JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Friday, 6 November 2026. The Democratic Alliance (DA) remained ahead in Gauteng's incomplete municipal-election count, followed by the African National Congress (ANC) and ActionSA, as election officials continued checking results from South Africa's 4 November vote.
A later IEC-derived ward-ballot snapshot marked 1,751 of 2,836 Gauteng voting districts as reported at 11:43 SAST, with the DA on 34.4%, the ANC on 21.5% and ActionSA on 16.1%. Those figures are provisional, and they do not establish who will govern each metro or municipality.
Who is leading Gauteng's 2026 municipal election count?
In a time-stamped 11:43 SAST ward-ballot snapshot on 6 November, the DA led with 34.4%, followed by the ANC at 21.5% and ActionSA at 16.1%. Gauteng's municipal count remained incomplete, so the figures do not yet settle council majorities or mayoral appointments.
Gauteng's DA lead is clear, but the count is not finished
At 09:17 SAST, SABC's Gauteng election report put the DA on roughly 34%, the ANC on 21% and ActionSA on 17%, with 57% of the province's voting districts counted. Gauteng electoral operations manager Nthabi Sipane told the broadcaster that capturing and auditing were continuing, with Johannesburg behind the other two metropolitan areas in processing results.
A later IEC-derived ward-ballot breakdown recorded 1,751 of the province's 2,836 voting districts at 11:43 SAST, approximately 62% of districts. The dashboard showed just one of nine metropolitan and local municipalities with a completed count. Its percentages relate specifically to the ward ballot, and should not be mixed indiscriminately with figures for other ballot types or earlier broadcast snapshots.
There are several reasons why two published snapshots can differ without either being misleading: they were recorded at different times, the number and geography of reported districts change, and municipal voters cast more than one kind of ballot. An overall party lead on a province-wide graphic is not a final allocation of council seats.
DA ahead in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane
A municipality-by-municipality breakdown published on Friday morning showed the DA leading the available vote count in all three Gauteng metros. Its approximately 07:46 SAST reporting snapshot placed the party ahead in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, while counting in each remained under way.
ELECTIONS MONITORING
South Africa Elections 2026: DA Leads Gauteng as Count Advances
6 nov. 2026
6 nov. 2026
9 min read
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Friday, 6 November 2026. The Democratic Alliance (DA) remained ahead in Gauteng's incomplete municipal-election count, followed by the African National Congress (ANC) and ActionSA, as election officials continued checking results from South Africa's 4 November vote.
A later IEC-derived ward-ballot snapshot marked 1,751 of 2,836 Gauteng voting districts as reported at 11:43 SAST, with the DA on 34.4%, the ANC on 21.5% and ActionSA on 16.1%. Those figures are provisional, and they do not establish who will govern each metro or municipality.
Who is leading Gauteng's 2026 municipal election count?
In a time-stamped 11:43 SAST ward-ballot snapshot on 6 November, the DA led with 34.4%, followed by the ANC at 21.5% and ActionSA at 16.1%. Gauteng's municipal count remained incomplete, so the figures do not yet settle council majorities or mayoral appointments.
Gauteng's DA lead is clear, but the count is not finished
At 09:17 SAST, SABC's Gauteng election report put the DA on roughly 34%, the ANC on 21% and ActionSA on 17%, with 57% of the province's voting districts counted. Gauteng electoral operations manager Nthabi Sipane told the broadcaster that capturing and auditing were continuing, with Johannesburg behind the other two metropolitan areas in processing results.
A later IEC-derived ward-ballot breakdown recorded 1,751 of the province's 2,836 voting districts at 11:43 SAST, approximately 62% of districts. The dashboard showed just one of nine metropolitan and local municipalities with a completed count. Its percentages relate specifically to the ward ballot, and should not be mixed indiscriminately with figures for other ballot types or earlier broadcast snapshots.
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There are several reasons why two published snapshots can differ without either being misleading: they were recorded at different times, the number and geography of reported districts change, and municipal voters cast more than one kind of ballot. An overall party lead on a province-wide graphic is not a final allocation of council seats.
DA ahead in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane
A municipality-by-municipality breakdown published on Friday morning showed the DA leading the available vote count in all three Gauteng metros. Its approximately 07:46 SAST reporting snapshot placed the party ahead in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, while counting in each remained under way.
