Parliament's leaders urge voters to stay involved after elections
National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza and NCOP Chairperson Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane say voters' duty does not end at the ballot box. Special votes are held on Monday and Tuesday, before the municipal elections on Wednesday.
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Parliament's spokesperson Moloto Mothapo shared the statement from the two Presiding Officers. It says residents should encourage councillors and take part in municipal planning and budgeting.
The Presiding Officers also said voters should hold their representatives accountable for service delivery. Monday and Tuesday are set aside for voters who applied for special votes.
Politics
Human Rights Commission links Gauteng water tankers to corruption
The South African Human Rights Commission says Gauteng has enough water to meet demand, and blames systemic failures in management and distribution. It urged municipalities to stop spending on water tankers and fix ageing infrastructure instead.
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The commission released findings from its inquiry into water and sanitation services in Gauteng on Monday. It named ageing infrastructure, high water losses, poor maintenance and too little storage and pumping capacity as causes. Commissioner Henk Boshoff said having plans in place is not enough.
Boshoff said municipal employees and tanker service providers benefit from continued tanker procurement. He also said some officials and providers sabotage infrastructure to create openings for tanker contracts. Metropolitan municipalities spend hundreds of millions of rands a year on tankering, he said.
The report says the City of Tshwane spent R47m on tankering in 2021/2022, R777m in 2024/2025 and R326m in 2025/2026. It also says Tshwane loses R1.7bn worth of water each year. Johannesburg loses 44.8% of its water, worth R2.82bn.
The commission recommended that municipalities find critical weaknesses and make sure reservoirs can withstand disruptions. It urged the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the three metros to draw up guidelines for reliable tanker services. Boshoff said the commission will keep monitoring municipalities and hold them accountable.
Politics
Special voting starts slowly in Akasia and in Durban rain
Special voting for the 2026 Local Government Elections began on Monday. Only four elderly people were waiting at the Akasia station near Pretoria before 8am, while heavy rain fell in Durban. The IEC approved 2.65 million special vote applications.
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Special voting lets eligible voters who cannot reach their polling stations on Voting Day cast their votes early. At the Akasia station in Karenpark, 5318 people had registered for special votes. Presiding Officer Boitumelo Marx ran the station.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said the 2.65 million approved applications are a 131% increase on the 2021 Local Government Elections. IEC officials are visiting voters who cannot reach voting stations. Voters who miss Monday can vote on Tuesday.
In eThekwini, voting began despite heavy rain and a Yellow Level 4 warning from the South African Weather Service for most of KwaZulu-Natal. The weather service warned of heavy downpours and hail. It said spring weather is likely to vary across the country during the voting period.
Voter Sathiel Mathekge chose a special vote because of ill-health. He said voting was his only chance to be heard and to bring change to his community.
Science
Silk microneedles could vaccinate farmed fish with less stress
Researchers at MIT and the US Department of Agriculture have made water-resistant microneedles from food-grade silk. The peer-reviewed paper in ACS Nano shows the needles can deliver cargos such as bacterial vaccines.
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Professor Benedetto Marelli of MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering led the work. The needles lightly penetrate fish skin, stay attached and then decompose. Today's most effective method uses metal needles, and workers must sedate and inject fish one by one. The team calls its approach "potentially better", but the evidence comes from lab work, and it has not been tested on farms.
Politics
IEC presiding officer dies at Mahikeng voting station
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said the presiding officer collapsed and died during special voting in North West. A deputy presiding officer in KwaZulu-Natal is in hospital after a car accident on her way to a voting station.
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IEC deputy CEO for Electoral Operations Masego Sheburi announced the death at a media briefing in Midrand on Monday. He said: "With a sad heart, we announce the passing of a presiding officer who collapsed at a voting station and has sadly passed on in Mahikeng."
The injured deputy presiding officer was travelling in the uKhahlamba district of KwaZulu-Natal when the accident happened. The commission said she was taken to hospital.
Sheburi said the commission was recording a strong performance across the country. He said the IEC expected further improvements on the second day of special voting.
