The

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

council consists of 270 city councilors elected by

mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...

. The councillors are divided into two kinds: (a) 135 Ward councillors who have been elected by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

in 135 wards; and (b) 135 councillors elected from

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

s (so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received). Ward Councillors have more local responsibilities, including setting up Ward Committees in their wards to raise local issues, commenting on town planning and other local matters in their ward, and liaising with local ratepayers' and residents' associations. PR Councillors are usually allocated to more political tasks within their party structures and within the City.

Results

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

December 2000

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.

By-elections (December 2000–October 2002)

The following

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in December 2000 and the floor crossing period in October 2002.

October 2002 floor crossing

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

in ''

United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

'', in the period from October 8 to 22, 2002 councillors had the opportunity to

cross the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

to a different political party without losing their seats. In the Johannesburg council, eight councillors crossed from the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA, and six councillors crossed from the DA to the African National Congress (ANC). One councillor each from the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Freedom Front Plus crossed to the Christian Democratic Party (CDP). The single councillor of the Azanian People's Organisation crossed to the Black Consciousness Forum.

By-elections (October 2002–August 2004)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in October 2002 and September 2004.

September 2004 floor crossing

Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004. Seven councillors crossed from the NNP to the ANC, one councillor crossed from the NNP to the

Independent Democrats The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption, with ...

, and one crossed from the CDP to the DA.

By-elections (September 2004–February 2006)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in September 2004 and the election in March 2006.

March 2006

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.

By-elections (March 2006–August 2007)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in March 2006 and the floor crossing period in September 2007.

September 2007 floor crossing

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 Johannesburg council two councillors crossed from the Independent Democrats to the Inkatha Freedom Party, one councillor crossed from the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) to the African People's Convention, and one councillor crossed from the PAC to the African National Congress.

By-elections (September 2007–May 2011)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing period in September 2007 and the election in May 2011.

May 2011

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.

By-elections (May 2011–August 2016)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in May 2011 and August 2016.

August 2016

In the election of 3 August 2016 the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) won the largest share of the seats on the council with 121 but did not achieve a majority. On 22 August 2016, minority parties voted with the DA to elect its mayoral candidate, Herman Mashaba, as the first Democratic Alliance mayor of Johannesburg. Mashaba appointed a mayoral committee consisting of the DA and the

Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP; ) is a conservative political party in South Africa, which is a part of the current South African Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa, government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC). A ...

(IFP). Mashaba resigned on 27 November 2019. The ANC regional chair

Geoff Makhubo Moloantoa Geoffrey Makhubo (8 February 1968 – 9 July 2021) was a South African politician who served as the Mayor of Johannesburg from December 2019 until his death from COVID-19 in July 2021. He was a member of the African National Congress an ...

was elected mayor on 4 December 2019, marking the return of the ANC to the city's executive since its ousting in 2016. Makhubo died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

related complications on 9 July 2021 and

Eunice Mgcina The mayor of Johannesburg is the highest elected position in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Since 2000, they are the chief executive of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality council. On 16 August 2024, the council elected Da ...

was appointed acting mayor. The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.

By-elections (August 2016–November 2021)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in August 2016 and November 2021. By the end of the term of the council, the changes in ward seats meant that the party composition was as follows.

November 2021

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

By-elections (November 2021–present)

The following

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period from the election in November 2021.

Notes

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, govt

City of Johannesburg The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

Elections in Gauteng