Politics · South Africa · Local elections

South Africa votes today: 29.2 million people are registered to choose 257 municipal councils, with 1.4 million ballots already cast

Polls are open from 07:00 to 21:00 at 23,696 voting stations. The voters’ roll is 11.5% bigger than in 2021. Special votes are counted with today’s ballots, and the IEC has seven days to declare results.

Steel cut-out figures of people queueing behind a giant silhouette of Nelson Mandela, the Voting Line artwork at the Donkin Reserve in Gqeberha, at sunset — File: The Voting Line artwork at the Donkin Reserve, Gqeberha. Photo: Suzi-k / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

By Sipho Dlamini · Johannesburg · Politics
Published 4 Nov 2026, 05:50 Africa/Johannesburg

JOHANNESBURG — South Africans vote today in local government elections that decide who runs the country’s cities and towns for the next five years. Voting stations open at 07:00 and close at 21:00, and anyone still queueing at closing time will be allowed to vote, IOL reported. Wednesday has been declared a public holiday so that every registered voter can take part, SAnews said.

The voters’ roll stands at 29,230,808 people, up 11.5% from 26,204,579 at the last local elections in 2021, the Electoral Commission (IEC) said, as summarised by Verto. The commission has secured 23,696 voting stations for elections to South Africa’s 257 municipal councils, among them the metros of Johannesburg, Cape Town, eThekwini and Tshwane. Opening the national results centre in Midrand on 28 October, chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo called the results system “ready and fit for purpose”.

1.4 million votes already in the boxes

Special voting for people who cannot reach a station today ended at 17:00 on Tuesday. “At the time of closing, 1 425 942 voters had recorded as having voted between 2 and 3 November 2026,” IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya said, SAnews reported. Of those, 974,852 voted at stations and 451,090 at home. About 2.6 million special-vote applications had been approved. Gauteng led with 264,898 special votes, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (208,846) and the Eastern Cape (207,258). Moepya said the figures were preliminary and that special ballots would be counted with today’s ballots at each station after polls close.

At the same briefing the commission condemned incidents of intimidation, disruption and damage to election material and said it was taking legal action against the individuals and parties involved.

How to vote

Voters must cast their ballots at the station where they are registered. They need a green barcoded ID book, a smart ID card or a valid temporary identity certificate; driver’s licences, passports and photocopies are not accepted. Voters can check where they are registered on the IEC website, by sending their ID number by SMS to 32810, or by sending “Hi” on WhatsApp to 060 088 0000. Home Affairs offices are open from 07:00 to 21:00 today to issue temporary certificates.

AB24’s reading from Johannesburg: the first results from individual stations should appear on the IEC’s results dashboard overnight, but the metros will take longer. Watch turnout against the much bigger roll, the hung councils most likely to need coalitions, and whether the incidents the IEC reported this week spread on polling day.

Sources: IOL, 4 Nov 2026; SAnews, 3 Nov 2026; SAnews; Verto Morning Digest, 3 Nov 2026; Electoral Commission of South Africa.

— AB24 · Johannesburg