Find your ward and representative
Find your ward on the map, then look up your representative. Check the council term before using contact details.
Find your ward IEC councillor lookupExplain 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.
Your deal · estimate0 / 63 seats
32 to go32 for a majority
Some assembly required.The chairs are empty. The demands are already arriving.
Who’s in?
Historical context
Hypothetical deal · Estimated seats · Fictional scenario
Satire with sourced historical context. No affiliation or endorsement implied. Game context · Terms & liability limits · Report a concern
Beyond the game
Get involved in Mnquma
Follow the decisions. Raise a local priority. Your part in local politics can continue between elections.
Follow council decisions
Ask the municipal office for public council meeting dates, agendas and minutes. The Speaker’s office can help with attendance arrangements.
Municipal contact details What to look forHave a say on local priorities
Ask about ward meetings and opportunities to comment on the budget or Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which sets municipal priorities.
How to take part Municipal contact detailsAbout these local links
Notices and documents can cover past consultation periods. Check dates and submission instructions on the official page. After an election, confirm that a councillor directory covers the current term.
Official government directory. Ask for the Speaker’s office or public participation unit. Government directory ↗ · Link listed on 7 November 2026.
Madam Speaker
takes the floor.
“I’m Madam Speaker. Secretary bird. Keeper of the gavel. Please don’t make me use it.
Welcome to the bargaining table in Mnquma. One mayoral chain, several competing plans. You bring the partners. I’ll put the kettle on.”
The honourable cast
- Cyril RamaphosaANC
- PAC
- UDM
- Julius MalemaEFF
- SACP
- ATM
- Geordin Hill-LewisDA
- AIC
- BPM
- Jacob ZumaMK
Fictional scenario. Party cameos, not a full list of local candidates.
Rules, real politics & sources
Seat calculation & source
Based on combined ward and PR votes counted so far. Only reported ward wins and independent seats are fixed. Unfinished wards and candidate-list limits can change the allocation. This is a calculation using the current count, not a forecast of the final result.
We reserve the IEC’s reported independent ward seats, then divide the combined party votes by the remaining council seats, discard the fraction and add one. Whole quotas receive seats first, followed by the largest remainders. A tied remainder favours the party with more votes; an unresolved tie leaves the estimate unavailable.
A party keeps its reported ward seats. Where those exceed its proportional allocation, we recalculate the remaining seats for the other parties. We assume parties can fill their estimated seats. We do not predict unfinished ward contests, additional independent wins, unopposed-ward adjustments or candidate-list shortages. The remaining districts may vote differently.
Ward seats reported: 31 of 32. The IEC’s complete allocation replaces this estimate when its totals reconcile.
Method: Municipal Structures Act, Schedule 1, items 12, 13 and 16 ↗.
IEC result time: 06 Nov 2026, 14:46 SAST · Source figures ↗
Tap parties to reach 32 seats, then roll the dice for one fictional scenario. Every roll starts from your original deal. Previously drawn scenarios stay out of the deck until the applicable cards run out. Every party follows the same rules. A “key partner” is one whose departure would put your deal below the majority target. Plot twists do not change the real results or your selection.
A seat majority does not confirm a governing agreement. The game uses a fixed majority of all council seats; real council votes can involve different attendance and voting rules. The caricatures represent national party leaders, not local candidates.
Inspired by the kingmaker politics and shifting alliances documented in MISTRA’s Coalitions Barometer. In May 2023, Johannesburg elected Al Jama-ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda mayor with 139 votes: a small party can win a very big chair. City record ↗
In the news
Coalition news · Mnquma
Since 4 November 2026 · From Google News
Loading headlines…