Latest posts

The video is more than 40 seconds long. It allegedly shows a uniformed constable saying his election-day duty would be to chase voters back to their caves. Fernando Antonio Fredericks, a Patriotic Alliance content creator, first shared it.

Warrant Officer Christopher Spies, the Western Cape police spokesperson, said a senior officer was appointed to investigate. He said a member of the public tried to lodge a complaint against the constable over the remarks.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is investigating although it has no formal complaint. Chairperson Chris Nissan said the remarks were clearly hate speech and that the commission condemns any such remarks.Share

Sasop said the shortages also cover lorazepam injections and orphenadrine. It named Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape as affected. The society said it began receiving complaints from psychiatrists in June 2026.

Sasop said patients who cannot get their usual medicine may relapse. That could cause more complications and hospital admissions. Dr Mvuyiso Talatala, a past president and spokesperson for the society, said this adds strain to psychiatric beds that already face high demand.

Sasop also said patients who need admission may wait in emergency departments for hours or days. It said this could expose them to human rights abuses. It said hospital management stopped some psychiatrists from writing private prescriptions for families willing to buy unavailable medicines from private pharmacies.

Talatala said health officials blamed late orders by facilities, factory closures by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority for non-compliance, and disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz. He said none of these reasons explains a shortage of many drugs made by many companies. The Department of Health had not responded to a request for comment.Share

A mathematical model linked this to less internal noise, meaning the brain responds to the same sound more consistently. The team says the gain comes from brain processing, not from how the ears detect sound. Sighted musicians showed a similar effect. The sample is small, and the researchers say it is still unknown how much training is needed or whether timing matters.Share

McKenzie spoke at the Results Operation Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, on Friday. He was commenting on the local government election results as municipalities begin coalition talks.

He said the PA stays open to talks with all parties. He described the Freedom Front Plus and ActionSA as very truthful, and the ANC as a very good coalition partner.

McKenzie said the PA does not like the DA much. He said the party would accept the DA as a partner if coalition arrangements required it.Share

The JSE All Share index closed at 112,739 points on Friday, down 0.5%. The Top 40 index fell to 104,714, down 0.5%.

The rand ended at R16.48 to the US dollar, weaker than R16.40 the day before. Gold was at $4,080 an ounce, down 0.8%. Brent crude was at $97.76 a barrel, down 0.5%.Share

The ANC won 48.9% of the vote and 27 seats in Merafong in 2021. The DA now holds 11 seats and the EFF holds 4 seats. In 2021 the DA had 16% and the EFF had 15%.

One Merafong Organisation (OMO) is a newly formed community movement. It contested a local election for the first time and won a ward the ANC held before. Its Secretary General, Buti Mthembu, said the community was on its side and everybody was excited.

Mthembu said residents had endured years of poor service delivery and maladministration. He said the ANC forgot the people who voted for it and needed to be taught a lesson. OMO called for the arrest of municipal officials it alleges are corrupt.Share

The IEC first flagged a coin toss to break the tie in ward 15. It then said it would consider a recount. The ANC remains the largest party in the metro in the Eastern Cape.

ANC provincial leader Oscar Mabuyane said the party expected to do better in the metro. He said the ANC is willing to work with other parties. He said parties will now get into talks on possible coalitions.

Mabuyane also said the DA federal executive would meet on Saturday morning to discuss any future coalition. The ANC in the province said its loss of ground is a sign of a maturing democracy.Share

EFF representative Mziyanda Hlekiso asked the Electoral Commission to stop the toss and recount the ballots. He said the ballots should include spoilt papers. He said the toss would not help the party.

In the Free State, the EFF said it will not join coalition governments only for the sake of power. The party said it is considering its options in hung municipalities.

The EFF said any coalition deal must guarantee that its policies are carried out. It named the fight against tender corruption and stronger state capacity as key goals.

EFF Free State representative Mapheule Liphoko said the party accepts the voters' mandate, although its support fell slightly. He said Mangaung should not become like Cape Town, where he said Langa does not get services.Share

Gupta faces charges of murder, contravention of the Immigration Act, driving without a valid driver's licence and malicious damage to property. The alleged incident happened on 20 October 2026.

NPA spokesperson Lindiwe Mabasa said Gupta is an Indian national who has no valid documents to stay in South Africa. She said he allegedly entered the country in 2024 on a visitor's visa, which has expired. These are the prosecution's claims.Share

Shivambu said personal egos and petty grievances have made progressive coalition government impossible. He said his party believes the party with the most votes should lead a municipality. He said the DA should lead Johannesburg, and the ANC should lead Ekurhuleni if it finishes first.