Those numbers describe different metro-level, time-specific partial results, not certified victories. Johannesburg's reported lead was striking, but the country's largest economic centre still had substantial counting and verification outstanding. Each metro still faced outstanding verification, so none of the percentages is a final seat allocation.
The Electoral Commission's provincial operations team said it wanted to complete Gauteng's local capturing before the expected national results announcement on Sunday. That was an operational target, not a guarantee that every outstanding contest or coalition arrangement would be settled then.
Midvaal is different from the tighter contests elsewhere
The same Friday-morning Gauteng breakdown showed the DA on 63.61% in Midvaal, considerably stronger than its Gauteng-wide showing. It led with 37.26% in Mogale City and was narrowly ahead in Lesedi, 30.38% to the ANC's 28.89% in that snapshot. The reported Lesedi gap was just 918 votes, making any premature claim of a finished result particularly risky.
The ANC was leading in Merafong City with 34.41% and Rand West City with 32.35% in the same report. The DA also appeared ahead in Emfuleni, but too few voting districts had reported for its early percentage to be treated as a reliable indicator of the final result.
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These municipalities have different electorates, outstanding counts and council sizes. A party can finish first in the popular-vote count and still need coalition partners to elect municipal leaders and pass budgets.
Ngwathe's result shows how a hung council works
Outside Gauteng, a fresh SABC report on Ngwathe in the Free State provides a clearer example of council arithmetic. The ANC finished as the largest party with 10 seats in the 27-seat council, followed by the DA with eight. Former Free State premier Ace Magashule's African Congress for Transformation (ACT) secured four seats.
Fourteen seats are needed for an outright majority in a 27-member council. The ANC's first-place finish therefore does not allow it to govern alone without additional support. The distribution of the other seats, and the decisions of elected councillors, will shape the next local administration.
Elsewhere, Eyewitness News reported that the MK Party had secured outright majorities in Richmond, Impendle and Johannes Pumani Phungula in KwaZulu-Natal. Those reported council outcomes are more specific than the party's province-wide lead and illustrate how different the local political map can be from a nationwide percentage.
In Mpumalanga, SABC reported that the new Service Delivery Party had won seven seats in the 17-seat Victor Khanye council after receiving approximately 39% of the vote. Seven seats make it the largest party there, not a majority: nine would be required to govern alone.
ANC led an earlier national snapshot, while DA makes projections
A separate SABC update at 05:12 SAST said the ANC led the captured nationwide count at 31.72%, compared with 24.94% for the DA, when approximately 68% had been captured at 03:00 SAST. The MK Party stood on 8.74% and the Economic Freedom Fighters on 6.11% in that earlier national snapshot.
Tendances actuelles
Populaire aujourd'hui
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That nationwide aggregate is not the same as the Gauteng count and cannot determine Gauteng's municipal council leadership. Its figures should not be treated as a later update than they are.
At 10:10 SAST, SABC reported comments by DA federal leader Geordin Hill-Lewis, who projected that the party could gain more than 100 ward seats nationally. Those numbers are party projections, not a certified IEC declaration. They are politically significant claims, but they remain separate from verified seat allocations.
Why the verified council result matters more than a headline percentage
South Africans vote for municipal councillors who make decisions affecting roads, water provision, waste collection, electricity distribution where municipalities are responsible, and local budgets. Party strength can differ sharply between wards, towns and the province as a whole. For voters interested in service delivery, the question is not simply which party is ahead on a results board, but who will have enough seats to govern effectively.
The Electoral Commission's explanation of its counting process says ballots are counted at voting stations, result slips undergo controlled capture, and figures are audited before official declarations. That makes a developing dashboard informative without making every displayed lead final.
For the voting rules and the different ballots involved, XTRAfrica's 2026 municipal election-day guide explains the process. Its special-voting guide covers the separate 2-3 November voting period. A wider look at the demands facing Johannesburg and surrounding municipalities appears in XTRAfrica's Gauteng population-growth report.
The next decisive milestones are the IEC's complete, verified municipal council allocations and any formal coalition agreements. Until then, the DA leads the cited Gauteng snapshot, the ANC led the cited earlier national snapshot, and neither fact settles who will lead every local council.
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