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Only one of South Africa’s eight metros was won by a party with a majority, with all other metros seeing no party win more than 50% following the local government elections (LGEs).

The Democratic Alliance (DA) won Cape Town with a majority and is the largest party in Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Tshwane. The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) was the largest party in eThekwini, and the African National Congress (ANC) was the largest party in Buffalo City and Mangaung.

Buffalo City

The chart below shows how, in twenty years, the ANC has gone from winning over 80% of the vote in the city to not securing a majority. The DA has shown some growth, while the United Democratic Movement recorded a large increase in support in the city in 2026.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Buffalo City council.

Cape Town

The chart below shows how the DA peaked at two-thirds of the vote in 2016, before declining to 59% in 2021 and then 57% in 2026. The ANC has declined markedly and now wins just over 10% of the vote.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Cape Town council.

Ekurhuleni

The chart below shows how the DA's vote share has been essentially flat since 2006, even as the ANC’s vote share has collapsed, falling by forty percentage points in twenty years.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Ekurhuleni council.

eThekwini

The chart below shows how the ANC has lost almost fifty percentage points in support since 2011, with the MKP emerging as the largest party in the city in 2026. The DA has seen some growth since 2006.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the eThekwini council.

Johannesburg

The chart below shows how the ANC's vote share has fallen by more than forty percentage points in twenty years, while the DA has seen a modest increase.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Johannesburg council.

Mangaung

The chart below shows how the ANC’s vote share fell from over 70% in 2006 to around a third of the vote following last week's election. Over the same period, the DA doubled its vote share to reach level pegging with the ANC.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Mangaung council.

Nelson Mandela Bay

The chart below shows how the ANC’s support has collapsed by about 40 percentage points in twenty years, while the DA’s has increased by about 20 points over that period.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Nelson Mandela Bay council.

Tshwane

The chart below shows how the ANC’s vote share has collapsed by nearly 40 percentage points in Tshwane, while the DA has remained fairly flat over that period.

The chart below shows the current seat count in the Tshwane council.

Marius Roodt told The Common Sense that the scale of the ANC's losses, read against its prospects for leading an economic reform movement, means that this might be the end of that party in urban South Africa. Roodt said its future political influence will be determined, to a great extent, by the vote share it picks up amongst poorer, older, rural voters, although even there its vote share has also been falling, but not to quite the same extent to which it has fallen in the cities.