Checked 16 October 2026
Where the facts about JB Marks come from
Every fact on the JB Marks page, with the sources we used. We save a copy of each source on the day we read it.
Which party controls the council?
Dated reports
As of 12 Jan 2026: Councillor Gaba Thithiba Ka Qhele is executive mayor. The municipality lists him as an ANC proportional representation (PR) councillor. A PR councillor holds a seat that a party gets from its list. The party gets these seats to match its share of the votes. The municipality lists Adrë Lee-Rail Swarts and Malverine Davis as the Patriotic Alliance's PR councillors.
JB Marks Local Municipality. Published 12 January 2026.
Where to look: PR councillors list, 'ANC - PR' and 'PA - PR' groups (page modified 12 Jan 2026)
As of 25 Nov 2025: The JB Marks mayoral committee has Patriotic Alliance councillors and ANC councillors. An MMC is a member of the mayoral committee. Adrë Lee-Rail Swarts (Patriotic Alliance) is MMC for Housing, Development and Planning. Malverine Davis (Patriotic Alliance) is MMC for Local Economic Development.
JB Marks Local Municipality. Published 25 November 2025.
Where to look: Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) list (page modified 25 Nov 2025); party per the municipality's PR councillors page
As of 14 Mar 2025: Auditors checked the municipality's 2023/24 financial statements. These statements list Gaba Thithiba Ka Qhele as executive mayor. They list Moithoesi Rosy Dassie as speaker. The speaker is the councillor who runs council meetings.
JB Marks Local Municipality. Page is undated.
Where to look: Page 1, General Information (as_of is the National Treasury upload date in the file name)
As of 12 Sep 2024: The DA kept wards 7, 22 and 24 in JB Marks. These wards are areas that each elect one councillor. The DA won them in 2021. It kept them in by-elections (votes to fill one empty ward seat) on 11 September 2024.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 12 September 2024.
Where to look: JB Marks (NW405) rows: wards 07, 22, 24
As of 19 Nov 2021: In November 2021, the ANC in North West said it had reached coalition agreements in JB Marks, Lekwa-Teemane and Rustenburg. In each of these councils, no party had won more than half of the seats. The partners named across these councils included Forum 4 Service Delivery, the Patriotic Alliance and independent candidates.
SABC News. Published 19 November 2021.
Where to look: paragraphs 1-4
How were the seats split?
The 2021 result
Who won the 67 seats in 2021.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Page is undated.
Where to look: p. 1 of 2, seat table, Total Party Seats column
Every party
The seats now, by party (ward seats and party seats). African National Congress: 33 (24 ward, 9 party). Democratic Alliance: 17 (9 ward, 8 party). Freedom Front Plus: 9 (1 ward, 8 party). Economic Freedom Fighters: 6 (0 ward, 6 party). Patriotic Alliance: 2 (0 ward, 2 party).
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 24 June 2026.
Where to look: winning party per ward for every by-election since 2021 (dashboard data files: MapsJason/2021/ByElections.js and LoadCouncillorsService); read 2026-10-18
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 9 November 2021.
Where to look: ward councillor rows for this council (party per ward elected in 2021)
The seats now
Who holds the 67 seats now, counted up to 24 Jun 2026. How we count: This is our own count, not an official IEC table. We start with the 2021 party seats from the IEC. Then we add the party that last won each ward, in 2021 or in a by-election. Party seats stay with their party, and councillors can't switch parties. So only ward by-elections change these totals. An empty seat is counted with the party that last held it. The IEC lists by-elections on 5 Oct 2022, but it does not show who won them. So any ward that changed hands that day is not counted.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 24 June 2026.
Where to look: winning party per ward for every by-election since 2021 (dashboard data files: MapsJason/2021/ByElections.js and LoadCouncillorsService); read 2026-10-18
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 9 November 2021.
Where to look: ward councillor rows for this council (party per ward elected in 2021)
What the official records say
Audit result
The Auditor-General gave JB Marks an unqualified audit opinion with findings for 2024-25. That is better than in 2023-24, when it got a qualified opinion.
Auditor-General of South Africa. Published 24 June 2026.
Where to look: 'Audit outcome for 2024-25' box and the change from 2023-24 under it (audit of separate financial statements, finalised by 30 April 2026)
Doubt it can pay its bills
The Auditor-General found a going concern uncertainty at JB Marks in 2024-25, for the second year in a row.
Auditor-General of South Africa. Published 24 June 2026.
Where to look: p. 50 (PDF page 54), 'Sixty-two municipalities with going concern uncertainty and consecutive years in this position', North West, 'JB Marks LM' row; p. 49 explains the measure
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