By-elections 26 November 2025 
The DA faced a very stiff challenge from the Patriotic Alliance in Arcadia, Nelson Mandela Bay, while the EFF increased their majority over the ANC in Julius Malema’s home ward in Polokwane. The IFP held firm against the ANC and a lacklustre uMkhonto Wesizwe party in an AbaQulusi ward in Zululand. The sole ward to change hands was one in which it was impossible for the incumbent to win since the independent candidate was not on the ballot. The ANC won by a landslide in Ngqushwa in the Amathole district.
Eastern Cape
Ward 34 (Arcadia Bethelsdorp) Nelson Mandela Bay: DA 47% (62%) PA 43% (3%) NA 6% (18%) ANC 2% (3%) PAC 1% (<1%) EFF 1% (1%)
The setting: Ward 34 is northwest of the city centre. Most of the voters are in Arcadia. There is also a sizeable group of voters in Bethelsdorp and Salsoneville. Shafiek Abrahams, the former Proteas spin bowler and cricket coach, hails from Bethelsdorp.
The 2021 local government election: The DA beat the local Northern Alliance (NA) by 2,275 votes. It swept all four voting districts, winning more than 60% of the vote in three of them. The NA did best in the most-populous voting district, taking 27%. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) ended a distant fourth, with 4%. The PA, Defenders of People (DOP) and ANC all finished on 3%.
The 2024 provincial election: The DA won 54% of the vote in the voting districts that make up Ward 34. It won all four voting districts. The PA emerged as its biggest threat in this ward with an impressive 32%. The latter finished well ahead of any other party in every single district in the ward. The gap between the DA and the PA was 1,339 votes. The ANC obtained 4%, the EFF 2% and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) 1%. The NA was not on the ballot.
The by-election: The ward councillor died in a car accident.
The DA held off the PA by 188 votes, with the parties splitting the four voting districts, taking two each. The DA beat the PA by 121 votes in Bethelsdorp and by 133 votes at Arcadia Primary School. The PA pipped the DA by five votes at the Wonderwonings Community Centre in Arcadia. The PA performed best in Salsoneville, beating the incumbents by 61 votes. The renaming of the Northern Alliance to the National Alliance did not help the NA’s cause. It was far back in third place, losing two-thirds of its support in the by-election. The ANC was off the pace in this by-election.
This was a vital win for the DA after losing a seat to the PA in Mossel Bay a few weeks ago. The PA might have fallen short but it will still believe that launching its local government election campaign in Nelson Mandela Bay was the correct move since there is much potential for growth in the metro.
Poll: 47% (48%)
Ward 11 (Magaba Mpekweni) Ngqushwa, Amathole: ANC 70% (42%) PAC 21% Al Jama-ah 9%
The setting: Ward 11 is rural and sparsely populated, located southwest of Peddie, the seat of power in Ngqushwa. The ward extends to the border of the Ndlambe (Port Alfred) municipality and includes the villages of Magaba, Mgababa, Prudhoe, Gibraltar Rock and Mpekweni. The ward extends to the coast and includes sought-after beach resorts.
Ngqushwa forms part of the ANC stronghold of Amathole. Other towns in the district include Butterworth, Dutywa and Alice.
The 2021 local government election: The ANC won 70% of the proportional representation (PR) ballot vote. The EFF was the only other party to get into double figures as it won a credible 21% of the PR vote. The DA finished a distant third with 4%.
The big shock came on the ward ballot. Independent candidate Xolani Magini beat the ANC by 54 votes and 4% as he finished on 46%, just ahead of the ANC on 42%. The EFF came third with 10%.
The ANC won 18 of the 23 council seats, including 11 of the 12 ward seats. The only ward seat not bagged by the ANC was Ward 11. The EFF won three seats and the DA and Magini shared one each.
The 2024 provincial election: The ANC won 68% of the vote in the 4 districts which make up Ward 11. The PAC came second with 16% and the EFF third with 10%. This is one of the few if only parts of the country where the PAC would have beaten the EFF.
The by-election: The ward councillor was reported to have endorsed the PAC in 2024. The councillor was removed as councillor by the provincial MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
The ANC won 70% of the vote, the same percentage it received on the PR ballot in 2021, and slightly up from its 2024 provincial ballot return. It swept all the voting districts, beating the PAC by 871 votes.
The PAC was second, beating Al Jama-ah in every voting district. It also won 34% of the vote in one of the four voting districts. The ANC now controls every ward in Ngqushwa.
Poll: 58% (60%)
Ward 13 (Seshego Zone 1 Juju Valley) Polokwane, Capricorn: EFF 57% (51%) ANC 41% (47%) SACP 1% ACP <1% Labour <1%
The setting: This is the ward EFF leader Julius Malema is from. Seshego Zone 1 is northwest of the Polokwane city centre. It is also in the southern and southwestern part of Seshego. The informal settlement area of Juju Valley is an EFF stronghold. The ANC tends to do best in three of the extension areas of the ward.
The 2021 local government election: The EFF beat the ANC by 154 votes. The 483-vote margin in Juju Valley was pivotal for the EFF. The ANC won four of the six voting districts, but could not make up the Juju Valley gap. The party won the two most-populous districts – Mohlakaneng High School and the Mponegele Primary School. At Mohlakaneng High the margin was 92 votes in the ANC’s favour, while at Mponogele Primary the margin was 159 votes in the ANC column. It won 72% in Extension 133 Phase 1, and had a 140-vote margin over the EFF. The challenge for the ANC is that there are not that many voters registered in this district.
