Major changes are coming to the Helderberg political landscape ahead of the upcoming local government elections on Wednesday 4 November.

As a result of regional growth, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has confirmed that the basin will gain an additional ward, Ward 90, triggering a significant reshuffle of voting stations and boundary lines.

The demarcation of Ward 90 is designed to accommodate the growing population in the outer suburbs of the Helderberg. Residents must familiarise themselves with the new structures to ensure they head to the correct polling station in November.

The newly established ward will incorporate Helderberg Village, Die Wingerd, Firgrove and Sitari.

The finalisation of the ward’s boundaries is the result of a nationwide delimitation process conducted every five years prior to municipal elections. While the legal framework requires the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) to determine wards, publish them in the Provincial Gazette, and allow a standard 14-day window for objections, the MDB opted to introduce several extra, non-legislated public consultation phases to ensure community voices were actively included.

Barileng Dichabe, senior manager of stakeholder management and communications at the MDB, confirmed the process is now complete. “The MDB has finalised a total of 4 488 wards for the 2026 local government elections, representing 100% of all wards nationally. The wards were officially handed over to the IEC to prepare for the local government elections, marking the conclusion of the process.”

The road to establishing Ward 90 began last year, when the MDB started the ward delimitation process. On 1 April 2025, the board released Circular 2/2025, which provided draft ward information, regional time-frames, public engagement schedules and submission forms.

At the end of April, a public consultation meeting for the City of Cape Town took place at the Bloemhof Auditorium to gather in-person community proposals, and in June 2025 the MDB launched an eight-day social media countdown campaign on Facebook to prompt final inputs.

Following these initial consultations, the MDB reviewed the gathered inputs, drafted proposed boundaries, and officially published it in the Provincial Gazette to open a final formal objection window.

To ensure maximum reach, notices for the submission of objections were shared across MDB social media channels like Facebook on 23 September 2025. This formal objection window closed on 2 October 2025.

The MDB evaluated the final feedback, finalised the boundaries and published their decisions in the provincial gazettes as official feedback to the public.

“There is no localised report detailing the attendance and outcomes of the Somerset West Ward 90 public participation meetings. The public consultation meeting was open for all citizens, and updates were provided on MDB social media platforms and the MDB website,” Dichabe explained.

Ward 15 will retain its familiar voting stations at De Hoop Primary, Helderberg High, Parel Vallei High and Beaumont Primary schools. A brand-new voting station is being introduced to ease congestion on Dummer Road.

The boundaries for Ward 15 run from Southey’s Vines down Main Road on the east side to Drama Street; from Drama Street to Lourensford Road, and along the northern side of Lourensford Road to Hillcrest Road, continuing down Hillcrest Road to the Lourens River.

In Heldervue, residents will have access to a brand-new voting station at Pyracantha Park. The updated boundary lines for this area now cover everything south of Pyracantha Road. The voting station at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now reserved for residents living in Somerset Ridge and Westridge.

Ward 15 councillor Gregory Peck asked voters to check where they are registered. A single shift in a boundary line could mean your voting station has changed.

“The last official voter-registration weekend will take place on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 August,” he said.

“Residents are urged to make use of this opportunity to make sure they are registered in the correct ward.”