The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality council consists of 270 city councilors elected by mixed-member proportional representation. The councillors are divided into two kinds: (a) 135 Ward councillors who have been elected by first-past-the-post voting in 135 wards; and (b) 135 councillors elected from party lists (so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received).

Ward Councillors have more local responsibilities, including setting up Ward Committees in their wards to raise local issues, commenting on town planning and other local matters in their ward, and liaising with local ratepayers' and residents' associations. PR Councillors are usually allocated to more political tasks within their party structures and within the City.

Results The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections.

Event ANC DA ASA EFFPA IFP FF+ NNP Other Total 2000 election 128 73 — — — 8 1 — 7 217 2002 floor-crossing 133 59 — — — 7 0 8 10 217 2004 floor-crossing 139 60 — — — 8 0 0 10 217 2006 election 136 59 — — — 7 1 — 14 217 2007 floor-crossing 137 59 — — — 9 1 — 11 217 2011 election 153 90 — — — 4 1 — 12 260 2016 election 121 104 — 30 1 5 1 — 8 270 2021 election 91 71 44 29 8 7 4 — 16 270

December 2000

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.

By-elections (December 2000–October 2002) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in December 2000 and the floor crossing period in October 2002.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 15 September 2001 1 93 17 April 2002 107 15 May 2002 47 25 September 2002 97

October 2002 floor crossing

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitutional Court in United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in the period from October 8 to 22, 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats.

In the Johannesburg council, eight councillors crossed from the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA, and six councillors crossed from the DA to the African National Congress (ANC). One councillor each from the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Freedom Front Plus crossed to the Christian Democratic Party (CDP). The single councillor of the Azanian People's Organisation crossed to the Black Consciousness Forum.

Party Seats before Net change Seats after 127 6 133 73 14 59 – 8 8 8 1 7 3 0 3 1 2 3 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 — 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0

By-elections (October 2002–August 2004) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in October 2002 and September 2004.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 30 October 2002 75 22 January 2003 60 7 May 2003 57 15 October 2003 41 23 June 2004 70 89

September 2004 floor crossing Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004. Seven councillors crossed from the NNP to the ANC, one councillor crossed from the NNP to the Independent Democrats, and one crossed from the CDP to the DA.

Party Seats before Net change Seats after 132 7 139 59 1 60 8 0 8 3 0 3 3 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 — 1 1 8 8 0

By-elections (September 2004–February 2006) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in September 2004 and the election in March 2006.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 20 April 2005 38 27 July 2005 74

March 2006

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.

By-elections (March 2006–August 2007) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in March 2006 and the floor crossing period in September 2007.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 7 June 2006 10 23 May 2007 31

September 2007 floor crossing The final floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2007; floor-crossing was subsequently abolished in 2008 by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. In the Johannesburg council two councillors crossed from the Independent Democrats to the Inkatha Freedom Party, one councillor crossed from the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) to the African People's Convention, and one councillor crossed from the PAC to the African National Congress.

Party Seats before Net change Seats after 136 1 137 59 0 59 7 2 9 4 2 2 1 0 1 2 0 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 — 1 1 2 2 0

By-elections (September 2007–May 2011) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing period in September 2007 and the election in May 2011.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 26 September 2007 22 103 15 October 2008 76 28 January 2009 19 8 July 2009 90 2 September 2009 18

May 2011

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.

By-elections (May 2011–August 2016) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in May 2011 and August 2016.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 25 April 2012 28 7 November 2021 58 24 April 2013 115 2 July 2014 57 58 112 118 13 August 2014 32 90 28 January 2015 68 11 November 2015 73

August 2016

In the election of 3 August 2016 the African National Congress (ANC) won the largest share of the seats on the council with 121 but did not achieve a majority. On 22 August 2016, minority parties voted with the DA to elect its mayoral candidate, Herman Mashaba, as the first Democratic Alliance mayor of Johannesburg. Mashaba appointed a mayoral committee consisting of the DA and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Mashaba resigned on 27 November 2019. The ANC regional chair Geoff Makhubo was elected mayor on 4 December 2019, marking the return of the ANC to the city's executive since its ousting in 2016. Makhubo died from COVID-19 related complications on 9 July 2021 and Eunice Mgcina was appointed acting mayor.

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.

By-elections (August 2016–November 2021) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in August 2016 and November 2021.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 5 April 2017 73 23 August 2017 124 28 February 2018 14 25 April 2018 72 88 92 23 May 2018 85 10 April 2019 50 122 24 July 2019 54 83 109 112 11 November 2020By-election was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 9 41 68 120 130 19 May 2021 7 17 18 23

By the end of the term of the council, the changes in ward seats meant that the party composition was as follows.

November 2021

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

By-elections (November 2021–present) The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period from the election in November 2021.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 31 May 2022 53 28 Jun 2023 7 23 Aug 2023 102 28 Aug 2024 87 28 Aug 2024 89 11 Sep 2024 9 11 Sep 2024 21 19 Mar 2025 59 2 Apr 2025 82 2 Apr 2025 99 14 May 2025 24 10 Sep 2025 130 15 Oct 2025 29 26 Nov 2025 90 25 Feb 2026 102

Notes

References