The council of the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa is elected every five years by a system of mixed-member proportional representation. Half of the councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting from individual wards, while the other half are appointed from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. By-elections are held to replace the councillors elected by wards if a vacancy occurs.
The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections and floor-crossing periods.
| Event | ACDP | ALJ | ANC | COPE | DA | EFF | FF+ | ID | NNP | PAC | PA | UDM | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 election | 8 | — | 77 | — | 107 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | 3 | 4 | 200 |
| 2002 floor-crossing | 8 | — | 80 | — | 71 | — | — | — | 32 | 1 | — | 3 | 5 | 200 |
| 2004 floor-crossing | 6 | — | 104 | — | 70 | — | — | 4 | 5 | 1 | — | 3 | 7 | 200 |
| 2006 election | 7 | — | 81 | — | 90 | — | 1 | 23 | — | 1 | — | 2 | 5 | 210 |
| 2007 floor-crossing | 7 | — | 81 | — | 95 | — | 1 | 16 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 8 | 210 |
| 2011 election | 3 | 1 | 73 | 3 | 135 | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | 221 |
| 2016 election | 3 | 2 | 57 | 1 | 154 | 7 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 231 |
| 2021 election | 6 | 3 | 43 | 0 | 135 | 10 | 4 | — | — | 1 | 4 | 1 | 24 | 231 |
See main article: 2000 South African municipal elections.
The current form of the City of Cape Town was created in 2000 by merging the six transitional municipalities in the Cape Town metropolitan area (Cape Town/Central, South Peninsula, Blaauwberg, Tygerberg, Oostenberg and Helderberg) and the overarching Cape Metropolitan Council. The council of the new municipality consisted of 200 members, 100 elected from wards and the other 100 from party lists. The election was held on 5 December 2000; the Democratic Alliance won a majority of 107 seats.
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in December 2000 and the floor crossing period in October 2002.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 April 2001[1] | 34 | ||||
| 15 August 2001[2] | 71 | ||||
| 28 August 2002[3] | 62 | ||||
See also: Floor crossing (South Africa).
In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitutional Court in United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in the period from 8–22 October 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats.
In the Cape Town city council, the Democratic Alliance (DA) lost 31 councillors to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA. The DA also lost 3 councillors to the African National Congress (ANC), 1 to the Universal Party and 1 who became an independent. The sole councillor of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) also crossed to the NNP.[4] The ANC and the NNP formed a coalition which held a majority of 112 seats.
| Party | Seats before | Net change | Seats after | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 77 | 3 | 80 | ||
| 107 | 36 | 71 | ||
| – | 32 | 32 | ||
| 8 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| – | 1 | 1 | ||
| – | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in October 2002 and September 2004.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 May 2003[5] | 67 | ||||
| 11 February 2004[6] | 42 | ||||
| 23 June 2004[7] | 6 | ||||
| 9 | |||||
| 13 | |||||
| 15 | |||||
| 46 | |||||
Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004. 23 of the 32 NNP councillors crossed to the ANC, giving the ANC a majority of 104 seats. A further 4 NNP councillors crossed to the ID. 2 councillors of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) crossed to the Federation of Democrats, a new party.[8]
| Party | Seats before | Net change | Seats after | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 | 23 | 104 | ||
| 70 | 0 | 70 | ||
| 8 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 32 | 27 | 5 | ||
| – | 4 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| – | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in September 2004 and the election in March 2006.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 November 2004[9] | 32 | ||||
| 7 September 2005[10] | 21 | ||||
| 48 | |||||
See main article: 2006 South African municipal elections.
At the election of 1 March 2006, the city council was expanded to 210 members with the addition of 5 new wards and 5 new PR list councillors. No party obtained a majority, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) winning 90 seats, the African National Congress (ANC) 81, and the new Independent Democrats (ID) 23.
After much negotiation, a seven-party governing coalition was formed, consisting of the DA, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the Africa Muslim Party (AMP), the United Democratic Movement (UDM), the Freedom Front Plus (VF+), the United Independent Front (UIF), and the Universal Party (UP). The coalition held 105 seats, exactly half of the council, compared to the 104 seats held by the ANC and ID together. The single councillor from the Pan Africanist Congress abstained from the election of the mayor.[11]
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in March 2006 and the floor crossing period in September 2007.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 June 2006[12] | 82 | [13] | |||
| 7 February 2007[14] | 74 | ||||
The final floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2007; floor-crossing was subsequently abolished in 2008 by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. In the Cape Town city council, the ID lost three councillors to the new National People's Party (NPP), two to the DA and one to the new Social Democratic Party. The UDM and the UIF each lost one councillor to the DA, and the AMP lost one councillor to the NPP.[15] Control of the council was not affected because the ID had joined the governing coalition earlier in the year.
