2011 Local Government Election results LIVE

2337: As the final results of South Africa’s local government election were being tallied the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, the Congress of the People and the recently formed National Freedom Party were patting themselves on the back and celebrating their victories for the most part.

But while the leaders of these four parties had reason to smile, many others did not. And in some instances their poor performance was so dramatic that the DA’s parliamentary leader Athol Trollip predicted the demise of the smaller parties.

He predicted that the 2011 election would be the last election for smaller parties.

"This election will spell the end of smaller parties and it is now clear that the race in future will be between the ANC and DA with Cope in a distant third." In the last municipal elections in 2006, the ANC walked away with 64.8% of the vote, the DA with 16 and the IFP with 7.6.

In 2000, the ANC garnered 59% of the local vote, the DA 22 and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) nine.

2126: Municipal elections meant slightly fewer votes for the ANC and quite a bit more for the DA, according to results released on Thursday evening.

By 8pm, with 89.9% of the votes counted and checked, the ruling African National Congress had garnered 63.78% of the vote — slightly less than past elections — while the main opposition Democratic Alliance improved in all nine provinces after scoring 21.83% nationally.

The results showed that South Africa’s fourth post-apartheid local government elections was mainly a two-horse race, with only two real players among the 121 parties that participated.

Although the ANC remained the main player, it was its worst showing in five years. In the last municipal elections in 2006, the ANC secured 66.3% of the vote and the DA 14.8%.

In the last national elections in 2009, the ANC got 65.9% and the DA 16.7%.

2025: The newly formed NFP has taken three municipalities from the IFP.

By 7pm, it appeared the Inkatha Freedom Party breakaway party, the National Freedom Party (NFP) had won Edumbe and Nongoma municipalities.

Results in KwaZulu-Natal continued to favour the ANC as the counting reached the halfway point by 6pm on Thursday.

The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal has also won a number of municipalities from its arch rival, the IFP.

KwaZulu-Natal chief electoral officer Mawethu Mosery said the commission was likely to complete the counting of votes by Thursday evening.

1955: Facing defeat in the Cape Town mayoral race, ANC candidate Tony Ehrenreich on Thursday night hinted that he may run for premier of the Western Cape in 2014.

"It’s not up to me to say I’m going to run for premier but I think the ANC in the province now really has to look towards 2014 and I am certainly prepared to play my part," he told Sapa as the DA held to a lead of more than 70% in the city with about three-quarters of the vote consolidated.

Ehrenreich, also Cosatu’s Western Cape secretary, said he believed the ANC’s score would grow as counting continued on the Cape Flats but conceded that the party had failed to win coloured voters away from the Democratic Alliance.

1841: Two independent candidates have won wards in the Rustenburg municipality. According to the results on the IEC website, Pako Molatlhegi won ward 28 and Jacob Banda ward 25.

Molatlhegi was contesting with ANC candidate, Simon Makhubela. The former ANC Youth League chairman received 58.16% of votes in the hot contested ward in Lethabong.

1815: The collapse of the Congress of the People was the reason why ANC won the Nelson Mandela Bay, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said.

"If Cope had retained the overall results [from the previous election], we would have easily been able to retain Nelson Mandela Bay. The reason we lost is because of the collapse of Cope," Zille said during her walkabout at the Independent Electoral Commission's results centre in Pretoria.

1734: The ANC remains South Africa's dominant party and its 62.5 percent lead is a reflection that it still enjoys an overwhelming majority, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said on Thursday.

"This is because the ANC is the political home of all our people. It's a family. Having a protest does not amount to anti-ANC," he said at the Independent Electoral Commission's results centre in Pretoria.

1701: The ANC has won the Nkandla ward, where President Jacob Zuma's homestead is situated, from the IFP.

The ANC won ward 14 with 53.9% of the vote (1 219 votes) over the Inkatha Freedom Party, with only 16.28% (368 votes). The ward has been controlled by the IFP since the first democratic local government elections, and the party used to boast that it controlled a ward where the ANC president lived.

1643: Andries Tatane, who was killed in a service delivery protest last month, was an independent candidate in the municipal elections, COPE said at the IEC results centre in Pretoria on Thursday.

Tatane stood as an independent candidate for ward 14 in Ficksburg in the eastern Free State despite him "still being" a member of the Congress of the People.

1619: The chairman of the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal, Bonginkosi Buthelezi, has conceded defeat at the local government elections, saying the newly formed National Freedom Party had been a major factor in the poll.

