The council of the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa is elected every five years by a system of mixed-member proportional representation.
Half of the councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting from individual wards, while the other half are appointed from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. By-elections are held to replace the councillors elected by wards if a vacancy occurs.
Results The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections and floor-crossing periods.
Event ACDP ALJ ANC COPE DA EFF FF+ ID NNP PAC PA UDM Other Total 2000 election 8 — 77 — 107 — — — — 1 — 3 4 200 2002 floor-crossing 8 — 80 — 71 — — — 32 1 — 3 5 200 2004 floor-crossing 6 — 104 — 70 — — 4 5 1 — 3 7 200 2006 election 7 — 81 — 90 — 1 23 — 1 — 2 5 210 2007 floor-crossing 7 — 81 — 95 — 1 16 — 1 — 1 8 210 2011 election 3 1 73 3 135 — 1 — — 1 — 1 3 221 2016 election 3 2 57 1 154 7 1 — — 1 1 1 3 231 2021 election 6 3 43 0 135 10 4 — — 1 4 1 24 231 2026 election 233
December 2000 election
The current form of the City of Cape Town was created in 2000 by merging the six transitional municipalities in the Cape Town metropolitan area (Cape Town/Central, South Peninsula, Blaauwberg, Tygerberg, Oostenberg and Helderberg) and the overarching Cape Metropolitan Council. The council of the new municipality consisted of 200 members, 100 elected from wards and the other 100 from party lists. The election was held on 5 December 2000; the Democratic Alliance won a majority of 107 seats.
By-elections from December 2000 to 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 25 April 2001 34 15 August 2001 71 28 August 2002 62
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 8–22 October 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats.
In the Cape Town city council, the Democratic Alliance (DA) lost 31 councillors to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA. The DA also lost 3 councillors to the African National Congress (ANC), 1 to the Universal Party and 1 who became an independent. The sole councillor of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) also crossed to the NNP. The ANC and the NNP formed a coalition which held a majority of 112 seats.
Party Seats before Net change Seats after 77 3 80 107 36 71 – 32 32 8 0 8 3 0 3 2 0 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 – 1 1 – 1 1 1 1 0
By-elections from October 2002 to 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 7 May 2003 67 11 February 2004 42 23 June 2004 6 9 13 15 46
September 2004 floor crossing
Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004. 23 of the 32 NNP councillors crossed to the ANC, giving the ANC a majority of 104 seats. A further 4 NNP councillors crossed to the ID. 2 councillors of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) crossed to the Federation of Democrats, a new party.
Party Seats before Net change Seats after 81 23 104 70 0 70 8 2 6 32 27 5 – 4 4 3 0 3 2 0 2 – 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
By-elections from September 2004 to 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 24 November 2004 32 7 September 2005 21 48
March 2006 election
At the election of 1 March 2006, the city council was expanded to 210 members with the addition of 5 new wards and 5 new PR list councillors. No party obtained a majority, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) winning 90 seats, the African National Congress (ANC) 81, and the new Independent Democrats (ID) 23.
After much negotiation, a seven-party governing coalition was formed, consisting of the DA, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the Africa Muslim Party (AMP), the United Democratic Movement (UDM), the Freedom Front Plus (VF+), the United Independent Front (UIF), and the Universal Party (UP). The coalition held 105 seats, exactly half of the council, compared to the 104 seats held by the ANC and ID together. The single councillor from the Pan Africanist Congress abstained from the election of the mayor.
By-elections from March 2006 to 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 82 The former councillor was re-elected to the ward on behalf of a different party. 7 February 2007 74
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 Cape Town city council, the ID lost three councillors to the new National People's Party (NPP), two to the DA and one to the new Social Democratic Party. The UDM and the UIF each lost one councillor to the DA, and the AMP lost one councillor to the NPP. Control of the council was not affected because the ID had joined the governing coalition earlier in the year.
Party Seats before Net change Seats after 91 4 95 81 0 81 22 6 16 7 0 7 – 4 4 3 1 2 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 – 1 1 1 1 0
By-elections from September 2007 to 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 19 March 2008 15 16 July 2008 103 10 December 2008The ANC could not stand candidates in this by-election due to a failure to submit paperwork on time. 33 The former councillor was re-elected to the ward nominally as an independent, but in fact on behalf of COPE, which was not yet a registered party. See http://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/full-western-cape-byelection-results. 34 35 45 52 75 87 88 25 March 2009 2 79 6 May 2009 71 24 June 2009 9 14 70 73 18 November 2009 32 26 May 2010 44 21 July 2010 34 35 98 99 25 August 2010 49 8 December 2010 19 104
May 2011 election
At the election of 18 May 2011, the council was expanded to 221 members with the addition of 6 new wards and 5 new PR list seats. The Democratic Alliance won a majority of 135 seats.
2011 mayoral election
By-elections from May 2011 to 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 7 December 2011 71 18 January 2012 68 25 April 2012 45 19 September 2012 88 30 January 2013 22 22 May 2013 105 19 February 2014 35 43 28 May 2014 25 13 August 2014 5 54 56 5 November 2014 23 1 April 2015 72 9 December 2015 101
August 2016 election
At the election of 3 August 2016, the council was expanded to 231 members with the addition of 5 new wards and 5 new PR list seats. The Democratic Alliance won a majority of 154 seats.
2016 mayoral election
By-elections from August 2016 to 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 9 November 2016 108 2 August 2017 4 20 September 2017 37 15 November 2017 93 29 November 2017 102 16 January 2019 31 101 13 February 2019 54 19 June 2019 21 21 August 2019 95 13 November 2019 19 82 11 November 2020By-election was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 14 51 88 9 December 2020 115 21 April 2021 20
November 2018 mayoral election
On 31 October 2018, incumbent Mayor Patricia de Lille resigned. An election was held on 6 November 2018 to determine her successor. It was subsequently won by former Mayor, Dan Plato. The candidates nominated were:
Dan Plato (Democratic Alliance), former Provincial Minister of Community Safety (2011 - 2018); former Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (2011 - 2018); former Mayor of Cape Town (2009 - 2011) Xolani Sotashe (African National Congress), incumbent Leader of the African National Congress in the Cape Town City Council; Mayoral candidate in 2016; Member of the Cape Town City Council (2000 - present) Grant Haskin (African Christian Democratic Party), incumbent Leader of the African Christian Democratic Caucus (2016–present); former Deputy Mayor of Cape Town (2007 - 2009); former Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
The results were as follows.
November 2021 election
The Democratic Alliance won a reduced majority of 136 seats. This was later reduced to 135 seats when after a 7-month legal battle and a recount it was announced on May 26 that the Democratic Alliance had been misallocated a seat that should have been awarded to Cape Independence Party, giving the Cape Independence Party a second seat.
2021 mayoral election
By-elections from November 2021 The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021.
Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor 13 Oct 2022 5 23 Nov 2022 38 8 Feb 2023 56 28 Jun 2023 107 19 Jun 2024 64 19 Jun 2024 105 19 Jun 2024 113 28 Aug 2024 58 23 Oct 2024 8 20 Nov 2024 30 25 Mar 2026 104
In ward 56, the DA councillor resigned in November 2022. The DA failed to nominate a candidate in time for the February by-election, which was contested by parties including Good, Al Jama-ah, Economic Freedom Fighters, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA). The PA won the ward with 41% of the vote.
November 2026 election
The South African 2026 local elections will be held on 4 November 2026.
The final voting district demarcations were handed over by the Municipal Demarcation Board to the Electoral Commission in December 2025, and it was confirmed that the Western Cape had gained 10 wards. The new total for Cape Town has however not yet been publicly announced.
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