Nquthu Local Municipality elections

The Nquthu Local Municipality council comprises thirty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Nineteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nineteen wards, while the remaining eighteen are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.

In the election of 1 November 2021, the IFP won a majority of nineteen seats.

Results

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

Event	ANC	DA	EFF	IFP	NFP	Other	Total
2000 election	4	1	-	20	-	0	25
2006 election	6	1	-	22	-	1	30
2011 election	14	1	-	14	5	0	34
2016 election	14	1	1	15	2	0	33
2017 special election	11	1	1	19	1	0	33
2021 election	14	0	1	19	0	3	37

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.^[1]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	17,921	78.00	13	18,769	81.70	7	20
	African National Congress	3,151	13.71	0	3,307	14.40	4	4
	Democratic Alliance	628	2.73	0	897	3.90	1	1
	Independent candidates	1,277	5.56	0				0
Total		22,977	100.00	13	22,973	100.00	12	25
Valid votes		22,977	97.59		22,973	97.67
Invalid/blank votes		567	2.41		549	2.33
Total votes		23,544	100.00		23,522	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		45,302	51.97		45,302	51.92

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.^[2]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	23,660	74.53	14	23,429	73.81	8	22
	African National Congress	5,908	18.61	1	6,026	18.98	5	6
	National Democratic Convention	1,136	3.58	0	1,169	3.68	1	1
	Democratic Alliance	1,043	3.29	0	1,118	3.52	1	1
Total		31,747	100.00	15	31,742	100.00	15	30
Valid votes		31,747	97.91		31,742	97.84
Invalid/blank votes		679	2.09		702	2.16
Total votes		32,426	100.00		32,444	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		58,210	55.71		58,210	55.74

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.^[3]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	15,648	39.50	7	16,374	41.21	7	14
	Inkatha Freedom Party	15,910	40.16	8	15,886	39.99	6	14
	National Freedom Party	6,513	16.44	2	6,372	16.04	3	5
	Democratic Alliance	706	1.78	0	620	1.56	1	1
	Independent candidates	486	1.23	0				0
	African Christian Democratic Party	206	0.52	0	175	0.44	0	0
	Royal Loyal Progress	80	0.20	0	185	0.47	0	0
	Federal Congress	65	0.16	0	117	0.29	0	0
Total		39,614	100.00	17	39,729	100.00	17	34
Valid votes		39,614	98.36		39,729	98.14
Invalid/blank votes		662	1.64		754	1.86
Total votes		40,276	100.00		40,483	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		65,776	61.23		65,776	61.55

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.^[4]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	19,099	43.60	10	19,554	44.59	5	15
	African National Congress	17,821	40.68	7	19,018	43.37	7	14
	National Freedom Party	2,203	5.03	0	3,021	6.89	2	2
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,321	3.02	0	1,313	2.99	1	1
	Independent candidates	2,479	5.66	0				0
	Democratic Alliance	884	2.02	0	948	2.16	1	1
Total		43,807	100.00	17	43,854	100.00	16	33
Valid votes		43,807	98.04		43,854	97.93
Invalid/blank votes		878	1.96		929	2.07
Total votes		44,685	100.00		44,783	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		77,097	57.96		77,097	58.09

February 2017 special election

By February 2017, the Nquthu Local Municipality had failed to form a council and appoint a mayor.^[5] The KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube dissolved the then elected members' positions on 9 February 2017, effective from 23 February with elections to be held on 25 May 2017.^[5] A coalition of Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) held the majority control by one seat over the ANC's coalition of seventeen seats.^[5] The DA and IFP blamed the ANC for the lack of progress. The DA would welcome the MEC's decision, but the IFP was unhappy about it.^[5]

In the special election held on 25 May 2017, the IFP won a majority of 58% of the vote and 19 seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.^[6]

Party		Votes				Seats
		Ward	List	Total	%	Ward	List	Total
	Inkatha Freedom Party	27,768	28,086	55,854	58.0	14	5	19
	African National Congress	15,751	15,735	31,486	32.7	3	8	11
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,354	1,272	2,626	2.7	0	1	1
	National Freedom Party	1,075	1,039	2,114	2.2	0	1	1
	DA	586	579	1,165	1.2	0	1	1
	AIC	489	414	903	0.9	0	0	0
	Forum 4 Service Delivery	311	268	579	0.6	0	0	0
	APC	161	172	333	0.3	0	0	0
	Black First Land First	144	114	258	0.3	0	0	0
	National Religious Freedom Party	131	122	253	0.3	0	0	0
	Academic Congress Union	98	100	198	0.2	0	0	0
	National Peoples Ambassadors	109	82	191	0.2	0	0	0
	National Democratic Convention	88	57	145	0.2	0	0	0
	African Mantungwa Community	69	51	120	0.1	0	0	0
Total		48,134	48,091	96,225	100.0	17	16	33
Spoilt votes		610	633	1,243

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[7]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	20,789	49.25	14	21,665	51.03	5	19
	African National Congress	15,222	36.06	5	15,385	36.23	9	14
	Abantu Batho Congress	3,030	7.18	0	2,955	6.96	3	3
	Economic Freedom Fighters	741	1.76	0	779	1.83	1	1
	Independent candidates	704	1.67	0				0
	Democratic Alliance	355	0.84	0	342	0.81	0	0
	National Freedom Party	298	0.71	0	312	0.73	0	0
	Future Generation Congress	223	0.53	0	190	0.45	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	169	0.40	0	195	0.46	0	0
	National Peoples Ambassadors	126	0.30	0	140	0.33	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	135	0.32	0	103	0.24	0	0
	African People's Movement	115	0.27	0	108	0.25	0	0
	People's Freedom Party	112	0.27	0	87	0.20	0	0
	Forum for Service Delivery	77	0.18	0	79	0.19	0	0
	African Mantungwa Community	73	0.17	0	68	0.16	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	42	0.10	0	51	0.12	0	0
Total		42,211	100.00	19	42,459	100.00	18	37
Valid votes		42,211	98.61		42,459	98.52
Invalid/blank votes		593	1.39		637	1.48
Total votes		42,804	100.00		43,096	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		80,324	53.29		80,324	53.65