Voters can check their voting station by sending their ID number by SMS to 32810. They can also phone the IEC on 0800 11 8000.
Politics
IEC starts special votes ahead of 4 November elections
About R2.6 million South Africans are expected to cast special votes over two days, the Electoral Commission said. Of these, 1.9 million will vote at designated voting stations, and officials will visit the rest at their registered addresses.
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The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will visit registered addresses on Monday and Tuesday. The visits let approved elderly voters and other special voters cast their ballots before the local government elections on Wednesday, 4 November.
Home Affairs offices will open for extended hours from 2 to 4 November for ID applications and collections. Home Affairs spokesperson Ndileka Cola said the offices will be open from 8 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock in the evening.
Other
Kopfontein border post with Botswana reopens after two days
The Border Management Authority said normal processing at the Kopfontein port of entry restarted on Monday morning. The closure followed infrastructure problems linked to a spillage that affected a nearby residential area.
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) said the port had been shut for two days. Spokesperson Mme Mogotsi gave the update on the reopening.
The port of entry connects South Africa and Botswana.
Politics
Voters get guide to 4 November local elections
An explainer for young voters sets out how South Africa's local government elections work, including which ballot papers people receive. A total of 546 political parties are competing for votes in the polls.
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South Africa has over 200 municipalities, and eight of them are metropolitan municipalities. Municipalities provide services to residents, and voters choose the people who run them.
Voters in a local municipality receive three ballot papers. Voters in a metropolitan municipality receive two ballot papers.
The explainer also describes the roles of ward councillors, proportional representation (PR) councillors and mayors.
Crime
Cape Town taxi route dispute raises election safety fears
A deadly dispute between rival taxi associations has caused several shootings in Cape Town. The Western Cape High Court granted an interim interdict against two associations and their members last week, amid fears of transport disruption and voter intimidation.
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The interdict applies to the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA), the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (CODETA) and their members. The violence has hit parts of Cape Town, including Khayelitsha.
Mawande Jara, chairperson of the Khayelitsha Development Forum, said violence went on for two days in affected communities. He said residents fear to take or use any form of transport.
Jara welcomed the court order. He said: "We are grateful for the High Court decision to ensure that there is stability and calm in our communities".
Politics
Survey finds DA and ActionSA prefer each other in Johannesburg
A MarkData survey of 6,113 registered voters across six metros asked who voters want as coalition partners. In Johannesburg, 43.1% of ActionSA voters named the DA, and 32.5% of DA voters named ActionSA.
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In Tshwane, 25.2% of DA voters named the FF+ as their leading coalition choice. Another 18.6% chose ActionSA, and 33.1% preferred the DA to govern without another party.
In Cape Town, 40.1% of Patriotic Alliance (PA) voters favoured the DA as a partner. Among DA voters there, 18.9% selected the PA.
In Ekurhuleni, 29.3% of ANC voters and 29.4% of MK party voters named the DA as their leading choice. Among DA voters there, 18.5% selected ActionSA and 18.1% selected the FF+.
Many ANC voters preferred no other party as a partner: 20.8% in Johannesburg, 41.7% in Tshwane, 44.6% in Cape Town and 32.4% in Ekurhuleni. The survey was published on 1 November and looked at partner choices, not voting intention.
PoliticsCrime
IEC warns KZN parties not to harass voters outside stations
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal said unruly behaviour at party tables and tents will not be tolerated, and police will act. The province has 165 voting stations that police identified as high risk, the most of any province.
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IEC KwaZulu-Natal electoral officer Ntombfuthi Masinga cautioned parties that camp outside voting stations. She said the tables and tents are not official IEC tables. She said parties use them to track who has voted, so they can persuade registered voters who have not yet voted.
Masinga said the tables are not a place for drinking. In her words: "Those are also not tables for people to get drinks and be drunk and start harassing voters before they get into voting stations." She said that if it happens again, the South African Police Service will deal with it.
Reports also gave 331 as the number of high-risk voting stations that police identified nationally. They said 2.6m voters are set to cast special ballots.
