Checked 16 October 2026
Where the facts about West Rand come from
Every fact on the West Rand 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: Ald. Dennis Thabe is executive mayor, Cllr H.B. Munyai is speaker and Cllr Mildred Ndzilane is chief whip, according to the district's homepage.
West Rand District Municipality. Page is undated.
Where to look: 'Meet the Mayoral Committee' section (undated, read 2026-10-16)
On the council's website, no date shown: The national government contact directory lists Ald. Dennis Thabe as Executive Mayor of West Rand District Municipality.
South African Government. Page is undated.
Where to look: Contact directory entry, 'Executive Mayor' field (undated, read 2026-10-18)
As of 31 Aug 2025: Ald. D.S. Thabe was executive mayor, the audited 2024/25 annual financial statements say. Cllr H.B. Munyai was speaker (the councillor who chairs council meetings) and Cllr M.N. Ndzilane was council whip.
West Rand District Municipality. Published 31 August 2025.
Where to look: General Information, Members of Council (parties not shown)
As of 11 Apr 2023: The alliance of the ANC and the EFF removed DA mayor Hullet Hild and chief whip Alme Swart. It used motions of no confidence (council votes to remove the mayor or speaker). A chief whip is the councillor who keeps a party's members voting together. The alliance elected Thabiso Bovungana of the AIC as mayor by 29 votes to 19 in the 44-seat West Rand council.
News24. Published 11 April 2023.
Where to look: paragraphs 1-6 (News24 original is robots-blocked: https://www.news24.com/news24/Politics/Government/after-unseating-da-in-west-rand-anceff-alliance-installs-another-mayor-from-a-minor-party-20230411)
As of 9 Nov 2021: Dennis Sello Thabe was elected to the West Rand district council in 2021 as an ANC councillor, on the 40% list.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Published 9 November 2021.
Where to look: Gauteng, DC48 - West Rand, African National Congress, PR(1), DC '40%': THABE DENNIS SELLO
How were the seats split?
The 2021 result
Who won the 18 seats in 2021.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Page is undated.
Where to look: pp. 1-2 of 2, seat table, Total Party Seats column
Every party
The seats voters choose directly, by party. African National Congress: 8. Democratic Alliance: 5. Economic Freedom Fighters: 3. African Independent Congress: 1. Freedom Front Plus: 1.
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). Page is undated.
Where to look: pp. 1-2 of 2, seat table, Total Party Seats column
What the official records say
Audit result
The Auditor-General gave the West Rand district council 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)
Doubt it can pay its bills
The Auditor-General found a going concern uncertainty at the West Rand district council in 2024-25, for the eighth 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', Gauteng, 'West Rand DM' row; p. 49 explains the measure
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