Mayor, speaker, whip and municipal manager: who runs your council?

As at 5 November 2026.

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The first council meeting

Councillors take office once the IEC declares the results. The IEC must declare them within seven days of the election.⁵ The new council must then hold its first meeting within 14 days of the declaration.¹

At that first sitting, the municipal manager presides while the councillors elect the speaker.¹ If there is more than one candidate, the vote is by secret ballot.¹ If no candidate wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes drops out and the vote is held again.¹

The speaker

The speaker chairs council meetings and must:^1,2

• make sure the council meets at least quarterly;
• keep order during meetings;
• make sure meetings follow the council’s rules;
• deal with breaches of the councillors’ Code of Conduct.

The speaker serves until the next council is declared elected.¹

The executive mayor

Councils such as Emfuleni have an executive mayor. Other councils use a collective executive committee instead.¹ Where a council chooses to have an executive mayor, it must elect one from among its members within 14 days of the council’s election.¹ The council may also elect a deputy executive mayor if the provincial MEC approves.¹

By law, the executive mayor must:¹

• identify the municipality’s needs and put them in order of priority;
• recommend strategies, programmes and services to the council, through the integrated development plan and the budget;
• set and track key performance indicators;
• oversee the delivery of services.

The council can remove the executive mayor by resolution. Notice of a motion to remove the mayor must be given in advance.¹

The mayoral committee

If the council has more than nine members, the executive mayor must appoint a mayoral committee from among the councillors. The committee may not be larger than 20% of the council, or 10 members, whichever is smaller.¹ On a 90-seat council such as Emfuleni’s, that means no more than 10 members.

The members of the committee, known as MMCs, usually each take a portfolio, such as finance or infrastructure.

The whip

The 2021 amendments to the Structures Act say a council may elect a whip from among its councillors, at its first sitting or later to fill a vacancy. The speaker presides over the vote, and the whip counts as a municipal office bearer.²

Under section 41B, the whip:²

• liaises with the political parties to ensure representation in council and its committees;
• maintains sound relations between the parties;
• informs the whips of all parties about important matters on the council agenda;
• helps the speaker count votes in council meetings;
• facilitates interaction between the executive and the council’s oversight structures;
• resolves disputes between the speaker, the mayor or executive mayor, and members of the mayoral committee.

The municipal manager

The municipal manager heads the administration and is the municipality’s accounting officer. That makes the municipal manager responsible for how the money is managed.^4,7 The council itself must appoint the municipal manager.³

Under the 2022 amendments to the Systems Act, municipal staff may not hold office in a political party. In 2025, however, the Constitutional Court struck down that blanket ban. The effect is that only the municipal manager and the managers who report directly to the municipal manager are barred from holding party office.⁸

The Emfuleni example

• 22 November 2021: the new Emfuleni council elected Sipho Radebe as executive mayor, by 47 votes to 43.⁹
• 29 May 2026: he resigned.¹⁰
• 10 June 2026: the council elected Hassan Mako as executive mayor.⁶

The council elected in 2026 will choose its own speaker and mayor. For what happens when no party has a majority, read Hung councils and coalitions explained (coming soon).

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