Speaking after the results of Amajuba district were released, which showed that the ANC had won, Buthelezi said the party had faced an uphill battle which it failed to win.

"Although we knew that the NFP was going to be a factor, we did not know that it would be to this degree," said Buthelezi.

"The IFP went to the election with the intention of winning - we are obviously disappointed with this outcome," said Buthelezi.

He charged that some NFP members who had been axed from council positions had continued using council resources and this had helped in funding the newly launched party.

Aside from the NFP, Buthelezi also blamed internal factors, citing funding and disaffected voters.

"We also had to face up to the reality that the ruling party was using government resources to carry out its election campaign."

Buthelezi said the party would hold a council meeting soon in which the results would be discussed.

1547: Balfour residents seem to have given the ANC a second chance, with the party winning nearly 60% of the vote there by Thursday afternoon.

Many residents had expressed disappointment in the government's lack of delivery.

However, preliminary results indicated that the ANC had 59.82% of the vote (19 683 votes), the DA 14.12% (4 645) and independent candidates 10.27% (3 378).

1532: Almost 89% of votes in the local government elections have been captured, but major metros were still outstanding, chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said on Thursday.

"As at 2pm this afternoon 51 642 of the 58 158 results slips were already captured. This constitutes 88.8% of the results slips expected," she said at the results operation centre in Pretoria.

1500: Just under 500 000 votes were spoilt in the 2011 municipal elections, according to results released by the Independent Electoral Commission by 3pm on Thursday.

Nationally, a total of 451 979 votes were spoilt, the majority of which were in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng.

Earlier, COPE acting deputy secretary-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole said those who did not vote in the municipal election, including former COPE co-founder Mbhazima Shilowa, should not complain about service delivery.

"Any citizen who waived their right and responsibility to vote does not care about the future of this country," she told Sapa.

"They have no right to complain when service delivery is not met."

1456: A number of smaller opposition parties, which ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said were "being gobbled up", were still optimistic about their prospects on Thursday afternoon.African Christian Democratic Party MMP Jo-Ann Downs said although it was too early to tell how they had fared in the local government elections, the trend seemed to indicate the party "gained what it lost in the last election".

1446: A group of ANC supporters unhappy with the DA victory in the Midvaal area, in Gauteng, intimidated community members on Thursday morning, the Midvaal mayor claimed.

"A group of disgruntled ANC members who were unhappy with the outcome of the elections went around making noise and intimidating community members in the Sicelo area this morning," said Timothy Nast.

ANC Gauteng spokesman Dumisa Ntuli, said he had heard about the protest, but that the ANC accepted the results of the elections in Midvaal.

1351:The ANC had obtained 49.64% of the vote (89 392 votes) in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality and the DA 44.61% (80 347) by Thursday afternoon.

According to Independent Electoral Commission results, 91 105 people voted in the metro, where 372 692 people were registered to vote.

The Freedom Front Plus received 2.76% of the vote (4 970 votes) and the Congress of the People 1.97% (3 541).

In the Free State as a whole, the ANC was dominating by 1pm with 68.36% of the vote (808 016 votes), the DA 20.17% (283 957), COPE 3.65% (43 036) and the Freedom Front Plus 2.10% (24 764).

1319: The ANC had won 14 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal by midday on Thursday and the IFP two. Results from only 16 municipalities had been finalised in the province by noon.

“We have audited results for the 16 municipalities so far and the ANC has won 14 of them,” said IEC provincial chief Mawethu Mosery.

There are a total of 61 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Inkatha Freedom Party won the Mthonjaneni municipality incorporating Melmoth town, and Hlabisa municipality.

Those won by the African National Congress include Richmond, Ezinqoleni, Amajuba, Umzimkhulu, Kwa Sani, Danhauser, eMadlangeni, Newcastle, Endumeni and Umvoti.

But the ANC does not have an outright majority in Umvoti. It secured 10 seats compared to IFP's nine.

Mosery said the IEC hoped to have captured all results in the province by 8PM on Thursday.

1202: The ANC had 1.8 million votes in Gauteng, South Africa's economic hub, by midday on Thursday with the Democratic Alliance on 950,801. The ANC had 61.99 percent of the vote, compared to the DA's 31.82 percent.

The Congress of the People had 1.13 percent (33,854 votes).

Total voter turnout stood at 1.3 million, with 5.5 million voters registered.

1156: The Democratic Alliance garnered 59.94 percent of votes in the Western Cape compared to the ANC's 30.04 percent, according to votes counted by noon on Thursday.

The DA received about 1.4 million votes and the ANC 686,587.

