// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Raymond Mhlaba say to the vote? "You're elected to my heart".

The Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality council was established in 2016 by the merging of the Nkonkobe and Nxuba local municipalities^[1] and consists of forty-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-three councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-three wards, while the remaining twenty-two are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of thirty-three seats.

Results

The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections.

Event	ANC	DA	EFF	Other	Total
2016 election	38	5	3	0	46
2021 election	33	3	3	6	45

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.^[2]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	34,232	76.77	23	35,725	80.84	15	38
	Democratic Alliance	4,338	9.73	0	4,517	10.22	5	5
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,097	4.70	0	2,711	6.13	3	3
	Independent candidates	3,129	7.02	0				0
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	457	1.02	0	298	0.67	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	225	0.50	0	454	1.03	0	0
	African People's Convention	48	0.11	0	322	0.73	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	67	0.15	0	164	0.37	0	0
Total		44,593	100.00	23	44,191	100.00	23	46

Valid votes		44,593	97.90		44,191	97.11
Invalid/blank votes		957	2.10		1,314	2.89
Total votes		45,550	100.00		45,505	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		82,963	54.90		82,963	54.85

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[3]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	26,026	70.11	20	26,940	75.44	13	33
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,277	6.13	0	2,806	7.86	3	3
	Democratic Alliance	2,475	6.67	0	2,553	7.15	3	3
	Independent candidates	5,008	13.49	3				3
	Patriotic Alliance	587	1.58	0	650	1.82	1	1
	African Independent Congress				998	2.79	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	250	0.67	0	746	2.09	1	1
	African Transformation Movement	150	0.40	0	632	1.77	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	144	0.39	0	159	0.45	0	0
	Congress of the People	47	0.13	0	226	0.63	0	0
	Land Party	156	0.42	0				0
Total		37,120	100.00	23	35,710	100.00	22	45

Valid votes		37,120	97.83		35,710	94.28
Invalid/blank votes		825	2.17		2,167	5.72
Total votes		37,945	100.00		37,877	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		78,861	48.12		78,861	48.03

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
20 Nov 2024^[4]	23		African National Congress		African National Congress
22 Jan 2025 ^[5]	4		African National Congress		African National Congress

↑ "The Local Government Handbook". Retrieved 6 August 2016.
↑ "Election Result Table for LGE2016 — Raymond Mhlaba". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
↑ "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Raymond Mhlaba". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
↑ Sussman, Wayne (21 November 2024). "PA piles pressure on DA, ANC in Western, Eastern Cape wards". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
↑ Sussman, Wayne (23 January 2025). "ANC records landslide by-election win in Eastern Cape ward". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 23 January 2025.