"Thought It Was a Joke": Local Election Tie Between ANC and SACP in Mpumalanga Decided by Coin Toss

• A ward in Mpumalanga's Steve Tshwete municipality recorded an extraordinary tie between the ANC and the SACP during the local government elections
• Both parties received exactly 5,939 votes each, triggering a legal provision most South Africans had never heard of
• South African law allows a coin toss or drawing of lots to break an electoral tie, and the ward result came down to exactly that

A ward election result in Mpumalanga left South Africans stunned after two parties received an identical number of votes. The deadlock forced officials to settle the outcome with a coin toss on 7 November.

The tie happened in a ward within the Steve Tshwete municipality, where the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) each received exactly 5,939 votes. With no margin separating the two, electoral officials turned to South African law, which provides for a coin toss or drawing of lots when parties finish level.

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Facebook creator CoolStoryBru shared a video breaking down the bizarre outcome, saying he could not believe such a law existed:

"Please tell me I'm not the only South African who didn't know about this," he said, visibly gobsmacked.

The provision is real and has been used before. According to CoolStoryBru's research, shared in the clip with overlaid news screenshots, the Electoral Act allows officials to draw lots or flip a coin when no other method can separate candidates. The Steve Tshwete ward used a coin toss as the tiebreaker, and the SACP came out on top. See the post below:

Mzansi reacts to electoral coin toss

South Africans in the comments had plenty to say:

Clive Toerien joked:

"ANC probably called heads and won; the coin was heads on both sides."

Sizwe Miya wrote:

"I thought it was a joke until I saw it on SABC News."

Mathlomola Selela Selela was delighted by the outcome:

"The nice part is ANC lost the bet, and SACP won."

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Hlekani Baloyi-Sibanda added:

"This happened in Ba-Phalaborwa Ward 05 too. A coin toss was a decider. First time hearing of it."

Other Briefly News stories on the 2026 local government elections

• A TikTok video documenting street sweepers and refuse clean-up operations in Diepsloot went viral after residents playfully attributed the visible sanitation work to DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille ("Gogo Zille").
• In a dramatic and historic turn, the ANC’s long-standing grip on Robben Island (under Cape Town’s Ward 115) was broken, paving the way for an EFF-ANC coalition. The landmark site, renowned globally for its anti-apartheid history, had previously been a reliable ANC stronghold.
• A KwaZulu-Natal motorist was arrested for driving under the influence during a metro-wide roadblock, after which he humorously blamed the election results for his intoxication.

Source: Briefly News