About 15.3-million people voted on Wednesday. That is 52% of the 28.5 million people on the voters’ roll, up from 46% in 2021.

The turnout in the eight big metro municipalities also improved this election. In 2021, all but two of the metros had voter turnouts lower than the national average – Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay.

In the 2026 election the situation turned around so that all big two metros had voter turnouts higher than the national average. The two that were below average were Mangaung and eThekwini.

Seven of the eight metros will have coalition councils because no party won a majority of the council seats. Cape Town’s council is the only one with a majority party.

In collaboration with GroundUp. Read full article here.