing members.
Inaugural mayor: X. Ngwezi (IFP)
Source notes: The Coalitions Barometer 2023-2025 is silent on the NFP's role while other sources list it as a member, so the NFP is coded Unknown. A September 2023 by-election moved a seat from the ANC to the IFP.
3 recorded administrations · 2021–February 2026
- DA + IFP
10 Aug 2023 → Active at cutoff · 28 Feb 2026
Members at formation. Outside support: ACDP + FF+. Inaugural mayor: X. Ngwezi.
The Coalitions Barometer 2023-2025 is silent on the NFP's role while other sources list it as a member, so the NFP is coded Unknown. A September 2023 by-election moved a seat from the ANC to the IFP.
- IFP
30 Jan 2023 → 10 Aug 2023 · Recomposition
Members at formation. Outside support: ACDP + DA + FF+. Inaugural mayor: X. Ngwezi.
The Coalitions Barometer 2021-2023 names the blocs on either side of this council, but does not place the NFP in either of them. It is therefore coded as Unknown.
- EFF + IFP
23 Nov 2021 → 30 Jan 2023 · Recomposition
Members at formation. Outside support: DA. Inaugural mayor: N. Dando.
A by-election in September 2022 moved a seat from the ANC to the IFP during this administration, taking the IFP from twenty-three seats to twenty-four. Mayor N. Dando resigned two weeks after taking office and X. Ngwezi, also of the IFP, was elected in December 2021.
Go closer
Browse wardsWards in uMhlathuze
34 wards
What is a ward?
One ward elects one councillor to the municipal council.
A part of a local or metro municipality. Its councillor represents residents on that council.
The ward candidate with the most votes wins, even with less than half the votes.
Winning a ward does not mean winning control of the whole council. The council also includes PR councillors.
IEC guide to council seatsLocal, district or metro?
Local councils and district councils share responsibilities. Metros combine both.
Handles local services such as refuse collection and local roads, with responsibilities shared with the district.
Coordinates planning and shared services across its area, such as bulk water infrastructure. Functions vary by area.
Combines local and district responsibilities. There is no separate district council above it.
A district municipality is a level of local government. A voting district is a small voting area; it has no council of its own.
CoGTA guide to local governmentSources & result details
IEC: 15 Jan 2022, 17:50 SAST · checked 05 Nov 2026, 15:38 SAST
Historical comparisons use published area results. Boundaries may change between elections. Vote shares use the ballot labelled on each chart; ballots are not individual voters.
Vote percentages beside council seats combine ward and municipal PR ballots. Seat counts include both ward and PR councillors.
Seat calculation & source
These are the ward and PR seats published by the IEC. The totals add up to all 67 council seats. This is the historical election allocation, not a record of government changes during the term. Any grouped “Other” seats remain grouped.
IEC result time: 15 Jan 2022, 17:50 SAST · Source figures ↗
Ward vs PR ballots
Ward: choose a person. PR: choose a party.
The candidate with the most votes in the whole ward wins one seat. They do not need more than 50%.
PR means proportional representation. Party-list seats balance the council’s overall party representation.
Party ward votes and municipal PR votes both count towards the party’s overall seat allocation.
Outside metros, voters also have a separate district PR ballot. An independent can stand in a ward but not on a party PR list.
IEC guide to council seatsThe council results cover all of uMhlathuze. Ward results include areas outside Esithombeni.
This page uses the Stats SA statistical main-place boundary labelled 2016. It overlaps 2 of the 2026 wards; the everyday town boundary may differ.
Town-to-ward mappings are available for 2026 only. The historical wards above belong to the whole municipality in 2021.
Positive-area intersections of the 2016 Stats SA main-place polygon and the MDB 2026 ward polygons. Full-ward figures include votes outside the place; votes are never allocated by overlap area.