Latest posts

The commission said 3.5 million ballots were cast by 10am. Gauteng had 3 million votes, or 44%, and KwaZulu-Natal had 2.5 million, or 42%. Earlier, 1.4 million special votes were cast on 2 and 3 November.

Gary van Niekerk, the National Alliance Deputy Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, called the turnout a damp squib, especially in the north of the metro. He said holding an election early in the month was a bad idea, because it fell on the day social grants are paid. He also said voters in the north seemed to be using the day off work for other things.

Van Niekerk said turnout was so small that fewer than 1,000 votes might be enough to win a single seat. At Fairplaas Community Hall in Ward 28, scenes were lively. Vusimzi Dasi, the UDM ward candidate, said the party was back and its presence was felt in the ward.Share

Phakamani Mabaso, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) regional manager for Zululand, said most of the 546 voting stations in Zululand District were counting ballots. He reported minor disturbances, including alleged clashes between IFP and ANC supporters in AbaQulusi Municipality. At least two ANC supporters received medical attention from paramedics.

Mabaso said most incidents came from alcohol abuse, because people lose control and lose their temper. He said contingency plans were in place so that counting runs smoothly.

Phumelele Makoba, the Acting Provincial Commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal police, briefed media at the IEC Results Operation Centre at the Durban ICC. He said the province stayed stable throughout the election period to that point. Police covered 165 high risk, 1014 medium risk and 3550 low risk voting stations.

Makoba said power outages in KwaMakhuta, Umbumbulu and Isipingo may have been manmade with ill intentions.Share

Provincial IEC spokesperson Thanduxolo Chembeni said it was agreed that the ballot boxes would be quarantined, and that this has been done. Counting continues at other voting stations during the local government elections. The claims of tampering came from unnamed reports, and the IEC has not confirmed them.

Cable theft also affected eight voting stations in Bushbuckridge. Those stations ran on generators.Share

The EFF says the box was opened in the Nomandamba Voting District, under the Intsika Yethu Local Municipality. It says several ballot papers were missing when the box was inspected. The party said it will open the case on Thursday morning.

EFF MP Veronica Mente said the provincial Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) investigated the allegations. She said the IEC agreed the incident was fraud. She also said counting in the district is suspended and all election materials are quarantined.Share

Special votes added 1.4 million ballots on Monday and Tuesday. The projected final turnout of around 50% compares with 46% in the 2021 local government election. Turnout was again lower in mostly black wards than in mostly white wards, with a gap of 10 to 15 percentage points.

Elections analyst Wayne Sussman said the gap was concerning if the numbers were accurate. He said more black South Africans feel voting is not worth it or cannot bring change.

Gary van Niekerk, Deputy Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay and head of the Northern Alliance, said turnout in the metro was weak. He blamed the payment of social grants during the election. Deputy President Paul Mashatile said many areas saw few voters and that the campaign was difficult for the ANC.

President Cyril Ramaphosa voted in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, and said he was confident the ANC would win. ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the party should accept the outcome even if it is unhappy.Share

The presiding officer at the Assembly of God voting station in Nyanga said turnout was normal for that time of day. The Nyanga area has eight voting stations. Electoral Commission of South Africa staff were in place at polling stations.

In Bo-Kaap, residents came out for an early start. The Democratic Alliance has held the ward for two decades. Zee, a long-time resident, said she voted early because the vote must change how the Bo-Kaap is run, and how other areas are run too.

Zee also said the city treats only certain areas as the city, and many other areas are badly neglected. Aaliyah, 26, also voted in Bo-Kaap. Michael, a city bowl resident, said it is important for everyone to vote.Share

The preliminary figures showed about 3 million votes in Gauteng, 2.5 million in KwaZulu-Natal and 1.5 million in the Western Cape. The elections will decide the makeup of 257 municipal councils.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo explained how counting works. He said each voting station counts its own ballots, with party agents, independent candidate agents and accredited observers present.