Shivambu claimed the ANC is corrupt and unfit to lead Johannesburg or Ekurhuleni. He said the EFF possibly had the highest budget for these elections, yet it could not persuade more than 7% of voters. He said the IEC ran the elections well and called complaints from party leaders oversensitivity.

Provisional results showed no outright winner in 69 of the first 100 councils. The ANC vote share fell from 45.6% in 2021 to around 32% by Friday midday. The EFF share fell from 10.3% to about 6.2% by Friday afternoon.Share

In 2021 the ANC took 60.1% of the vote in Ward 63. ActionSA had 11.8% then. The ANC kept Ward 71, where it won 44.8%.

In the preliminary Tshwane results, the DA had 31.78% with 428,388 votes. ActionSA had 23.23% with 313,181 votes, and the ANC had 21.89% with 295,038 votes. In 2021 the ANC won 75 of 214 council seats, and 108 are needed for a majority.

Maselela said ActionSA worked hard to win the ward and lost only one voting station. He said the party would introduce an amnesty programme for municipal debt and would prioritise hostel development. He also said it would work with law enforcement on crime.

ANC candidate Mmakgoko Veron Phasha, who retained Ward 71, said the election was tight and ActionSA's gains were a wake-up call. She claimed some residents voted for Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya, not for the party's ward candidates. She also said ActionSA lacks credible candidates in these wards.Share

Maotse said the EFF planned for the elections and must respect the choice of voters. He said the people must decide who leads the municipalities. The party says its support has declined, and it is doing worse than in the 2021 local government elections.

In the City of Johannesburg the EFF is in 4th place with 6% of the vote. In Ekurhuleni it has 6% and is in 5th place behind the MK Party. In Tshwane it also has 6% and is in 5th place behind the Freedom Front Plus.

EFF leader Julius Malema will address the media on Saturday.Share

Deputy president Kenny Kunene said the PA would enter talks with any party, including the DA, if the election result required it. He said the party respects the mandate of the voter, and that voters wanted parties to work together. Kunene also claimed that DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille puts wealthy communities ahead of poor and black residents.

McKenzie said the people of Eldorado Park wanted the DA to serve them better. He said the PA gained wards in Soweto and George. In George, he said the PA took six wards from the DA, then said seven.

McKenzie also said the PA now has 150 seats, double what it won in 2021. Just after 5pm on Friday, PA support stood at 2% nationwide and 1% in Gauteng.Share

The MK Party has a majority in at least six wards and leads in parts of eThekwini. It has secured more than 1.7 million votes so far, and the count is still underway. In Ward 53 in Amaoti, the home ward of Zandile Gumede, the party seems to be winning.

Gumede is a former Durban mayor accused of crimes. She crossed to the MK Party from the ANC this year.

The Electoral Commission (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal authorised a recount of votes in some eThekwini regions. This further delays the announcement of results. Zuma said the party wants to rule the country.Share

Masego Sheburi, the commission's Deputy CEO of Electoral Operations, gave the update on counting and tallying. He said the commission hopes to finish a higher share of results in all provinces by midday. It plans to deal with the remaining results and conclude them early on Saturday morning.

The commission cautioned against social media posts about Emalahleni Local Municipality. Some posts claimed that results in Wards 4 and 23 were withheld because ballots cast exceeded registered voters. Other posts claimed a municipal official voted four times. The commission presented both as claims it sought to debunk.Share

FF+ federal council executive Pieter van Vuuren said the party is open to being a coalition partner in some hung municipalities. He said 16 councils in the province are hung.

Van Vuuren said the party was a little worried before the results, but is now elated because it sees a lot of growth. The party is polling at around 5% in the province as the count goes on.Share

Ofcom said the change will make it harder for strangers to contact children on Snapchat. Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom's Online Safety Group, said the change was long overdue. Ofcom said Snapchat acted after pressure from the regulator.

Ofcom said 32% of children aged eight to 12 in Britain used Snapchat in May. The platform sets a minimum age of 13. A 2025 analysis of British police data by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children found that 40% of recorded offences involving sexual communication with a child, where the platform was known, took place on Snapchat.

Ofcom said Snapchat told it that effective age checks for under 18s should be in place by the end of the year. Ofcom warned that other tech companies which fail to tackle grooming risks face fines of up to 10% of qualifying global revenue.Share

Mokomele cited international figures. At DKMS Germany, 23% of potential donors dropped out when contacted to confirm a match. The South African registry had 19,000 registered donors in 2021.

The research company GfK surveyed more than 3,000 registered South African donors for DKMS Africa. Of those surveyed, 98% said they would likely donate if contacted about a match. About 4% had updated their contact details before, and 10% did not know they needed to keep them current.

Among donors who were unsure or declined, 49% said they did not know enough about the donation process. Another 32% said they feared the pain involved. Among the donors surveyed, 36% preferred quarterly updates.

