Zille feeling ‘positive’ as DA leads Joburg while vote counting continues - TimesLIVE

DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille says she is feeling positive about the local government election results so far, with her party currently leading in Johannesburg.

This comes as the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) counts and verifies votes following the conclusion of the 2026 local government elections on Wednesday. Final results are expected to be announced in the coming days.

As counting continues, the DA holds an early lead in Johannesburg. As of 4.20pm, with 22% counted, the party leads with 39.71% of the vote.

Speaking to TimesLIVE at the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) on Thursday, Zille expressed confidence that the DA could secure Johannesburg.

“I think we will be the biggest party, but we’ll see what we do with the results afterwards,” Zille said. “I feel positive, and I hope it will go well.”

Zille said she was hopeful that the effort she put into her hands-on campaign would be reflected in the final outcome, though she remained pragmatic.

“For the most part, it’s a bit of a challenge to break through sometimes,” she noted.

Having cast her vote at Emmarentia Primary School on Wednesday, Zille described her voting experience as positive and commended voters who participated.

“It was a decent turnout, and we are grateful to those who turned out to vote.”

Briefing reporters on Thursday, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission had received 23,444 results slips, representing 35.5% of the 66,073 expected across metropolitan, local, and district councils.

Of these, 22,983 result slips (34.8%) had been entered into the system, and 16,791 (25%) had cleared independent auditing.