Polokwane Local Municipality elections

The Polokwane Local Municipality is a Local Municipality in Limpopo, South Africa. The council consists of ninety members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Forty-five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in forty-five wards, while the remaining forty-five are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of fifty-six seats.

Results

The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections.

Event	ACDP	ANC	AZAPO	COPE	DA	EFF	FF+	PAC	UDM	Other	Total
2000 election	2	52	2	—	9	—	—	1	1	2	69
2006 election	2	58	1	—	7	—	1	1	1	2	73
2011 election	1	61	1	3	9	—	1	0	0	0	76
2016 election	0	52	0	1	10	26	1	0	0	0	90
2021 election	1	56	0	1	7	21	2	0	0	2	90

December 2000 election

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.^[1]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	51,259	73.53	31	52,561	75.96	21	52
	Democratic Alliance	9,618	13.80	3	9,300	13.44	6	9
	Independent candidates	3,778	5.42	1				1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,933	2.77	0	1,786	2.58	2	2
	Azanian People's Organisation	1,479	2.12	0	1,814	2.62	2	2
	United Democratic Movement	752	1.08	0	1,457	2.11	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	412	0.59	0	1,481	2.14	1	1
	Alliansie Noord	479	0.69	0	800	1.16	1	1
Total		69,710	100.00	35	69,199	100.00	34	69

Valid votes		69,710	97.92		69,199	97.20
Invalid/blank votes		1,482	2.08		1,993	2.80
Total votes		71,192	100.00		71,192	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		184,344	38.62		184,344	38.62

March 2006 election

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.^[2]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	63,063	75.38	33	66,722	79.58	25	58
	Democratic Alliance	8,029	9.60	3	7,800	9.30	4	7
	Independent candidates	5,499	6.57	1				1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,822	2.18	0	1,997	2.38	2	2
	United Independent Front	1,679	2.01	0	1,859	2.22	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1,296	1.55	0	1,470	1.75	1	1
	Azanian People's Organisation	1,139	1.36	0	1,167	1.39	1	1
	United Democratic Movement	348	0.42	0	1,394	1.66	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	624	0.75	0	983	1.17	1	1
	Alliance for Democracy and Prosperity	164	0.20	0	452	0.54	0	0
Total		83,663	100.00	37	83,844	100.00	36	73

Valid votes		83,663	98.34		83,844	97.18
Invalid/blank votes		1,408	1.66		2,435	2.82
Total votes		85,071	100.00		86,279	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		217,472	39.12		217,472	39.67

May 2011 election

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.^[3]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	87,275	77.06	35	91,293	80.24	26	61
	Democratic Alliance	12,651	11.17	3	13,008	11.43	6	9
	Congress of the People	4,291	3.79	0	4,551	4.00	3	3
	Independent candidates	3,644	3.22	0				0
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,110	0.98	0	1,214	1.07	1	1
	Azanian People's Organisation	987	0.87	0	1,134	1.00	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1,075	0.95	0	856	0.75	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	767	0.68	0	675	0.59	0	0
	National Freedom Party	853	0.75	0	498	0.44	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	608	0.54	0	545	0.48	0	0
Total		113,261	100.00	38	113,774	100.00	38	76

Valid votes		113,261	98.24		113,774	98.51
Invalid/blank votes		2,034	1.76		1,723	1.49
Total votes		115,295	100.00		115,497	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		239,953	48.05		239,953	48.13

August 2016 election

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.^[4]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	92,434	57.13	40	92,549	57.20	12	52
	Economic Freedom Fighters	45,463	28.10	1	45,838	28.33	25	26
	Democratic Alliance	17,872	11.05	4	17,651	10.91	6	10
	Freedom Front Plus	1,407	0.87	0	1,398	0.86	1	1
	Congress of the People	933	0.58	0	831	0.51	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	629	0.39	0	826	0.51	0	0
	African People's Convention	258	0.16	0	836	0.52	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	552	0.34	0	457	0.28	0	0
	Independent candidates	867	0.54	0				0
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	462	0.29	0	354	0.22	0	0
	Forum for Service Delivery	354	0.22	0	338	0.21	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	130	0.08	0	272	0.17	0	0
	People's Revolutionary Movement	106	0.07	0	138	0.09	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	101	0.06	0	132	0.08	0	0
	African People's Socialist Party	127	0.08	0	91	0.06	0	0
	Value Education Nationalism Democracy in Africa	115	0.07	0	83	0.05	0	0
Total		161,810	100.00	45	161,794	100.00	45	90

Valid votes		161,810	98.47		161,794	98.45
Invalid/blank votes		2,519	1.53		2,541	1.55
Total votes		164,329	100.00		164,335	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		318,088	51.66		318,088	51.66