The embattled Congress of the People continued to feature on the results board, obtaining 2.37 percent or 54,186 votes.

The total voter turnout so far stood at 877,862 in the province with some 2.7 million registered voters.

1150: The DA was looking forward to results from major metropolitan areas around the country, its leader, Helen Zille, said at the IEC's results centre in Pretoria on Thursday."So far it's been great," Zille told reporters. "We are looking forward to the metros."

She said the tightly-fought Midvaal area, where the DA had won 60.71% of the vote and the ANC 37.17%, showed "an increased maturity" in votes.

Midvaal had been the only municipality held by the DA in Gauteng. The ANC has furiously campaigned to win it from the DA.

The DA was claiming nine of the 14 seats in the council, said DA strategist Ryan Coetzee.

Zille said the election had helped the DA "break through race being the primary issue" of elections in South Africa. She was confident that the party would win 20% of the national vote.

She congratulated the Independent Electoral Commission on a sterling job.

1142: The ANC was blazing ahead in the Free State's Moqhaka municipality, where it had built unenclosed toilets, according to election results in by 11.30am on Thursday.

The party had 32 724 votes (61.43%) while the DA - also guilty of constructing open-air loos in Cape Town - followed with 14 404 votes (27.04%). According to results so far, of the 81 617 registered voters in the municipality, 16 356 had turned up to vote.

The Congress of the People followed with 4 042 votes, or 7.59%. The Freedom Front Plus received 1 080 votes or 2.03% of the total votes cast in the municipality.

The unenclosed toilet saga saw much mudslinging between the ANC and the DA in the run-up to the 2011 local government election.

1120: The ANC had 52.14% of the vote in the Durban metro, followed by the DA with 26.30% by 11am on Thursday. The ANC had 82 761 votes and the DA 41 743 votes as the count continued.

The Inkatha Freedom Party followed the DA, with 5.02% or 7 966 votes and the National Freedom Party, an IFP breakaway, 4.06% or 6 440 votes.

In all, 1.7 million people registered to vote in the metro. A total of 158 726 valid votes had been counted so far.

1120: ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and IFP coordinator Musa Zondi renewed old bonds of friendship at the Independent Electoral Commission results centre on Thursday.

"This guy, he makes me laugh so much, Mantashe said as he and a giggling Zondi shared a joke.

People nearby were taken aback at the jolly duo.

"We are old political friends," said Zondi as the pair shook hands and wished each other well in the elections.

They were laughing about former Inkatha Freedom Party chairwoman Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, who now leads the National Freedom Party, an IFP splinter group.

Zondi told Mantashe he had heard a rumour that Msibi planned to destablise the ANC.

Laughing, Mantashe said the ANC had nothing to do with her and that she was "power hungry".

Showing that there was no animosity between the two parties, Mantashe then went and shook each IFP member's hand.

1045: The ANC had a tight grip on Tshwane by mid-morning on Thursday, with about 53% of the vote compared to the DA's 40%.

More than a million people voted in the municipality. By 10am, more than 100 000 votes had been counted.

The DA was hoping for victory in the area, where it claimed to have made significant inroads in traditional ANC strongholds.

The Christian Democratic Party held third place, with 0.60% of the vote.

1043:Election results 10:43 Source IEC

1031: Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman said the province's rural areas were heading for a "a lot of hung councils" and it was still anybody's guess who had won the Cape Town metro.

"In the rural areas we won some and we lost some. There will be a lot of hung councils," he said, listing Oudtshoorn, Swellendam and Worcester among these.

"The metro, we don't know," Fransman said.

IEC spokesman Trevor Davids said it hoped to have provisional results for all parts of the province by early evening.

"The metro is still largely outstanding. We are really pushing for the end of this day and hope to have a provisional result for the province," he said.

10:16: Reuters: Below are latest results of vote counting from Wednesday’s South African local elections, in which the opposition Democratic Alliance appeared to gain some support from voters disenchanted with the government’s failure to provide basic services.

The table shows the percentage held by the parties after the counting of results from 5,93 million voters out of 23,6 million registered voters.

PERCENTAGE OF NATIONAL VOTE

PARTY: Latest count: 2006 result

African National Congress 62,52: 67,71

Democratic Alliance 24,00: 13,92

Congress of the People 2,84: -

Inkatha Freedom Party 3,48: 8,38

National Freedom Party 2,36: -

United Democratic Movement 0,70: 1,42

Freedom Front Plus 0,54: 0,97

African Christian Democratic Party 0,56: 1,24

09:53: The three-month-old breakaway National Freedom Party had secured 17 seats throughout the country by 9am on Thursday.

