Ten people have been removed from the Midvaal voter's roll by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) after complaints they were "bused in" to register in the area, mayor Timothy Nast said on Thursday.

"The IEC has taken the matter very seriously," he told journalists at a media briefing with his Gauteng mayoral counterparts.

"The first response we received to the complaints we lodged was that indeed 10 complaints were valid."

The Democratic Alliance (DA), which runs the Midvaal municipality, complained to the IEC that the ANC had bused people in to register to vote in the area to boost support for the party. The ANC has denied this.

Nast said about 120 complaints were lodged.

"They are still investigating the rest of them," he said.

Thursday's result was the first received from the IEC.

The ANC and the DA cried foul during the voter registration period.

The ANC accused the DA of trying to keep the area white.

It said people came to the area to live and work on farms, but were sent back to their homes outside the area during elections and were therefore denied the right to vote where they lived.

Local government MEC Humphrey Mmemezi, also addressing the briefing on Thursday, said the Midvaal was littered with people who did not own land.

He warned that these people should be given the right to vote where they lived. He said many of these people were "disowned" at election time.

"But we are happy the IEC is attending to the matter... voting cannot be linked to owning property."

The ANC in Gauteng recently accused the DA-run municipality of evading its responsibility of delivering services to informal settlements by arguing that the land these residents occupied was privately-owned.

Nast said some land-owners encouraged informal settlements on large tracts of land and collected rent from residents.

He said the problem was not limited to the Midvaal area, but existed across the province.

He said a commercial chicken farm in the area – which amassed huge profits from its business – let out land and expected the municipality to provide free water for its tenants.

Water was provided to some of these settlements using water tankers. Chemical toilets were also put in place for residents settling on privately-owned land, he said.