Msunduzi is hung: MK Party leads Pietermaritzburg with 31 of 81

Msunduzi, the municipality that runs Pietermaritzburg, has a hung council. The MK Party is the biggest party with 31 of the 81 seats, but that is 10 short of the 41 needed to govern alone. The DA and ANC have 17 seats each and the IFP 7, according to the IEC's provisional seat calculation (The Witness; ESP).

All 240 voting districts and all 41 wards have been counted (ESP). The MK Party took 38.9% of the valid party votes, the DA 21.0% and the ANC 20.6% (The Witness).

Who won how many seats in Msunduzi?

Sources: IEC allocation via The People's Register (as at 23:01 on 7 November), ESP and The Witness.

Turnout was 56.2% of about 366,000 registered voters (ESP).

Why do the ANC and DA have the same number of seats?

The DA finished 1,574 votes ahead of the ANC, but both end up with 17 seats (The Witness). The DA won 11 wards, so most of its seats come from wards. The ANC won only 1 ward, so almost all of its seats are PR seats, which top parties up to their share of the overall vote (The Witness; Reported: how council seats are calculated).

How much has the council changed since 2021?

The MK Party did not exist at the last local election and now holds the most seats. Compared with 2021, the ANC is down 23 seats, the EFF down 9 and the IFP down 1, while the DA is up 1 (Counted).

What would it take to reach 41 seats?

This is simple seat arithmetic from the provisional allocation, not a prediction of any deal:

Source: seat totals from ESP and The Witness.

Because two of these options land on exactly 41, the IFP and the smaller parties could matter a great deal in who runs the city.

When will Pietermaritzburg get a new mayor?

The results are still provisional. The IEC plans to announce the official 2026 local election results at 18:00 on Sunday, 8 November (IEC), and seat allocations can still change if objections are upheld (IOL).

Once the results are declared, the first council meeting must be held within 14 days, where councillors elect a speaker and mayor (Municipal Structures Act; Reported: what happens in a hung council).

Water, electricity and rates billing carry on under the existing administration in the meantime. For the storm-related power cuts in parts of the city, see Pietermaritzburg power outages.

How to check the official result

Use the IEC's results dashboard and search for Msunduzi (KZN225). Ward-by-ward results are also on ESP and Counted. Only the IEC's declaration is final.