Analysis
Local vehicle sales rose 34% in three years
The Automotive Business Council (naamsa) compared new vehicle sales for September 2023 with September 2026. Local sales grew strongly, led by passenger cars and Chinese brands, while exports fell.
The naamsa data compares new vehicle sales for September 2023 with September 2026. It separates local sales, meaning vehicles sold in South Africa, from exports, meaning vehicles shipped abroad. The two moved in opposite directions.
Local sales reached 61,645 units in September 2026, up from 46,021 in September 2023. That is a rise of about 34%. Local sales in September 2025 were 54,706 units, so the market also grew over the last year, by about 13%.
MK Party's Baloyi sets out plan for Johannesburg finances
Bongani Baloyi, the MK Party's Johannesburg mayoral candidate, said the city needs strict financial discipline, with borrowing kept for infrastructure. He also claimed greener energy could meet about 15% of the city's electricity needs.
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Baloyi spoke on 702 ahead of Wednesday's local government elections. He said spending commitments must be carefully managed. In his words: "We cannot overcommit the city and strain its resources to the detriment of the city".
He said stronger law enforcement and enforcement of municipal bylaws would be essential to revive the CBD. He also set out MK Party proposals on immigration enforcement.
Baloyi said township microgrids and a social tariff would make households more financially viable. He said they would also reduce dependence on conventional electricity supply. He said residents were frustrated because they were effectively paying twice for services.
Economy
SAB boss says fuel and food costs hurt beer sales
South African Breweries CEO Richard Rivett-Carnac said lower-income drinkers are under pressure, while volumes of premium and superpremium brands grew by more than 30%. He spoke after parent company AB InBev released its third-quarter results.
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Rivett-Carnac said premium brands such as Corona and Stella Artois grew strongly. He said the growth comes from consumers choosing to buy premium brands, not from existing customers trading up. SAB expects premium beer to keep growing faster than the wider beer market over the long term.
The AB InBev results showed South African beer volume growth trailing the wider industry. SAB's Beyond Beer range, which includes Flying Fish and Brutal Fruit, grew at a rate in the low 30s.
Rivett-Carnac said a fall in oil prices, which lowered petrol and diesel costs, would give relief across the economy. On fuel prices, he said: "Until that happens, we need to ensure we manage our costs".
PoliticsCrime
Western Cape police add officers ahead of local elections
Western Cape police have put extra officers on taxi routes, at transport hubs and in crime hotspots for this week's local government elections. Provincial Police Commissioner Sizakhele Dyantyi said officers on planned leave were called back to work.
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Dyantyi said police are ready to keep voters safe. She said police had adjusted their deployments and are using intelligence officers to gather information. The deployment comes amid taxi violence and gang activity in the province.
She said law enforcement agencies are working together to keep people safe and let voting go ahead without disruption. Delft was among the places named in connection with the policing plans.
Dyantyi said: "We are excited as law enforcement agencies because it is our duty and task to ensure that we present an environment that is conducive for the people."
Politics
Early voting begins in local government elections
More than 480 thousand people are approved for early voting in KwaZulu-Natal, the most of any province. Early voters in Umhlanga, Durban, said they are unhappy with the state of the country but still want to vote.
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The official local government election polls are set for 4 November, which is a Wednesday. Early voters cast ballots at the NG Kerk voting station in Umhlanga on Monday.
Neurosurgeon John Naidoo said voting matters even when services fail. He said: "You have to vote. I think there is no point in complaining and saying there are no services; you have to vote."
ActionSA member of Parliament Alan Beesley also voted early. He said he will return to the campaign trail to support others and hopes for a peaceful election.
Reports said campaigning and early voting are going peacefully, with no signs of unrest. KwaZulu-Natal police said at least one protest is planned in Durban.
Politics
Gauteng scholar transport halts over unpaid invoices
Operators contracted by the Gauteng department of education stopped services on Monday morning, leaving hundreds of children without transport to school. They say they have not been paid since August, while matric pupils are still writing exams.
