LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: DA gains black voters, declares Cape Town win, but Western Cape coalitions loom

Custom LinkLocal Elections Results 2026 | Daily MaverickGo to pageDeclaring an outright victory in Cape Town with an expected 58% of the vote on Thursday, 5 November, DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis focused heavily on the party’s breakthrough gains among black voters.“One of the most exciting results for the city – over and above the overall results, we can now say without hesitation it will be the best result we have ever achieved in Cape Town’s townships for the DA,” said Hill-Lewis.Boosting performance in township wards and among black South Africans more broadly has been elusive for the DA. The party long realised that without this support it would not achieve its national political ambition beyond Cape Town, the Western Cape and selected areas in KwaZulu-Natal.The number of more than one million black voters for the DA emerged quickly as the party’s federal council chairperson, Ashor Sarupen, said: “Our projections also indicate that the DA will have received more votes from black South Africans than the EFF, making us a mainstream party in every community, whether you are black, white, coloured or Indian.”If the final election results support this claim, it would make Hill-Lewis, rather than Helen Zille, the DA leader who took the party over this electoral threshold.For Hill-Lewis, the returning Cape Town mayor, declaring the win in the city gave him reason to breathe easy. Pollsters and analysts had the DA down in the election stakes, as low as 51%, while at one stage the DA’s own internal polling showed them dip below the 50-plus-one majority. “This is a wonderful victory,” he said after addressing a brief victory rally opposite the Western Cape results centre of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) under a huge “Thank You” banner.“I am grateful to the people of Cape Town. It’s a stronger endorsement than anyone predicted. There was not a single poll that predicted such a strong victory. I’m really, really thrilled.”It was also a key moment for the newly elected DA leader to consolidate his position. On Thursday he reiterated his intention to stay on as Cape Town mayor at least until 2029, when South Africa’s next national elections are expected.Western Cape — a mixed pictureLater that afternoon, Hill-Lewis was off to Johannesburg, from where negotiations on potential coalitions were set to unfold. The results on Thursday afternoon showed the extent of the ANC’s haemorrhaging as support across traditional strongholds and township bases disappeared.At that time of the 4 November municipal poll vote count, it seemed possible for the DA, ActionSA and Freedom Front Plus to form the governing coalition in Johannesburg, and probably also in Tshwane and Ekurhuleni – if political hatchets could be buried.The DA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, interacts with ANC members at the results centre in Midrand on 5 November. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla) Back in the Western Cape, the election results by Thursday evening presented a mixed picture. The DA retained control of Cape hinterland towns Stellenbosch and Paarl (Drakenstein) and secured outright control in Hessequa and Bergrivier. However, in 14 other councils, it emerged only as the largest party without a majority.In some places it was close. In Saldanha, a key economic hub and harbour on the West Coast, the DA won 49.2% of the vote and 15 seats – one less than all the other political parties combined.In Beaufort West, the central truck transport hub for the Western Cape, the DA obtained just over 30% of the vote and four seats, while the ANC received 20% of the vote and three seats, with the Patriotic Alliance (PA) one of six one-seat parties.Both in Saldanha and Beaufort West, the DA polling numbers were marginally up by a couple of percentage points from the 2021 municipal election results, but not enough to make a difference.However, ActionSA emerged as the leading party in Laingsburg, while the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa took the top spot in Kannaland.The PA led in Prince Albert, securing five of the council’s 10 seats, while the DA won four and the ANC picked up one. Voter turnout in the rural hamlet was at least 70% according to available IEC data, significantly above the indicated average of between 50% and 60%.At 6pm on Thursday, support for the DA across the Western Cape stood at 53.2%, slightly below the overall 54.26% the party secured in the 2021 local government elections. The Western Cape’s five district councils – West Coast, Cape Winelands, Overberg, Garden Route and Central Karoo – will be the last to be announced as local municipalities must appoint councillors to supplement the directly elected district councillors. In Cape Town, the DA early on decided to declare the win on the back of its projections, with kudos to activists and supporters for a hard-fought 17-month campaign. “Ons het gewen. We won… I can’t wait to serve as your mayor again,” Hill-Lewis said at the victory meet.“Every person in Cape Town deserves and will get the same excellent quality of service and care.” DM