Mokomele said patients with fully matched donors had a two-year survival rate of 59%. For patients who received mismatched transplants, the rate was 38%. She said longer waits could let the disease progress or return, or leave a patient too ill for a transplant. She said registering is only the first step, and donors must stay committed over time.Share

The Electoral Commission said part of the delay came from recounts of ballots at some voting stations. eThekwini is the only metro in KwaZulu-Natal.

KwaZulu-Natal electoral officer Ntombfuthi Masinga spoke at a media briefing at the results operations centre in Durban. She said officials also had to reconcile the results slips against the number of ballot books issued.Share

More than 9 people have been shot across Cape Town since Wednesday's election. Four people died in 5 separate shooting incidents. The areas affected include Athlone and Delft.

The youngest victims were a 16-year-old male, who was killed, and a 17-year-old female, who was injured. Both were shot in Athlone. Police arrested one suspect in connection with one of the shootings.Share

Sibiya challenges the decision of the Randburg magistrate's court, which refused him bail on 20 October. His lawyers say the magistrate and the state overlooked procedural irregularities, unlawful searches and backdated evidence. Sibiya was arrested on 21 September.

Sibiya says the arrest was a prosecutorially driven operation. His defence says investigators arrested him at premises different from the address in the warrant. It also says they obtained a second search warrant for unrelated offences, and that the search was unlawful.

The appeal says an exhibit presented as an affidavit dated 18 September 2026 is a recent fabrication. It also says the state did not have the document on that date. Sibiya's lawyers say the task team did not involve the Independent Police Investigative Directorate in matters within its jurisdiction.

Sibiya's defence says the alleged threat to the complainant's father is not in the voice recording or its transcript. His appeal says the facts do not meet the legal definition of human trafficking. It also says the magistrate wrongly treated the matter as falling under Schedule 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Sibiya denies raping the 18-year-old woman and says the sexual encounter was consensual. The state opposed bail. It argued that the seriousness of the charges, and the risk of witness intimidation, interference with evidence and evading trial, justified keeping him in detention.Share

ANC regional chair for Sarah Baartman Mabhuti Matyumza responded to the losses. He said the party still has the support and confidence of its constituents.

Matyumza also said the ANC is happy with its results in some municipalities. He said voters across the district had shown they still see the party as dependable for the future.Share

GUR spokesperson Andrii Yusov said the constellation is too small to cover Ukraine without gaps, so communication is available only at times. A GUR statement said Rassvet may give Russia two-way data exchange with its drones. That would allow real-time data transfer and route changes in flight.

Kyiv-based security expert Mykola Zientsev said Russia has at least two good communication windows each day, and each lasts more than an hour. He said this is enough to have effects on the battlefield.

Russia launched the satellites in two batches, in March and July. The Bureau 1440 project plans a constellation of more than 900 satellites by 2035. GUR lists 49 companies from Russia and Belarus as involved, and President Volodymyr Zelensky sanctioned 10 companies last week over Rassvet development.

Rassvet is billed as a homegrown rival to Starlink, which has more than 10,000 satellites. Ukrainian battlefield commanders said speed limits placed on Starshield last month hurt their ability to intercept Russian attack drones. No explanation has been given for the limits.Share

Masinga said power failures, slow connectivity, staff fatigue and recounts are slowing the capturing of results in several municipalities. The deadline for Section 65 objections was 5:00pm on Friday.

Progress differs between municipalities. Msinga had captured 70% of its results and Inkosi Mtubatuba 67%. In eThekwini and Ulundi the figure was 64%, and in Abaqulusi it was 63%.

Ndwedwe had reached 59% progress and Alfred Duma had captured 49%. Msunduzi was furthest behind at 40%.Share

ActionSA said the gain was the biggest surprise of the election. It said its new wards were 25 in Tshwane, 17 in Ekurhuleni and 11 in Johannesburg. Moya said the success came from delivering on the party's promises.

Another outlet's count had ActionSA at 4.92% of the national vote with 81% of votes counted. The party had more than 300,000 votes and 14 seats so far in Tshwane. A third report said preliminary results showed more than 20 wards in Tshwane, after none in 2021. Moya cited a provisional figure of 27 wards in the city.

Moya spoke at the Electoral Commission results centre in Midrand. She thanked Tshwane residents and said she would work in communities to deliver what the party had promised. With 84% of votes counted, the Electoral Commission is expected to announce final results this weekend.Share

The HSRC interviewed 13,198 voters at 300 voting stations on election day, across all nine provinces. Research director Benjamin Roberts presented the findings at the Results Operations Centre in Midrand on Friday. The commission commissioned the survey.

Most voters queued briefly. