South Africa’s municipal polls draw record turnout amid service‑delivery concerns

South Africans began voting at 7 a.m. (GMT 05:00) on Wednesday in a nationwide local‑government election that will determine the composition of 205 local councils, 44 district councils and eight metropolitan municipalities. The Electoral Commission of South Africa reports that 29.2 million people are registered to vote, the highest figure in the country’s history, and that more than 1.4 million special votes were submitted in the two days preceding the poll.

The African National Congress (ANC), which has governed the country since the end of apartheid, is projected by several polls to receive less than 40 percent of the vote, a decline from the 45.6 percent it secured in the 2021 municipal elections and the 40.2 percent it obtained in the 2024 national election. Analysts attribute the drop to widespread dissatisfaction with water shortages, electricity outages and perceived corruption, which have eroded public confidence in municipal services.

In Johannesburg, the nation’s financial hub, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has nominated former party leader Helen Zille as its mayoral candidate. Zille’s campaign has featured high‑visibility stunts such as snorkeling in a flooded trench, intended to highlight infrastructure failures. The DA leads polls in the city, but its support remains below 40 percent, and the party’s relationship with the ANC at the local level appears strained despite a national coalition between the two parties.

Former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party is contesting its first local election, focusing on the eThekwini municipality that includes Durban. The party’s messaging emphasizes a return to “taking back the country,” and it is polling above 40 percent in that region, according to local reports. The election outcome will shape council formations, as mayors are chosen by elected councillors rather than directly by voters.