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Gauteng Small Bus Operations posted a notice on social media saying the operators have run out of diesel. The group says its invoices for August and September are still unpaid, and that employees are also not paid. An official of the Greater Gauteng Leaner Transport Organisation confirmed the suspension.
The operators say the department's failure to pay, and its refusal to commit to future payment, harms the education of pupils. Reports say this is the second halt over non-payment in 2026.
Gauteng Small Bus Operations says it wrote to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and President Cyril Ramaphosa. The letter warned that services would stop if service providers were not paid urgently.
Politics
217 Cape Town voting stations miss opening as ballots arrive late
Ballot papers for special voting reached Cape Town late on Monday, the first day of special voting in the municipal elections. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said stations would open as ballots arrived.
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Michael Hendrickse, the IEC's provincial electoral officer in the Western Cape, apologised for the delay. He said the delay was unforeseen, despite the best efforts of the IEC and the printing company that produced the ballots.
Hendrickse said the situation was fluid. He said the delays were across the Cape metro, but voting stations in the outer areas of the province worked smoothly.
He said the IEC would make sure that voters who applied for special votes could vote over the two days. He said all security measures were in place for the transport and delivery of the ballots.
Special voting runs on 2 and 3 November 2026. The IEC approved 2 655 067 voters nationwide for special votes. Election Day is Wednesday, 4 November 2026.
TechCrime
Binance resumes withdrawals after $6.3 billion breach
The cryptocurrency exchange says it has now covered 95% of the stolen assets. Binance reopened withdrawals on Sunday 1 November, after a breach that reports put at $6.3 billion.
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Binance made the claim about the 95% itself, and the figure has not been confirmed by another source. The exchange did not say in the available facts how the breach happened.
WorldTech
Hypersonica raises €100mn to build hypersonic missiles
The British-German start-up would reach a valuation of roughly €700mn with the new funding. The money boosts European efforts to develop the ability to strike deep inside Russia.
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Hypersonica develops hypersonic long-range missiles. Reports of the funding round said it would push the company's valuation to roughly €700mn.
World
Venezuelan army attack on ELN camp kills at least 19
The Venezuelan army hit a Colombian ELN guerrilla camp in Apure state with drones and attack helicopters in an early Friday operation. A rights group and a source close to the operation gave the toll.
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The rights group FundaRedes first reported nine deaths. Its coordinator, Juan Francisco Garcia, later said another 10 bodies had been taken to San Fernando. FundaRedes monitors rights violations in Venezuela's border states.
A Venezuelan military source spoke on condition of anonymity. The source said US intelligence supported the attack and that most of those killed were Venezuelan nationals. The source also said the guerrillas had no time to react and that forces would keep combing the area because there are more camps.
Rocio San Miguel, a human rights advocate and military affairs expert, said the attack reflects a change in doctrine within the Venezuelan military. Colombia has accused Venezuela's leftist government of ignoring Colombian rebel groups in border areas for years.
World
Learjet crash in Florida neighbourhood kills all 9 on board
The private jet left Austin, Texas, for the Bahamas and came down in a residential area of Palm Beach County on Sunday afternoon. About 600 people were evacuated, and the National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation.
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The Learjet 60 took off from Austin and was bound for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The crash site is near Lake Worth Beach. The 600 evacuated residents went to two shelters in the county.
An audio recording from the Miami air traffic control centre, posted on LiveATC, has the cockpit reporting mayday while the jet descended at 10 000 feet per minute. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said the descent rate passed 32000 feet per minute at one point. The recording puts 35 seconds between the first mayday and the last cockpit transmission.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke at a press conference near the site. He said: "It was like a missile coming down, and a massive explosion, debris going everywhere." County Commissioner Joel Flores described a "massive crater" at the site.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash a horrific tragedy. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement on the crash.
Politics
Bredell warns kingmaker politics could stall Western Cape councils
Western Cape Local Government MEC Anton Bredell says small parties with one or two seats could decide who runs municipalities after the local government elections. He says they could use that power to negotiate senior appointments instead of serving residents.
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Bredell gave the warning in an interview a week before the polls. He said: "It’s a ransom kind of situation where small parties determine who’s going to govern, especially a single small party with one or two seats. That’s a nightmare." He also said multi-party coalitions at local level do not work.
