The Democratic Alliance (DA) has ended the African National Congress (ANC)’s long hold on the Vaal, emerging as the largest party in Emfuleni Local Municipality in South Africa’s 2026 local government elections. The result in the Gauteng municipality, which covers Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark, is one of the most striking shifts of an election that has redrawn the country’s political map.

Final results from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) show the DA winning 37 of the council’s 90 seats in Emfuleni, with 40.5 per cent of the ward ballot and 78,217 votes. The ANC fell to 24.0 per cent, with 46,309 votes. No party won the 46 seats needed for an outright majority, so the DA will need coalition partners to govern, but the ANC’s decades of control in the municipality are over.

A municipality that became a symbol

Emfuleni became one of the most closely watched contests of the election. The municipality has been associated for years with failing basic services, and the DA’s mayoral candidate, Kingsol Chabalala, campaigned on fixing what he described as years of chaos and poor governance. Speaking after casting his vote, he said residents deserved a municipality that worked for all communities and accused the ANC of neglecting basic services and allowing conditions to deteriorate.

The scale of the swing is clear from the ward results. The DA gained 13.9 percentage points on the ward ballot compared with 2021, when it held 26.6 per cent. The ANC, which held 38 of the 90 seats after the 2021 election, has lost its grip on a council it once dominated.

ANC falls below a third nationally

The Vaal result mirrors a national picture in which the ANC recorded its worst municipal election result since the end of apartheid. The IEC declared the elections free and fair on Sunday, 8 November, announcing that the ANC had won 30.76 per cent of the national vote and 3,246 council seats. The DA finished second with 24.64 per cent and 1,695 seats, followed by the uMkhonto weSizwe Party with 9.76 per cent and 785 seats.

After the 2021 election the ANC controlled 122 of South Africa’s 213 municipal councils. It will now control only 54. A total of 138 councils will be run by coalitions, almost double the number in 2021, and 63 councils previously run by the ANC are now hung. About 14.9 million people voted, representing 52 per cent of registered voters.

Coalition talks now decide the Vaal

With no outright winner in Emfuleni, attention now turns to coalition negotiations. The DA’s 37 seats leave it nine short of a majority, and smaller parties will decide who governs the municipality and who becomes mayor. The IEC’s declaration means newly elected councils must hold their first sitting within 14 days, putting the deadline at around 22 November.

For residents of Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark, Sebokeng and Evaton, the election was about more than party colours. The new council inherits a municipality under severe financial and service delivery pressure, and voters who backed change will judge the next administration on whether taps run, lights stay on and the streets are cleaned. The DA wrested the Vaal from the ANC; governing it is the harder test that now begins.