IFP leads 18 KZN councils to MK's 17, but MK wins the vote

The IFP is ahead in more KwaZulu-Natal councils than the MK Party, even though MK has the most votes and the most council seats in the province. At 7am on Saturday, 7 November 2026, with about 96% of KZN results processed, the IFP was leading in 18 municipalities and MK in 17, according to IOL's reading of the IEC results dashboard.

Most of these councils are hung. Of KZN's 44 local councils, 31 had no party with a majority and 3 were still being counted.

How can MK win the KZN vote but lead fewer councils?

MK's support is concentrated in large, populous councils such as eThekwini, uMhlathuze (Richards Bay), Newcastle and Ray Nkonyeni (Port Shepstone). Big councils add a lot of votes to the provincial total, but each still counts as only one municipality.

The IFP is strongest in the many smaller rural councils of northern KZN, such as Ulundi, Nongoma, Nkandla and uMsinga. That spreads its lead across more councils, even with fewer total votes. ESP's municipality breakdown shows this pattern council by council.

What are the KZN results so far?

These are the IEC dashboard figures at 7am on Saturday, as reported by IOL. They are provisional.

At that point 4,877 of 5,028 voting districts, 833 of 921 wards and 41 of 44 municipalities were complete, with 1,545 of 1,798 council seats allocated.

By 10:35 on Saturday, ESP's results map had 4,894 voting districts in. Counting partly counted councils too, it showed the IFP ahead in 19 municipalities and MK in 18. eThekwini, Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) and uPhongolo were still counting.

Which KZN councils have a party with a majority?

Ten councils have a party with more than half the seats, based on ESP's seat counts from IEC data on Saturday morning.

We have covered some of these separately: the IFP majority in Nkandla, Nongoma, uMsinga and Mthonjaneni, and MK's outright wins in Richmond, iMpendle and Johannes Phumani Pungula.

What is the difference between leading and controlling a council?

Leading means a party has more seats than any other party in that council. It does not mean it governs.

Outright control means a party has more than half the seats. It can then elect the mayor, speaker and executive on its own and pass the budget without help.

A hung council is one where no party has more than half the seats. Parties must then make a coalition or another deal to reach a majority. The party that leads can still end up in opposition if others combine against it.

What do 31 hung councils mean for residents?

In those 31 councils, who runs the municipality will be settled by negotiation between parties, not by the count alone. IOL notes that parties will have to work with others to build governing majorities.

The coalition that forms will choose the mayor and pass the budget. That budget sets property rates, water and electricity tariffs, and spending on services such as roads and refuse removal. Coalition councils can also change hands mid-term if a partner walks out.

When will the final KZN results be announced?

The IEC is expected to announce the final local election results on Sunday, 8 November 2026, IOL reported. Until then, all figures here are provisional and can still shift as the last voting districts are captured. You can follow the official numbers on the IEC results dashboard.

eThekwini and Msunduzi were both heading for hung councils, The Witness reported on Saturday. MK has also lodged a formal objection over the eThekwini count. We explain that in our article on MK's section 65 objection.