The Mtubatuba Local Municipality council consists of forty-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation.
Twenty-three councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-three wards, while the remaining twenty-two are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
[8] The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021.
[9] In ward 9, narrowly held by the African National Congress (ANC) in 2021, the councillor resigned.
The ANC failed to register a candidate in time for the resulting by-election, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) picked up the seat with 77% of the vote, solidifying their coalition in the council.