Opinion polls indicate that the ANC will lose ground to the DA and the MK Party. Most parties had estimated that turnout would be higher in suburbs than in townships.Share

The Patriotic Alliance has four wins so far, and ActionSA has won Laingsburg in the Western Cape. uMkhonto weSizwe has one seat, in uMzimkhulu. The South African Communist Party lies sixth nationally and has not won any wards yet.

In the Western Cape, 49 of 1,623 voting districts were declared by 2am on Thursday, about 3%. Counting is making progress in about 15 of the 30 municipalities. The Democratic Alliance shows early gains in several of them, but too few districts have declared for a clear picture. The provincial IEC expects provisional results on Friday.

In Limpopo, only 1% of votes were counted by 3am on Thursday. Results are coming in from 110 voting stations set up in farming areas after farmworkers complained about distant polling stations. Limpopo Electoral Operations Manager Itumeleng Seanego said capturing and verification are going well.Share

Scope Ratings is a credit rating agency based in Europe. It said a Democratic-controlled Congress will close most legislative routes for the Trump administration. It said this will severely limit the ability of President Donald Trump to carry out his domestic agenda.

Eiko Sievert, executive director for sovereign and public sector ratings at Scope, said the result and Trump's swift acceptance of Republican defeats confirmed the resilience of US checks and balances.

Scope also warned that risks to fiscal policy will rise. It said talks on appropriations and the debt limit will become more protracted.

The agency expects US public debt to rise from 124% of GDP in 2025 to around 145% by 2031. Scope said that would be the second highest level among advanced economies after Japan. It also expects headline deficits of 7%-8% of GDP.Share

Kgetlengrivier Concerned Citizens brought the case. The court ruled in its favour on 2 November and also rejected the high court's costs order against the group. The projected cost of the Magalies Water appointment was R37.5 million.

Acting Judge of Appeal Gloria Mjali wrote the first judgment. She found that the municipality did not explain why Magalies Water was fit for the job, although it had earlier ended the utility's contract for poor performance. She said the municipality ignored evidence of incompetence, which made the whole process irrational.

The municipality had stated under oath on 5 January 2021 that Magalies Water failed to perform. It relied on an operations and maintenance agreement dated 27 May 2020. Judge of Appeal Elias Matojane wrote a separate judgment. He said emergency circumstances do not allow municipalities to ignore the constitution.Share

In a commentary on their own study, the researchers say most interviewees assumed the public lacked knowledge on mining and water. Eight said the public should have a say in mining policy. All 13 felt confident engaging, yet most said they needed training. Most received no formal reward for outreach. This is a commentary on an interview study, not a peer-reviewed paper, and the sample is small.Share

Residents said the municipal demarcation board did not consult or properly inform them about the move. They blame the municipal council for the decision. One resident said the new ward will not be able to address their problems.

Residents also raised service delivery complaints. Joyce Sekalo said one Apollo light serves the whole community, and the area is large enough to need at least four more street lights. Some residents have waited more than 30 years for proper housing.

Residents said the community relies on one water-pumping machine. They said more pumping machines, pipelines and reservoirs would greatly improve access to water. One resident said most people in the community did not register to vote.

Nare Chokoe walked to the voting station at about 1pm and voted. She said she sees herself as a resident of South Africa before she sees herself as a resident of the village. Officials of the Independent Electoral Commission were at the station.Share

Masha posted the image on social media in the 2026 local government election. His post said ActionSA was the only party that knew how to fix Joburg. He voted in Lyndhurst, Joburg.

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya said on Tuesday that ballot papers must be marked in secret. He said photographing a completed or marked ballot paper is strictly prohibited. He said the secrecy of every vote is a basic principle of South Africa's democracy.

Masha declined to comment on a possible police investigation and criminal charges.Share

Jada said staff told him the voting station was not a campaigning area. He later voted. George Mqokolo, an ANC member sitting under the party's tent outside the station, said no such rule exists in the Party Agents' Manual. He said a person of voting age can wear party T-shirts, and that two people in ANC T-shirts had been turned away.

