For residents of uMngeni, Wednesday’s elections decided who will run the services they depend on daily, from municipal administration in Howick to basic local government functions across the midlands region. That outcome has now been settled: the Democratic Alliance has retained control of the municipality, winning just over 60% of the vote share, a marked increase on its previous showing.
The stakes for ordinary voters were considerable. Until this week, uMngeni was the only council in KwaZulu-Natal under DA control, having been taken from the ANC in the 2021 local government elections. Its continued governance therefore carried weight well beyond the municipality itself, serving as a test of whether the party’s administration had, in the eyes of residents, improved their daily lives enough to earn a renewed and stronger mandate.
Chris Pappas, whom the DA had put forward for re-election as mayor, framed the result in exactly those terms. “For the last year we have become a beacon of hope for the rest of South Africa and our province as well. This result is testament that the DA has delivered. People who have never voted for the DA before have now put us back in power with an overwhelming majority,” he stated.
The numbers behind that mandate tell a clear story. In the last elections, the DA won the council with 48% of the vote share after attaining 14 000 votes. This time, the party gained just over 24 000 votes, lifting it past the 60% threshold. Dean Macpherson, the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson, argued that the result confirmed the party was on a substantial growth trajectory in the province.
Macpherson also pointed to a reversal of a setback the party had suffered at provincial level. “In 2024, the DA suffered a setback after the MK party received more votes than the DA in uMngeni. If it had been the local government elections, MK would have been the largest party. In the four 100% black township wards in the municipality, the DA has won every single one of them with a commanding majority,” he said. For voters in those township wards, the shift represents a change in who answers for their local services and representation.
Beyond uMngeni, the wider picture in KwaZulu-Natal remained fluid, with vote counting still continuing by late afternoon. Indications were that the DA would also be a kingmaker in key municipalities, including eNdumeni, previously controlled by the IFP, as well as eThekwini, the province’s only metro, and Msunduzi local municipality. In councils where no party wins outright, kingmaker status translates directly into influence over the coalitions that determine how services are governed and budgets are allocated for residents.
The MK party, meanwhile, was leading overall in KwaZulu-Natal by late afternoon. In various municipalities it claimed entire wards previously controlled by the ANC and the IFP. In the City of uMhlathuze, home to the critical Richards Bay port and several chemical and metal industries, the Jacob Zuma party made a clean sweep, a result with potential consequences for how a municipality anchored by such strategic economic infrastructure is run.
Taken together, the day’s results point to a shifting political map in the province, one in which voters across different municipalities have redistributed power among competing parties. For citizens, the practical question now turns to coalition-building and governance: which parties will cooperate to control councils, and how those arrangements will shape service delivery, accountability and everyday municipal life in the months ahead. In uMngeni, at least, residents have given a decisive answer, returning their incumbent administration with a substantially strengthened majority.