ANC leaders Dada Morero and Loyiso Masuku will not take seats on the new Johannesburg council, because the party won no proportional representation (PR) seats in the city, according to reports of the election outcome.
The ANC's 63 seats in the Johannesburg council are all ward seats, with none coming from the PR list, the reports say. The party had held 91 seats in the previous council.
Why the list leaders are out
Ward councillors are elected directly in a specific area, while PR councillors are drawn from party lists after the votes are tallied. Morero, who led the city, and Masuku, his deputy, were both reported to be high on the ANC's list of candidates for PR seats.
With no PR seats won, the list produced no councillors. The reports say neither will return to council, which also ends their prospects of being considered for mayor.
What it means for the ANC
The ANC's Johannesburg caucus will now be made up only of ward councillors, leaving it without some of its most senior figures as coalition negotiations get under way. Several parties, including the DA and ActionSA, are due to hold talks over who will govern the city, and the ANC has opened exploratory talks of its own.
What we do not yet know
The reports do not give the vote totals or list positions behind the outcome. We have not yet confirmed the seat allocation against the IEC's final municipal results, and it is not yet clear who the ANC will put forward as its leader in the council or in coalition talks. We will update this story once that is confirmed.
