WITH the gazetting of the official results by the Independent Electoral Commission(IEC) following the local government elections on 1 November, the focus now turns to the first Municipal council meeting for eThekwini Municipality. 

New councillors and the political leadership of the City will be announced and sworn in at this first meeting. The date for the inaugural council will be announced in the media. The proceedings will be streamed live on all eThekwini social media platforms. As per Section 29 (2) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 the first meeting of council needs to take place within 14 days after the council has been declared elected. The Municipal Manager or, in the absence of the Municipal Manager, a person designated by the MEC for local government in the province, must call the first meeting of the
council. 

The Municipal Manager prepares the agenda for the first council meeting and delivers it to all newly elected councillors. The inaugural meeting agenda will begin with an opening and welcome, oath of solemn affirmation by members of the council, and the signing of the attendance register Applications for leave of absence, introductions of councillors and officials, and disclosure of interest. will follow.
This is preceded by the election of the Speaker. The Municipal Manager will preside at the council meeting until the Speaker has been elected, from which point the Speaker will chair the meeting.

Thereafter the following are elected, the Executive Committee, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chief
Whip. Prior to the inaugural council meeting, all 222 elected councillors must undergo a registration
process to ensure they are captured onto the Municipal system. The elections on 1 November marked the sixth democratic municipal elections to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country’s nine provinces. 

These elections were marked by the lowest voter turnout since postapartheid South Africa, with less than one third of all eligible voters casting their vote. Despite this, the IEC declared the elections an overall success when the final results were announced by the Chairperson of the IEC Glen Mashinini on 4 November. The results in eThekwini Municipality and allocation of its 222 seats council is distributed as follows:

• ANC – 96 seats |43,24%
• DA – 59 seats| 26,58%
• EFF – 24 seats |10,81%
• IFP – 16 seats | 7,21%
• ACTIONSA – 4 seats | 1,80%
• ACC – 2 seats | 0,90%
• ACDP – 2 seats | 0,90%
• ABC – 2 seats | 0,90%
• AIC – 2 seats | 0,90%
• DLC – 1 seat | 0,45%
• ATM – 1 seat | 0,45%
• JEP – 1 seat | 0,45%
• ADC – 1 seat | 0,45%
• MF – 1 seat | 0,45%
• UIM – 1 seat | 0,45%
• MSA – 1 seat | 0,45%
• NFP – 1 seat | 0,45%
• PRM – 1 seat | 0,45%
• VP – 1 seat | 0,45%
• TA – 1 seat | 0,45%
• KZNI – 1 seat | 0,45%
• PFP – 1 seat | 0,45%
• APF – 1 seat | 0,45%
• Al Jama-ah – 1 seat | 0,45%