| Party | Seats before | Net change | Seats after | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | 4 | 95 | ||
| 81 | 0 | 81 | ||
| 22 | 6 | 16 | ||
| 7 | 0 | 7 | ||
| – | 4 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| – | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing period in September 2007 and the election in May 2011.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 March 2008[16] | 15 | ||||
| 16 July 2008[17] | 103 | ||||
| 10 December 2008[18] [19] | 33 | [20] | |||
| 34 | |||||
| 35 | |||||
| 45 | |||||
| 52 | |||||
| 75 | |||||
| 87 | |||||
| 88 | |||||
| 25 March 2009[21] | 2 | ||||
| 79 | |||||
| 6 May 2009[22] | 71 | ||||
| 24 June 2009[23] | 9 | ||||
| 14 | |||||
| 70 | |||||
| 73 | |||||
| 18 November 2009[24] | 32 | ||||
| 26 May 2010[25] | 44 | ||||
| 21 July 2010[26] | 34 | ||||
| 35 | |||||
| 98 | |||||
| 99 | |||||
| 25 August 2010[27] | 49 | ||||
| 8 December 2010[28] | 19 | ||||
| 104 | |||||
See main article: 2011 South African municipal elections.
At the election of 18 May 2011, the council was expanded to 221 members with the addition of 6 new wards and 5 new PR list seats. The Democratic Alliance won a majority of 135 seats.
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in May 2011 and August 2016.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 December 2011[29] | 71 | ||||
| 18 January 2012[30] | 68 | ||||
| 25 April 2012[31] | 45 | ||||
| 19 September 2012[32] | 88 | ||||
| 30 January 2013[33] | 22 | ||||
| 22 May 2013[34] | 105 | ||||
| 19 February 2014[35] | 35 | ||||
| 43 | |||||
| 28 May 2014[36] | 25 | ||||
| 13 August 2014[37] | 5 | ||||
| 54 | |||||
| 56 | |||||
| 5 November 2014[38] | 23 | ||||
| 1 April 2015[39] | 72 | ||||
| 9 December 2015[40] | 101 | ||||
See main article: 2016 South African municipal elections.
At the election of 3 August 2016, the council was expanded to 231 members with the addition of 5 new wards and 5 new PR list seats. The Democratic Alliance won a majority of 154 seats.
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in August 2016 and November 2021.
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 November 2016[41] | 108 | ||||
| 2 August 2017[42] | 4 | ||||
| 20 September 2017[43] | 37 | ||||
| 15 November 2017[44] | 93 | ||||
| 29 November 2017[45] | 102 | ||||
| 16 January 2019[46] | 31 | ||||
| 101 | |||||
| 13 February 2019[47] | 54 | ||||
| 19 June 2019[48] | 21 | ||||
| 21 August 2019[49] | 95 | ||||
| 13 November 2019[50] | 19 | ||||
| 82 | |||||
| 11 November 2020[51] [52] | 14 | ||||
| 51 | |||||
| 88 | |||||
| 9 December 2020[53] | 115 | ||||
| 21 April 2021 | 20 | ||||
See main article: 2018 Cape Town mayoral election. On 31 October 2018, incumbent Mayor Patricia de Lille resigned. An election was held on 6 November 2018 to determine her successor. It was subsequently won by former Mayor, Dan Plato. The candidates nominated were:
The results were as follows.
See main article: 2021 South African municipal elections.
The Democratic Alliance won a reduced majority of 136 seats. This was later reduced to 135 seats[54] when after a 7-month legal battle and a recount[55] it was announced on May 26 that the Democratic Alliance had been misallocated a seat that should have been awarded to Cape Independence Party, giving the Cape Independence Party a second seat.
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021.[56]
| Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 October 2022[57] | 5 | ||||
| 23 November 2022 | 38 | ||||
| 8 February 2023 | 56 | ||||
| 28 June 2023[58] | 107 | ||||
| 19 Jun 2024[59] | 64 | ||||
| 19 Jun 2024 | 105 | ||||
| 19 Jun 2024 | 113 | ||||
In ward 56, the DA councillor resigned in November 2022. The DA failed to nominate a candidate in time for the February by-election, which was contested by parties including Good, Al Jama-ah, Economic Freedom Fighters, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA). The PA won the ward with 41% of the vote.[60] [61]