With 67% of votes cast in Monday's municipal elections having been counted, the African National Congress (ANC) leads in 82 municipalities and controls 62.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is leading in 21 and controls 11 councils while the National Freedom Party (NFP) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) lead in one council each in KwaZulu-Natal. Icosa also leads in one council in Kannaland in the Western Cape.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said most of the results had already been captured and were awaiting auditing.

"At the level of capturing, 90% of results are already in the system awaiting scanning and auditing. This means of the 64 502 results expected, 58 059 have been captured into the results system," the IEC said.

It added, "Of the 58 059 results captured, 44 707 have been scanned into an image and are thus available."

The Northern Cape leads the way, with a completion rate of 82%, followed by the Eastern Cape with 82% and the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Free State each at 78%.

The completion rate in the rest of the provinces ranges from 55% to 69%. The number of completed municipalities is 111, from a total of 257.

"The commission remains committed to finalising results expeditiously while taking care to ensure that all necessary verifications are enforced," the IEC said.

There was a good showing for the ANC in Limpopo. The party won back the Modimolle-Mookgophong and Thabazimbi municipalities, which it had lost in the 2016 municipal elections.

Since 2016, Modimolle was run by a DA, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Freedom Front (FF) Plus coalition. Now the ANC has the majority.

In Musina, the ANC maintained its majority, with one extra seat - from 18 in 2016, to 19.

The DA has lost support in the area, moving from second place and losing one seat.

The second largest party in Musina is the EFF, who has two seats.

The FF Plus gained a seat here.

In the Maruleng municipality, which includes areas like Hoedspruit, the ANC has maintained its 15-seat majority. However, what is interesting is that the EFF and the DA have lost a seat each since 2016. The EFF now has two seats, independent candidates have two seats, Civic Warriors three, the DA two, and the FF Plus one seat. The FF Plus did not have a seat here in 2016.

Meanwhile in North West, the EFF has made gains in Mahikeng, where the red berets gained five seats. This is a jump from 12 in 2016, to 17 in 2021. The party has also increased its vote share from 17.6% in 2016, to 24.6% in 2021.

The ANC has maintained its majority. The party has 40 seats with 58.5% of the vote share. In 2016, the ANC had 43 seats and 61% of the votes.

The DA has lost two seats – the party dropped from seven seats in 2016, to five. It also saw its vote share drop from 10% in 2016, to 6.3%.

In the Kgetlengrivier municipality, which includes the town of Koster in North West, the ANC held onto its majority with 7 seats in the council, compared to the 8 seats in 2016. Interestingly, the FF Plus has seen growth and has two seats. The EFF has two seats while an independent candidate and the DA have one seat each.

While results have been trickling in in KwaZulu-Natal, the IFP is now leading in one council - the Big Five Hlabisa municipality in KwaZulu Natal. It's always been an IFP stronghold but it now has one more seat than in 2016. The ANC has lost support in that municipality with the EFF, NFP and an independent candidate gaining a seat each.

In the Western Cape, the DA has won an outright majority in the Hessequa council after governing through a coalition for the past five years. The DA has 9 seats, ANC 6, FF Plus 1 and Patriotic Alliance 1.

Meanwhile in Gauteng, there was a drop in support for the ANC in the Lesedi municipality, where it dropped from 62% in 2016, to 50.4% in 2021. The DA also lost support and went from 6 seats to 5 in the council.

Eastern Cape

The ANC looks set to retain the KouKamma Municipality in the Sarah Baartman District in the Eastern Cape.

It is leading with 46.3% of the vote, while the DA comes in second with 27.4% of the vote.

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is the shining star in the municipality, having already secured a seat with 10% of the vote. This is the first time the PA has fielded a candidate to contest the election in the council.

The KouKamma Municipality is made up of villages and hamlets which are divided into six electoral wards. It is governed by an 11-member council.

In the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, the ANC maintains a narrow lead, with 40% of the vote.

The DA has secured 38.9% of the vote.

The EFF's support has remained stagnant at around 7%.

A local party, the Northern Alliance, as well as the Abantu Integrity Alliance, African Christian Democratic Party, FF Plus, and United Democratic Movement have all managed to get around 1% of the vote.

So far, 38% of the votes have been counted.