uMhlathuze Local Municipality elections

The uMhlathuze Local Municipality council consists of sixty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-four councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-four wards, while the remaining thirty-three are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.

The municipality was enlarged at the time of the South African municipal election, 2016 when part of the disbanded Ntambanana Local Municipality was merged into it.

In the election of 3 August 2016 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of forty-three seats on the council.

In the 2021 South African municipal elections the ANC lost its majority, winning a plurality of twenty-seven seats on the council.

Results

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

Event	ACDP	ANC	DA	EFF	FF+	IFP	NFP	Other	Total
2000 election	1	19	9	-	-	30	-	1	60
2006 election	1	28	4	-	1	24	-	2	60
2011 election	0	36	6	-	0	10	6	2	60
2016 election	0	43	8	3	0	13	-	0	67
2021 election	1	27	8	6	1	23	1	0	67

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	19,150	50.66	16	18,914	49.97	14	30
	African National Congress	12,064	31.91	10	12,222	32.29	9	19
	Democratic Alliance	5,168	13.67	4	5,595	14.78	5	9
	African Christian Democratic Party	802	2.12	0	734	1.94	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	372	0.98	0	228	0.60	1	1
	United Democratic Movement	69	0.18	0	160	0.42	0	0
	Independent candidates	176	0.47	0				0
Total		37,801	100.00	30	37,853	100.00	30	60
Valid votes		37,801	98.29		37,853	98.39
Invalid/blank votes		656	1.71		618	1.61
Total votes		38,457	100.00		38,471	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		102,907	37.37		102,907	37.38

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	25,743	46.45	18	26,134	47.26	10	28
	Inkatha Freedom Party	21,997	39.69	10	22,451	40.60	14	24
	Democratic Alliance	3,862	6.97	2	3,599	6.51	2	4
	National Democratic Convention	2,155	3.89	0	1,803	3.26	2	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	364	0.66	0	464	0.84	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	345	0.62	0	340	0.61	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	286	0.52	0	293	0.53	0	0
	Minority Front	230	0.42	0	211	0.38	0	0
	Independent candidates	437	0.79	0				0
Total		55,419	100.00	30	55,295	100.00	30	60
Valid votes		55,419	98.37		55,295	98.33
Invalid/blank votes		917	1.63		940	1.67
Total votes		56,336	100.00		56,235	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		122,237	46.09		122,237	46.00

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	51,478	57.91	23	55,622	62.66	13	36
	Inkatha Freedom Party	15,275	17.18	1	14,938	16.83	9	10
	Democratic Alliance	8,560	9.63	4	9,060	10.21	2	6
	National Freedom Party	8,551	9.62	0	8,246	9.29	6	6
	Independent candidates	3,673	4.13	2				2
	Freedom Front Plus	746	0.84	0	288	0.32	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	441	0.50	0	428	0.48	0	0
	South African Democratic Congress	164	0.18	0	182	0.21	0	0
Total		88,888	100.00	30	88,764	100.00	30	60
Valid votes		88,888	98.60		88,764	98.29
Invalid/blank votes		1,259	1.40		1,546	1.71
Total votes		90,147	100.00		90,310	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		154,544	58.33		154,544	58.44

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 1916 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	72,737	62.91	30	74,587	64.63	13	43
	Inkatha Freedom Party	21,937	18.97	1	21,512	18.64	12	13
	Democratic Alliance	13,244	11.45	3	13,495	11.69	5	8
	Economic Freedom Fighters	4,180	3.62	0	4,331	3.75	3	3
	Independent candidates	2,546	2.20	0				0
	Freedom Front Plus	492	0.43	0	570	0.49	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	402	0.35	0	433	0.38	0	0
	Isithunzi Som-Afrika Econo Fighters	84	0.07	0	486	0.42	0	0
Total		115,622	100.00	34	115,414	100.00	33	67
Valid votes		115,622	98.84		115,414	98.71
Invalid/blank votes		1,355	1.16		1,511	1.29
Total votes		116,977	100.00		116,925	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		195,576	59.81		195,576	59.78

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	33,827	40.33	20	32,396	38.67	7	27
	Inkatha Freedom Party	28,714	34.23	10	29,303	34.98	13	23
	Democratic Alliance	9,889	11.79	4	9,854	11.76	4	8
	Economic Freedom Fighters	7,627	9.09	0	7,768	9.27	6	6
	National Freedom Party	771	0.92	0	760	0.91	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	713	0.85	0	729	0.87	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	541	0.64	0	608	0.73	1	1
	African Independent Congress	27	0.03	0	876	1.05	0	0
	Abantu Batho Congress	302	0.36	0	289	0.34	0	0
	African People's Movement	300	0.36	0	286	0.34	0	0
	Justice and Employment Party	240	0.29	0	316	0.38	0	0
	Independent candidates	446	0.53	0				0
	South Africa Vuka Movement	197	0.23	0	166	0.20	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	118	0.14	0	79	0.09	0	0
	Black First Land First	74	0.09	0	101	0.12	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	45	0.05	0	123	0.15	0	0
	United Independent Movement	11	0.01	0	91	0.11	0	0
	Congregational Christian Unity	40	0.05	0	29	0.03	0	0
Total		83,882	100.00	34	83,774	100.00	33	67
Valid votes		83,882	98.71		83,774	98.64
Invalid/blank votes		1,092	1.29		1,159	1.36
Total votes		84,974	100.00		84,933	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		192,916	44.05		192,916	44.03

The African National Congress lost its majority, and an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) led coalition, supported by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), took control of the municipality. Nkonzoyakhe Donda (IFP) was elected mayor, Nkululeko Ngubane (EFF) deputy mayor and Tobias Gumede (IFP) Speaker.

By-elections from November 2021

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

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
14 September 2022	12		African National Congress		Inkatha Freedom Party
27 September 2023	13		African National Congress		Inkatha Freedom Party

The 2022 by-election took place after the ANC representative, facing community pressure, resigned. With the victory, the IFP solidified its coalition hold on council.

After the assassination of an African Christian Democratic Party councillor, the ANC's ward 13 councillor resigned after a failed assassination attempt on his life, triggering a by-election in September 2023. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won the by-election, solidifying their governing coalition supported by the Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and ACDP, and no longer reliant on the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).