Julius Malema has mocked President Jacob Zuma's failure to take over the Inkatha Freedom Party-run municipality in his homestead Nkandla after expressing confidence that the African National Congress would clinch it.

Speaking at a media briefing at the Electoral Commission national results operation centre in Tshwane on Friday afternoon‚ the leader of opposition Economic Freedom Fighters said Zuma was fooled by voters who stood in the queue with him and said they'd vote for the ANC.

"I've got my neighbours' mandate but I don't know about the other side... because people went to go queue with their neighbours but when the time came (for voting) they turned against them‚" Malema said to bursts of laughter.

"You ought to win the confidence of those who known you from your childhood. If they can say this is the person we know and we can trust this person‚ then going forward you know you have a mandate from home‚" said Malema‚ who was once Zuma's most fervent supporter.

Shortly after voting on Wednesday at the Ntolwane Primary School‚ just a few kilometres from his homestead in KwaZulu-Natal‚ a jovial Zuma had expressed confidence that he would wake up in an ANC-controlled municipality.

After the 2011 local government election‚ Nkandla was run by a coalition of the National Freedom Party and ANC. But within two years of the vote‚ the IFP had gained outright control after by-elections.

Dooming the president's hopes‚ results issued by the Electoral Commission on Thursday showed that the IFP had won the municipality‚ obtaining 54% of the total vote and winning a total of 15 seats in the municipality. The ANC obtained 44.25% picking up just three ward seats. The NFP did not contest the election as they failed to pay their required registration balance on time.