Nyanga has 29 voting stations. Western Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Sizakhele Dyantyi said security measures were in place across the province. She said police and their partners would keep a visible presence, so that no area would be treated as a no-go area.Share

Solomons said some BOSA candidates were refused a second ballot even though they were on the voters' roll. He said the IEC could give them only one ballot. He said anyone registered to vote should get two ballots.

Solomons said the IEC then issued a directive that nobody may receive only one ballot. This is his account of the directive.

The IEC in the Western Cape said it had cleared the logistical backlogs from the first two days of special voting. Printing delays left over 200 voting stations without ballot papers on Monday morning.Share

Mashatile spoke on the sidelines of his voting station. He said he hoped councillors from all parties would work for the people and not for themselves. He also urged people to vote, and warned that those who stay at home leave others to vote for them.

He said the ANC would get enough support to lead Johannesburg again and would lead in the election results. He added that people would see a lot of improvement from the ANC in the coming years.

Mashatile described the election as democratic and free, with no intimidation or violence. He said about 80 parties were campaigning in Johannesburg.Share

Election observers reported confusion over the process at polling stations in Kathorus, which includes Katlehong, Thokoza and Vosloorus. One observer said some senior citizens tried to use their age to move to the front of the queue. The observer said this was unfair to people who had waited.

An elderly voter in Kathorus said no one came to fetch her for a special vote as promised. She said the government makes promises and barely delivers.

The IEC said 2,655,067 special vote applications were approved nationwide. Of these, 974,852 people voted at voting stations and 451,090 voted through home visits. The IEC put the share of approved special voters who voted at about 53.7%.

There are 29.2 million registered voters for the 2026 local government elections.Share

Mawethu Mosery, the IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, said these people were alive when the roll was finalised. He said that is why their names may still appear as registered voters.

Mosery said voters must still show valid identification at voting stations. He added that deceased people appear in the rejected section at the back of the roll.Share

Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defence Council, gave the number of missing people. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces first dropped aerial bombs on the school building, then struck the shelter with more bombs. Ukraine's national police said several strikes hit the area, including one from a 3 tonne FAB glide bomb.

Russia's defence ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements. It said up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen were killed. Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately targeting civilians.

Delegations from Ukraine and Russia will hold talks in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November, convened by the United States. US first lady Melania Trump brokered a six-day local ceasefire to evacuate civilians from Oleshky. She said nearly 800 people were evacuated.Share

The plan appears in the Operation Vulindlela Quarter 2 progress report. Operation Vulindlela is a government reform initiative under the Presidency. The Department of Transport drives the unbundling with it, and National Treasury provides oversight.

TRIM became a separate entity from Transnet Freight Rail in October 2024. In September, TRIM released the fourth version of its Network Statement, which includes public input. The Operation Vulindlela report said this version addresses key issues that industry raised to make rail investments bankable.

Jan Havenga, Professor of Logistics at Stellenbosch University, said this is the best news he has heard about Transnet in some time. He said Transnet carries heavy debt that current management inherited. He said an operator with its own balance sheet and problems clouds talk about the future of the rail lines, and he argued that Transnet could not drive this change itself.Share

Preliminary indications were that 3.5 million voters had cast ballots by 10am. The IEC said voting went well overall, although glitches affected some stations.

A police officer was removed from election duty after allegedly arriving at a KwaZulu-Natal polling station in a vehicle branded with posters of a political party. The officer faces possible disciplinary processes.

In Limpopo, police arrested a party agent. The agent allegedly filmed an IEC official counting envelopes that held ballot papers, then gave feedback to the area manager. The agent allegedly showed the video to other party agents, who entered the voting station and caused disruptions.Share

Mamabolo said Gauteng had the most votes by 5pm, at 3 million. KwaZulu-Natal came next with 2.5 million, then the Western Cape with 1.5 million and the Eastern Cape with 1.4 million. Limpopo had 1.1 million.