Bredell said a new council would not be able to fix the problems in Oudtshoorn and Theewaterskloof for at least two and a half to three years.
Research by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) found that 80 of 213 municipal councils were hung at some point between the 2021 elections and February 2026. It said 16 of those 80 were in the Western Cape. Those councils produced 175 different governing arrangements.
Dr Lungelwa Kaywood of Stellenbosch University's School of Public Leadership said the province could see more hung councils. She said: "It’s not whether we will have hung councils, it’s how many and where,"
Crime
Meyiwa trial resumes with accused Mncube back on the stand
Mthobisi Mncube, accused number three, is expected to continue his testimony under cross-examination at the High Court in Pretoria on Monday. On Friday he denied the state's claim that he knows co-accused Bongani Ntanzi.
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Mncube is one of five accused in the trial over the murder of former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa. State Prosecutor Ronnie Sibanda is questioning him.
The state says cellphone records and shared contacts link Mncube to accused number two, Ntanzi. Mncube rejects this. He says Ntanzi's number does not appear in his call records, which he says supports his version.
Under cross-examination, Mncube said: "I only know accused four and five because I know them." Testimony also named Lungisani Ndwandwe as someone Ntanzi called.
Meyiwa was murdered in October 2014.
Economy
Glencore proposes faster share payout for CEO in a takeover
Glencore is talking to shareholders about a new pay deal for chief executive Gary Nagle. The change would let him cash out long-term share awards sooner if the UK-listed miner is taken over.
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Nagle has led the commodities group since 2021. Glencore is the company proposing the change to his pay package.
PoliticsCrime
Western Cape police name election hotspots in three areas
Western Cape police say operations are in place for the local government elections, which begin with special voting on Monday. Provincial Police Commissioner Sizakhele Dyantyi said most hotspots are in Cape Town, Knysna and Vredenburg.
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Dyantyi spoke on Sunday at the launch of the provincial operations centre of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). She said police are being deployed to specific hotspots. Police assured South Africans of a safe and secure environment in which to vote.
Dyantyi said the operational plan has the approval of NatJoints. She told the launch: "The operational plan has already been approved; hence, I have also mentioned that we did get the thumbs up because we had presented our plan to the NatJoints."
Crime
Former Special Task Force member Sotheni returns to court on murder charges
Matipandile Sotheni is due in the Brakpan Magistrate's Court on Monday on sixteen charges, including conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors are expected to update the court on cellphone mapping and device analysis in the killing of Marius van der Merwe.
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Van der Merwe was known as Witness D at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. He was killed in a drive-by shooting outside his Brakpan home. Sotheni is a former South African Police Service Special Task Force member.
The state said three cellphones were found on a catwalk behind Sotheni's cell during a search at the correctional facility. It alleged that one of the phones was linked directly to him. The state also said preliminary investigations suggest he had communicated with someone outside the facility.
The state asked the court for more time to finish its investigation.
WorldEconomy
UK tax agency probes Boston Consulting Group partner status
HM Revenue & Customs is asking whether some Boston Consulting Group partners should count as employees for tax purposes. The inquiry is part of a wider crackdown on how the UK taxes senior staff at professional services firms, company filings show.
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The UK tax authority is looking at the partnership structure of the consulting firm. Partners in such firms are usually taxed as self-employed owners, not as staff. A change in their status would change the tax and contributions due.
The filings describe the inquiry as part of a push on the taxation of senior staff at professional services firms.
Science
Weak brain current removes bias in recognising sexualised women
Researchers used a mild electrical current on the forehead to change how people recognise sexualised images of women. The peer-reviewed study appears in the journal Social Neuroscience.
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In the study, 76 university students tried to memorise photos of models in underwear, then said which photos they had seen. Half received a weak current for ten minutes and half received a placebo. In the stimulated group, recognition of upright women improved and the gap between images of men and women disappeared. The authors say it was a single lab session with students, and they measured only immediate effects, not attitudes or behaviour.
