Checked 16 October 2026
Where the facts about Mossel Bay come from
Every fact on the Mossel Bay 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
On the council's website, no date shown: Dirk Kotzé is executive mayor of Mossel Bay. Cliffie Bayman is deputy executive mayor, and Venolea Fortuin is speaker (the councillor who chairs council meetings).
Mossel Bay Municipality. Page is undated.
Where to look: 'Leadership' page, executive leadership (no page date; meeting schedule for 2026 shown; party not stated); as_of is the access date
As of 23 Mar 2026: The DA selected Dirk Kotzé as its mayoral candidate in Mossel Bay for the 2026 election.
EWN. Published 23 March 2026.
Where to look: paragraph 6
As of 26 Jun 2025: The PA won a Mossel Bay ward from the DA in June 2025. After that, the DA has 18 of the 29 council seats.
Daily Maverick. Published 26 June 2025.
Where to look: Mossel Bay section, paragraph beginning 'The DA now has 18 seats in the 29-seat council'
As of 9 Nov 2021: Dirk Kotzé was elected in 2021 as a DA PR councillor for Mossel Bay. A PR seat is a seat a party gets from its list, to match its share of the votes.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 9 November 2021.
Where to look: WC043 - Mossel Bay rows, PR(1) (KOTZÉ, DIRK, Democratic Alliance)
How were the seats split?
The 2021 result
Who won the 29 seats in 2021.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Page is undated.
Where to look: p. 3 of 3, seat table, Total Party Seats column
Every party
The seats now, by party (ward seats and party seats). Democratic Alliance: 18 (9 ward, 9 party). African National Congress: 5 (5 ward, 0 party). Patriotic Alliance: 2 (1 ward, 1 party). Freedom Front Plus: 2 (0 ward, 2 party). African Christian Democratic Party: 1 (0 ward, 1 party). Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa: 1 (0 ward, 1 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 29 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 Mossel Bay a clean audit (unqualified with no findings) for 2024-25. It got the same result in 2023-24.
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)
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