The smaller provinces followed. Mpumalanga had about 854,000 votes, North West about 702,000, Free State about 588,000 and Northern Cape about 299,000. The IEC said all these figures are preliminary.

Mamabolo said voting went well across the country, despite a few isolated incidents. He briefed the media at the Results Operations Centre in Midrand. The IEC said 98% of voting stations opened on time, and that some stations had delays from local protests and heavy rain. It said generators and alternative lighting were in place where power cuts hit stations.

After voting closed, the IEC said ballots will be counted at voting stations. Results will be verified and scanned at local offices. The IEC will declare final results and council seat allocations within seven days.Share

Ammori's lawyers said only three of 385 actions over five years met the definition of terrorism when the group was banned. Lawyer Raza Husain said the suffragettes and other groups used tactics similar to those of Palestine Action, or more extreme ones.

The Home Office argues that the group's escalating actions amounted to terrorism and justified the ban. It said a 2024 attack on the Elbit site involved violence and weapons used against security staff and police officers. The damage from that raid was estimated at £1m (R22m).

Home Office statistics show more than 3,600 arrests linked to support for the group between the ban in July 2025 and June. Total arrests linked to Palestine Action now exceed 4,000.Share

EFF Cape Town mayoral candidate Nontando Nolotshungu said the burst pipe showed poor service delivery to townships by the Democratic Alliance (DA). She said nothing had been done about it by 2:10pm.

ANC supporter Fundilwazi Sityoshwana said Langa needs new sewers. He said the system was not built for the number of people who now live in the township.

Nolotshungu also said an EFF city government would stop all sales of City-owned land. She said the party would use the land to build housing instead.

Up to 20 people share one bathroom in the former men-only hostel in Langa.Share

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is also Iran's chief negotiator, posted on X after the vote. He said Americans had chosen peace, whether out of conscience or because of the cost of living, and that Iran supported that message.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that US hostility would continue whichever party held power. He said Washington thought the end of its dominance was far off, while Iran thought it was close.

Iranian media ran triumphant and mocking coverage. At a state-organised rally in Tehran, a demonstrator who gave only his family name, Nazari, said the power of the Republicans had been broken.

Senior Iranian officials said Tehran had deliberately prolonged talks with the US to weaken Trump politically before the vote. Two senior Iranian sources said Trump could try to make up for the result with a military strike.

Trump told Fox News that Iran was part of the reason for the result. He said voters also understood the importance of what he had done on Iran. The US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, and the war is in its ninth month.Share

Phindela first served as an Under-Secretary in Parliament. He was then appointed Secretary to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

The Activists and Citizens Forum said it was saddened by his death. Its spokesperson, Dennis Bloem, said the country had lost a hardworking and loyal public servant.

Bloem said Phindela served with distinction and was a people's person. He said Phindela kept his position separate from politics and treated all political parties equally.Share

Ntombifuthi Masinga, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial electoral officer, said the theft exposes a risk across the whole metro. She said the PR ballot is the same at every voting station in eThekwini. She said parties and voters should be alert across the metro.

Masinga also said any stolen ballot would be easy to identify, because it would carry the wrong station stamp. She said the commission was comfortable with its checks and balances. Ward 2 has 21 voting stations and 56 candidates on its ballot.

Elsewhere, the commission said 5,028 voting stations were prepared across KwaZulu-Natal, which has 6,022,350 registered voters. Logistical problems delayed 50 stations in Ndwedwe. Three stations in Umzumbe could not be reached because the roads were inaccessible. SAPS and the SANDF are assisting in both areas.

Over two days, 234,297 of 362,878 approved special votes were cast in the province. That is a turnout of 65%.Share

Election observer Pretty Jwarah described the incident. She said people in the queue gave the woman water and that she called the woman's daughter, who came to the station.

Jwarah also claimed that no ambulance came. She said the family took the woman to hospital in an Uber car instead. This claim comes from one person and the IEC did not confirm it.Share