Johannesburg – Voting stations opened at around 07:00 for municipal by-elections across four provinces on Wednesday, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) said.

Twenty candidates representing nine political parties in six wards are set to contest the by-elections in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and the Western Cape, IEC spokeswoman Kate Bapela said.

Voting stations would close at 21:00.

Two by-elections would take place in Gauteng.

Ward 27 in Tshwane metro [Pretoria] would be contested by the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance (DA), and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC).

Ward 58 in Tshwane metro would be contested by the African Independent Congress, the ANC, the DA, and the PAC, Bapela said.

In KwaZulu-Natal, one by-election in ward two in Umvoti [Greytown] municipality would be contested by the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and the National Freedom Party (NFP).

Limpopo would only have ward four in Lephalale [Ellisras] municipality contested by three candidates from the ANC, the Congress of the People (Cope) and the DA.

In the Western Cape, ward 25 in the City of Cape Town would be contested by the ANC, the DA, the First Nation Liberation Alliance (Finla), and the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

Ward 6 in Matzikama [Vredendal] municipality would be contested by the ANC, the DA, and the PA.

A total of 58 053 people were registered to vote.

SAPA