STELLENBOSCH – Despite two voting stations in the Stellenbosch municipal area that still had to finish counting votes, by early afternoon on Friday 6 November, it was clear that the local municipality would remain in control of the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The DA swept through the municipality during the Local Government Election (LGE) 2026 and added another five years to its tenure as ruling party. The DA has been in charge of the City of Oaks for the past 15 years.

After two days of counting votes and with results from only Stellenzicht High School (ward 21) and Brückner de Villiers Primary School (ward 5) outstanding it seems the DA had drummed up even more support in the municipality.

During the previous LGE in 2021 the party won the municipality with 60.80 % (26 133 votes) of the total votes. By Friday at 13:00 the preliminary results stood at 62,09% for the DA, 12,12% for the ANC and 8,1% for Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA).

According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) at 13:00 81% of the Western Cape’s votes had been counted. Of the province’s 25 local municipalities only two, Stellenbosch and the Cape Metro, were still outstanding.

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In the City of Oaks historical voters pattern continued this year despite various changes in ward boundaries. Earlier this year the Municipal Demarcation Board made adjustments to the boundaries of 15 of Stellenbosch’s 23 wards. These changes meant that some residents had to re-register at the IEC because the now fell under new voting stations.

Counting in Ward 3 (Groot-Drakenstein) had been completed with the DA retaining the ward with a 52,3% majority. Support for the PA increased this year and took the second spot in the ward with 16,18% followed by the ANC (14,54%).

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In Ward 5 (Rustenburg and Jonkershoek) the DA kept their hold. The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) saw a considerable surge in support going from 0,37% of votes during the 2021 LGE to 7,61% now. The ANC were in third place with 7,52% of the votes.

The ANC kept its political hold on Khayamandi’s four wards. In the township it was the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who lost the most ground and where Julius Malema’s party came in second in Wards 12 and 13 during the LGE 2021, the DA now has the second most votes in both these wards. Support for the EFF in general seemed to be down across the municipal area. Along with the DA it seems it was the PA who also garnered more support at individual ward level.

Along with the PA the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) saw more support this time around on individual ward level. While wards in central Stellenbosch remained DA, the FF+ saw more support in and around the central business district. The party come second to the DA in five wards, up from the five third place finishes during the last local elections.

At the time of publication 21 of the Stellenbosch’s 45 council seats had been allocated with the DA standing on 17 seats and the ANC four. No other party’s seats had been tallied yet.