November 2021 election

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[5]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	81,589	58.31	37	85,887	61.86	19	56
	Economic Freedom Fighters	30,844	22.04	4	32,943	23.73	17	21
	Democratic Alliance	10,079	7.20	4	10,331	7.44	3	7
	Independent candidates	9,218	6.59	0				0
	Freedom Front Plus	2,618	1.87	0	2,592	1.87	2	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	835	0.60	0	1,057	0.76	1	1
	Abantu Batho Congress	661	0.47	0	593	0.43	1	1
	Magoshi Swaranang Movement	397	0.28	0	563	0.41	1	1
	Congress of the People	469	0.34	0	476	0.34	1	1
	Patriotic Alliance	438	0.31	0	476	0.34	0	0
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	325	0.23	0	512	0.37	0	0
	Kingdom Covenant Democratic Party	157	0.11	0	566	0.41	0	0
	Defenders of the People	322	0.23	0	353	0.25	0	0
	Africa Restoration Alliance	255	0.18	0	381	0.27	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	271	0.19	0	359	0.26	0	0
	African People's Convention	324	0.23	0	278	0.20	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	176	0.13	0	342	0.25	0	0
	Movement for Total Liberation	222	0.16	0	232	0.17	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	179	0.13	0	216	0.16	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	201	0.14	0	161	0.12	0	0
	Party of Action	162	0.12	0	197	0.14	0	0
	Young Peoples Party	58	0.04	0	86	0.06	0	0
	Democratic Artists Party	42	0.03	0	94	0.07	0	0
	South African Royal Kingdoms Organization	52	0.04	0	74	0.05	0	0
	Prophetic Movement Army	36	0.03	0	79	0.06	0	0
Total		139,930	100.00	45	138,848	100.00	45	90

Valid votes		139,930	98.59		138,848	98.17
Invalid/blank votes		2,004	1.41		2,588	1.83
Total votes		141,934	100.00		141,436	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		326,617	43.46		326,617	43.30

By-elections from November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021.^[6]

Date	Ward
25 Jan 2023^[7]	10	Economic Freedom Fighters	Economic Freedom Fighters
24 Apr 2024^[8]	10	Economic Freedom Fighters	African National Congress
13 Nov 2024^[9]	39	Democratic Alliance	Democratic Alliance

In the ward 10 by-election held on 25 January 2023 after the death of the previous Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) councillor, the EFF candidate retained the seat for the party. ActionSA contested its first by-election in Limpopo, winning 10% of the vote.^[7]

After the resignation of the EFF councillor following his arrest for stealing weapons and ammunition from the South African Police Service Stock Theft Unit, another by-election was held. The ANC won the seat back, with 53% of the vote to the EFF's 43%. ActionSA dropped to 2%, while uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) contested its first by-election in Limpopo, finishing fifth with 1%. ^[8]

References

^ "Election Result Table for LGE2000 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
^ "Election Result Table for LGE2006 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
^ "Election Result Table for LGE2011 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
^ "Election Result Table for LGE2016 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
^ "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
^ "Municipal By-elections results". Electoral Commission of South Africa. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b Sussman, Wayne (2023-01-26). "JANUARY BY-ELECTIONS: EFF retains key Polokwane ward, makes inroads in another Limpopo ward as ANC notches landslide E Cape win". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
^ ^a ^b Sussman, Wayne (2024-04-25). "Patriotic Alliance shocks ANC, DA in Swartland, Oudtshoorn". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
^ Sussman, Wayne (2024-11-14). "Easy win for DA leaves ANC trailing in low-turnout Polokwane ward poll". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-11-19.

[1] "Election Result Table for LGE2000 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.

[2] "Election Result Table for LGE2006 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.

[3] "Election Result Table for LGE2011 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.

[4] "Election Result Table for LGE2016 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.

[5] "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Polokwane". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-01-26.

[mbe-6] "Municipal By-elections results". Electoral Commission of South Africa. Retrieved 26 January 2023.

[dm_2023_01-7] Sussman, Wayne (2023-01-26). "JANUARY BY-ELECTIONS: EFF retains key Polokwane ward, makes inroads in another Limpopo ward as ANC notches landslide E Cape win". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2023-01-26.

[dm_2024_04-8] Sussman, Wayne (2024-04-25). "Patriotic Alliance shocks ANC, DA in Swartland, Oudtshoorn". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-04-25.

[dm_2024_11-9] Sussman, Wayne (2024-11-14). "Easy win for DA leaves ANC trailing in low-turnout Polokwane ward poll". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-11-19.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]