When one considers the whole municipality, the ANC had one of its best nationwide results in Polokwane in 2021. It not only matched its 2016 showing in 2021, but improved on it, gaining five seats and rising from 57% to 60%. This growth was largely on the back of the EFF which lost six seats and saw its vote share decline from 28% to 23%. This would have been one of the EFF’s most frustrating nationwide results in 2021.
The 2024 provincial election: The EFF beat the ANC by 510 votes when one considers the voting districts that make up Ward 13. The EFF had a buffer of 521 votes when the Juju Valley result came in. It also beat the ANC at Mohlakaneng High School and Mponegele Primary School, where the margin was 135 votes in the latter but much closer in the former.
A new voting district was created in one of the extensions in the ward. The ANC won all three extension areas in the ward but this was not enough to prevent the EFF from improving in this ward compared with 2021 as the red berets finished on 52% while the ANC was 10% behind on 42%.
The ANC took 60% of the vote across all of Polokwane in 2024, down from 63% in 2019. The EFF won 25%, as it did in 2019. The ANC’s slight decline was mainly due to the United Africans Transformation (UAT) party and uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK), which obtained 1% each.
The by-election: The ward councillor was expelled from the council for not accounting for his continued absences from the council. An interesting development was the decision by the South African Communist Party (SACP) to contest the election against its tripartite alliance partner, the ANC.
Julius Malema cast his vote in his home ward and helped spur his party to a big win by 966 votes over the ANC. The EFF did best at Mponegele Primary and at Phishego Primary in Seshego Zone 1. At both stations the party won 71% of the vote. At Mponegele the gap was an impressive 600 votes. The EFF did not beat the ANC convincingly in Juju Valley, with the margin being under 120 votes. The ANC’s gains there could not make up for the slide in Seshego Zone 1.
The ANC carried all the extension districts again, winning 67% of the vote in Extension 133 and 64% in Extension 127. The SACP was a non-issue in this by-election. It barely hurt the ANC, getting a meagre 1%.
Poll: 51% (49%)
KwaZulu-Natal
Ward 23 (Hlobane Kengolana) AbaQulusi, Zululand: IFP 51% (42% PR*) ANC 21% (31% PR) MK 19% EFF 6% (8%) Labour 2%
The setting: Ward 23 is east of Vryheid, the seat of power in AbaQulusi. Most of the voters are located above the R69 regional road which links Vryheid with the Ithala Game Reserve. Ward 23 includes the villages of Hlobane, Kengolana and KwaVilakazi. A large, sparsely populated portion of the ward includes voters who live near the R618 road which links Nongoma with Vryheid.
Vryheid had a strong coal sector. It is also known for its cattle farming. Runner Colleen de Reuck and soccer player Phakamani Mahlambi are from this municipality.
The 2021 local government election: The IFP beat the ANC by 237 votes on the PR ballot and 95 on the ward ballot. The National Freedom Party (NFP) came third with 16% on both ballots. There were two independent candidates who ran on the ward ballot who made slight dents in the IFP’s support on the ward ballot.
The IFP won in Hlobane and KwaVilakazi, but the ANC won in Kengolana. The most densely populated part of the ward is Hlobane. It was extremely competitive here on the PR ballot, with the IFP getting 35%, the NFP 26%, the ANC just behind on 25% and the EFF a credible 12%.
The 2024 provincial election: MK came first here by 139 votes when one considers the voting districts that make up the ward. MK took 41% of the vote, while the IFP was 5% behind on 36%. The ANC was a distant third on 9%, and the EFF fourth with 6%. The NFP’s support collapsed here in 2024 as it only garnered 1% support.
Hlobane was key to the MK’s success. The party beat the IFP here by 170 votes. It beat the IFP by 69 votes in Kengolana. The IFP won the two more sparsely populated districts. The IFP was better at getting its supporters to the polls in the more rural districts since differential turnout was higher here. In KwaVilakazi, 73% of registered voters showed up, much higher than the poll average of 54%. The IFP beat the MK here by 78 votes.
MK was the most popular party in all of AbaQulusi, taking 41%. The IFP came second with 36%, the same return as 2019, when it also finished second. The ANC was third with 13% after coming first here in 2019 with 41%. The DA came fourth with 6%, down from its 8% return in 2019. The EFF’s support fell from 7% to 2% and the NFP’s plummeted from 4% to 1%. The MK wrecking ball took no prisoners, with only the IFP avoiding damage in AbaQulusi.
The by-election: The ward councillor died after a long illness. The NFP decided not to contest the by-election. MK returned to the municipality where it made its electoral debut in February 2024.
The IFP retained the ward by more than 900 votes, winning comfortably. It swept all four voting districts. The ANC might have lost ground in the ward compared with 2021 but will be satisfied with second place, also beating MK in three of the four districts. MK lost more than half of its percentage support in this ward compared with the provincial ballot in 2024.
Read more: By-elections hub
The IFP won more than 60% of the vote in the two sparsely populated districts. The IFP won 48% in Kengolana and 44% in Hlobane. The ANC beat MK in both of these more-populous districts.
The IFP needed to retain this ward to ensure it only needed the support of the DA to hold onto the mayoral chain in AbaQulusi. The win gives it more stability in the council.
Poll: 55% (53% PR)
The next round of by-elections will be on 23 July when the ANC defends a seat in Sebokeng in Emfuleni and the DA defends two in the Western Cape, while the PA will hope to retain a seat in Sol Plaatje in the Northern Cape.
* The Proportional Representation (PR) ballot is used when it is a better mode of comparison for party support in the ward. In 2021, two independent candidates ran on the ward ballot. Due to those candidates not contesting again, we use the PR ballot.