"We didn't expect this at all. This party is still at infancy," said party convenor Evans Sosibo.

"We are very happy because this sets a solid foundation for us in the 2014 election."

The NFP is a splinter group from the Inkatha Freedom Party, which has obtained 28 seats so far.

The NFP said it was doing best in KwaZulu-Natal, where it had obtained 51% of the vote in the Dumbe municipality and 56 in the IFP stronghold of Nongoma. It had taken the Motereng metro, in North West.

Sosibo said sources on the ground claimed the NFP had secured Cleveland, in Johannesburg, but this still had to be confirmed.

"It's obvious that our campaigning went well, especially in KZN. We will definitely be celebrating this weekend," he said.

The United Democratic Movement had secured five seats, four of them in the Eastern Cape.

UDM official Jana Warffemius said it was an improvement from the 2006 municipal elections.

0945:Election results 0912 Source: IEC

0942: The DA was still trailing the ANC in the tightly fought Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality at 9am on Thursday.

The ANC had 50.93% of the vote, while the DA had 41.71%, according to preliminary results from the Independent Electoral Commission.

A total of 268 747 votes had been counted. There are 569 470 registered voters in the area.

0853:The ANC was slightly ahead of the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay on Wednesday morning with 59% of the votes counted, reports the Herald Online. The latest results gave the ANC 47% of the vote, with 44% for the DA and 4% for COPE.

0804: via twitter Gwede Mantashe comes up to the DA's table and says congratulations on winning Midvaal and Baviaans. #LGEResults

0755: As dawn broke over the SA on Thursday, journalists and politicians closely watched a large screen at the IEC's results centre in Pretoria displaying updated local government elections results.

Some who spent the entire night at the centre refilled their cups of coffee in an attempt to keep their eyes open.

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the party had suffered from "high blood pressure" since Wednesday evening, when the numbers were "going up and down".

"There are some of us who have not slept the entire evening... I had about an hour's rest," Mthembu said, having a cup of coffee and biscuits.

He said even though it was still early, and results from major metros had not filtered in, the party was confident of doing well.

0659: With a third of Western Cape votes counted, the DA has increased its support by 25 percentage points compared to the 2006 local government election. SABC News reported the DA won 83 out of the 114 wards declared in the province so far, while the ANC got 31 in Wednesday's poll.

Turnout in the province, with 36% of the votes counted, was almost 48%.

In the 2006 local government election, the DA won 33.3% of the votes cast in the province.

The numbers could still change significantly, especially with results for the Cape metropole still outstanding.

0510: The ANC took an early lead in the Ekurhuleni Metro, with 58% of votes thus far.

With 43 of 587 voting districts counted, the preliminary results put the DA in second place with 36%, the SABC reported on Thursday. The Freedom Front Plus were marginally ahead of COPE, with 2% and 1% respectively.

0453: The DA is ahead in preliminary results for the City of Cape Town, with 62% of votes to the ANC's 27%, SABC news reported on Thursday.

COPE was currently in third place with 2% of votes counted. Nineteen of 814 voting districts had been declared, with a 71% voter turnout for the city.

0441: The ANC enjoyed a significant lead in Nelson Mandela Bay as the results of the municipal elections began trickling in on Thursday morning, the SABC reported. With 24 of the 246 voting districts declared, the ANC had a healthy lead with 74%.

The DA had 17% of the votes in the region. COPE and the United Democratic Front were neck-and-neck with 3% each.

0343: The first ward to be declared by the Independent Electoral Commission in the 2011 local government election has changed hands from the DA to the ANC, SABC news reported on Thursday.

A ward at Thembelihle, in the Northern Cape, was won by Annetjie Kywe of the ANC with almost 49% of the vote. In 2006, the DA won 52% of the vote and the ANC won 47%. There are seven seats in the Thembelihle Municipality, and some 8 000 people are registered voters in that local council. This was the first of 4 277 wards in the country to be declared, the SABC reported.

0058: Of the first 500 000 ballots counted by midnight on Wednesday, the ANC had garnered almost 57% of the 2011 local government election votes.

2328: Results in South Africa's fourth democratic municipal elections starting trickling in on Wednesday evening after a long but mainly smooth voting day.

2136: The government expresses great satisfaction with the collective efforts of departments in ensuring the success registered thus far in rolling out the fourth democratic local government elections under the auspices and leadership of the Independent Electoral Commission.