Source: IEC, Seat Calculation Detail, eThekwini, Local Government Elections 2016 and 2021 (retrieved ).

Source: IEC, Results Summary - All Ballots, eThekwini, Local Government Elections 2016 and 2021 (retrieved ).

The same voters also chose a party on the national ballot in 2019 and 2024. The two are not like-for-like. A local ballot elects a council, and each voter has a ward vote for a candidate and a PR vote for a party; a national ballot elects Parliament with one party vote. Different parties stand, independent candidates can stand for ward seats but not on the national ballot, and turnout differs.

Source: IEC, Detailed Results (national ballot), eThekwini, National and Provincial Elections 2019 and 2024; IEC, Results Summary - All Ballots, eThekwini, Local Government Elections 2021 (retrieved ).

Turnout is the share of registered voters who voted.

Source: IEC, Voter Turnout reports, eThekwini, Local Government Elections 2016 and 2021; IEC, Detailed Results, eThekwini, National and Provincial Elections 2019 and 2024, votes cast and registered voters (retrieved ).

Ward votes elect the ward councillors; PR votes, added to the ward votes, decide each party's total number of seats. A blank change means the party had no seat and less than 0,5% of the vote in , or did not stand.

Source: IEC, Results Summary - All Ballots and Seat Calculation Detail, eThekwini, Local Government Elections and (retrieved ).

The shares count the ward and PR ballots together

In a metro each voter has two local ballots, a ward ballot and a PR ballot, so the combined shares count most voters twice. Independent candidates stand only on the ward ballot, so their combined share is about half their ward share. Changes are in percentage points.

For local elections the IEC counts turnout as the higher of the ward and PR votes cast, against registered voters plus a small number of votes cast on its MEC7 form by registered voters whose names were missing from the voting district's roll. For national elections it is the votes cast in the municipality divided by the voters registered there. People may vote outside the district where they are registered, so a municipal national figure is approximate.

The 2024 national figures are from the national ballot only, not the regional or provincial ballots. Results are on the municipality's boundaries at the time of each election.

The national, provincial and metro results together: 2026 local election: the final results.