YNews Election Build-up | Joburg voters weigh service delivery and political choices ahead of local elections

With just over a month to go before South Africans head to the polls, Johannesburg voters say service delivery and whether political parties can deliver meaningful change will be key considerations ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections.

YNews took to the streets of Johannesburg’s CBD on Friday to gauge voters’ expectations and readiness for the 4 November polls.

For many residents, persistent problems with basic services have eroded confidence in local government.

Refuse collection disruptions, power outages and water cuts continue to affect communities across the city, despite efforts by the City of Johannesburg to address some of these challenges.

Johannesburg is expected to be one of the key battlegrounds in the local elections, with political parties competing for the support of voters concerned about the state of their communities.

Residents say they want local government to address the issues affecting their daily lives.

Linah Ntokobe from Joburg South says she has seen little change over the years, but still intends to vote in November.

But while some voters have already decided to participate, others say they are still weighing up which political party to support.

Marshalltown resident, Lesiba Thole, who voted in the previous elections, says he has seen little change since the last polls.

More than 29 million people are registered to vote nationally for the 2026 Local Government Elections, an increase of roughly 2.8 million from the 26.2 million registered in the 2021 municipal elections.

The election will also see a large number of political parties competing for votes.

A total of 546 political parties are contesting the elections nationally, while Johannesburg voters can expect 75 party names on the proportional representation ballot.

As political parties roll out their manifestos and intensify their campaigns, voters are considering which candidates and parties they want to entrust with running their municipalities.

The elections come against the backdrop of continued debate over the credibility and administration of South Africa’s electoral system.

The Electoral Court has dismissed an MK Party application challenging the integrity of the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.

The party questioned the reliability of the Electoral Commission’s digital vote-capturing and results-reporting system, relying largely on the so-called “leaderboard incident” of 31 May 2024, when the public-facing results dashboard displayed zero results for about two hours.

The MK Party argued that the incident raised doubts about whether the election results accurately reflected the will of voters.

The Electoral Court found that the MK Party had failed to follow the mandatory procedure prescribed by Section 55 of the Electoral Act when challenging the declaration of the election results, and consequently found that the application was not competent in law.

The court also considered the leaderboard incident.

The IEC said the underlying election results system remained operational and uncompromised, explaining that a system command had inadvertently been set to “not ready for display” during an optimisation process.

The court found that the incident did not affect the capturing or verification of the election results.

The African National Congress (ANC) is also challenging the exclusion of 181 candidates from the ballot in six municipalities after missing the 28 August submission deadline. The party blamed technical problems, while the IEC maintained that the ANC failed to complete the submission process on time.

The Electoral Court dismissed the ANC’s challenge last week, but the party has since resolved to take the matter to the Constitutional Court, with the case expected to be heard on 7 October.

With the 2026 Local Government Elections now approaching, the focus shifts back to voters and the issues they say will determine their choices on 4 November.

🔴 ELECTORAL COURT JUDGMENT

The IEC welcomes the Electoral Court’s judgment dismissing the uMkhonto weSizwe Party challenge concerning the integrity and reliability of the system used to capture and tabulate results in the 2024 NPE.

Read:https://t.co/KytuC4DnOU#LGE2026 pic.twitter.com/QqId01bEAi

— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) September 25, 2026

Written by: Lebohang Ndashe