Seven new parties win seats on Cape Town council
Ongoing: Elections Hot
The Cape Town council grows from 17 parties to 22 after the local government election. ActionSA is the best-performing newcomer, with 2.75% of the vote and seven seats, and the SACP wins two seats.
The council has 235 seats. Besides ActionSA and the South African Communist Party (SACP), the African Transformation Movement (ATM) won two seats. The MK Party, BOSA, the PMC and Hopeful Leaders Democrats won one seat each.
The SACP is a breakaway from the ANC. It got almost 21,000 votes in the city, which is less than 1% of the vote. Across six Western Cape councils, the party won seven seats.
SACP Western Cape provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu said the party did extraordinarily well. He said it entered the election with no money. He also claimed that ruthless, gang-related ANC leaders chased its leaders out of areas where they were deployed.
The ACDP lost three seats in the city. The Cape Coloured Congress lost two.
Key facts
- Who
- Benson Ngqentsu (SACP Western Cape provincial secretary); ActionSA (party that emerged as best-performing newcomer with 2.75% of the vote); South African Communist Party (breakaway from the ANC, enters Cape Town council for first time)
- What
- After the 2026 local government elections, seven new parties will enter the City of Cape Town council for the first time, with the council expanding from 17 parties to 22. ActionSA won seven of the 235 seats among the newcomers, and the SACP, a breakaway from the ANC, won two seats in the city.
- When
- 9 November 2026
- Where
- Cape Town, Western Cape
- Status
- Reported