Municipal elections were held in South Africa on 1 March 2006, to elect members to the local governing councils in the municipalities of South Africa. The municipalities form the local government of South Africa and are subdivisions of the provinces, thus making them responsible for local service delivery, such as electricity, water and fire services. All major political parties, excepting the SACP who are members of the Tripartite alliance, fielded candidates in the election. The expected winner, the African National Congress won the majority of seats nationwide, with 66.3% of the vote. These elections were seen as a test of the ANC, after some discontent with the speed of the delivery of new services at the municipal level in South Africa. The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance took 14.8% of votes nationwide, placing them in second overall. The Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party took 8.1% of the vote, or third place, while the new party formed under the leadership of Patricia de Lille, the Independent Democrats took 2.0%, placing them fourth of all major political parties. However, because rural electors have an additional vote compared to urban voters, a fairer representation of popular party support is given by the percentage of proportional representation votes i.e. African National Congress with 65.7% of the vote, the Democratic Alliance with 16.3% of votes nationwide, Inkatha Freedom Party with 7.6% of the vote and 2.2% for the Independent Democrats.
Campaign
The campaign focused around the delivery of services, particularly to townships after 12 years of democracy in the country. Riots and large-scale protests had broken out before the elections in certain townships around the country. All parties promised to speed up delivery of services. In Durbanthe shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo boycotted the elections under the slogan 'No Land! No House! No Vote!'
Results
The ANC won a majority in most of the councils of Northern Cape Province, North West Province, Gauteng Province, Mpumalanga Province, Limpopo Province and Eastern Cape Province. The DA won the largest share of votes in the City of Cape Town but did not achieve a majority, and hence was not able to form a government on its own. The DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille formed the city government and was elected mayor with the support of numerous minority parties. This was achieved in spite of the Independent Democrats siding with the African National Congress. The ID subsequently joined the DA-led coalition, strengthening its majority. The Inkatha Freedom Party won the majority in KwaZulu-Natal Province, although it lost support overall, when compared to the previous election, and did not win the major economic centres in the province.
Detailed national results
* PR=Proportional representation DC=District Council
In the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, the ANC retained its majority in the metropolitan government, with Nondumiso Maphazi succeeding Nceba Faku as mayor of the municipality; Maphazi was also the first female mayor of the municipality. The ANC also captured 81 seats with 66.53 percent of the votes. The DA won 30 seats, the ID three and the other six seats were divided between smaller parties, including the FF+, ACDP, PAC and UIF.
Johannesburg
In the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, the ANC retained its majority in the metropolitan government, and incumbent executive mayor Amos Masondo was re-elected to a second six-year term. The DA contested all wards, with opposition councillor Mike Moriarty unsuccessfully challenging Masondo for mayor.
Tshwane
In the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, the ANC retained its majority in the metropolitan government, with former Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgope elected to succeed Smangaliso Mkhatshwa as mayor of Tshwane; Ramokgope also became the first female mayor of the municipality. Gwen was challenged by DA councillor Fred Nel for the seat.
In the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, the ANC retained its majority in the metropolitan government, with Obed Mlaba being elected to a third term in office as mayor of the municipality. The ANC's mandate was increased by an estimated 115,000 votes, at the expense of the IFP, as was the case in several other parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
In the City of Cape Town, the Democratic Alliance was the largest single party in the City Council with 90 of the 210 seats on the council, ahead of the African National Congress's 81 seats, but with no party holding a majority. The African Christian Democratic Party with 7 councillors, drew an unlikely array of five smaller political parties together to form a king-maker block of 16 Councillors that eventually agreed to work with the DA's 90 in a multi-party government rather than the ANC /Independent Democrats alliance. The MPG's 106 councillors agreed to elect the DA's Helen Zille as Executive Mayor, the ACDP as Executive Deputy Mayor, the Speaker post was held by the one elected councillor from the Freedom Front Plus, whilst the United Democratic Movement, the Universal Party and the Africa Muslim Party took up seats on the Mayoral Committee. This fragile MPG survived until January 2007 when the AMP was expelled from the MPG for conspiring with the ANC. The ID was drawn into the MPG when the ACDP offered up its Executive Deputy Mayors post. This brought about a stable MPG
