Bredell warns kingmaker politics could stall Western Cape councils
Ongoing: Elections Hot
Western Cape Local Government MEC Anton Bredell says small parties with one or two seats could decide who runs municipalities after the local government elections. He says they could use that power to negotiate senior appointments instead of serving residents.
Bredell gave the warning in an interview a week before the polls. He said: "It’s a ransom kind of situation where small parties determine who’s going to govern, especially a single small party with one or two seats. That’s a nightmare." He also said multi-party coalitions at local level do not work.
Bredell said a new council would not be able to fix the problems in Oudtshoorn and Theewaterskloof for at least two and a half to three years.
Research by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) found that 80 of 213 municipal councils were hung at some point between the 2021 elections and February 2026. It said 16 of those 80 were in the Western Cape. Those councils produced 175 different governing arrangements.
Dr Lungelwa Kaywood of Stellenbosch University's School of Public Leadership said the province could see more hung councils. She said: "It’s not whether we will have hung councils, it’s how many and where,"
Key facts
- Who
- Anton Bredell (Western Cape Local Government MEC); Lungelwa Kaywood (extraordinary associate at Stellenbosch University's School of Public Leadership); Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (research institute that published the Coalitions Barometer 2026); Dullah Omar Institute (University of the Western Cape institute that developed administrative…)
- When
- 28 October 2026
- Where
- Western Cape, South Africa, Knysna
- Status
- Reported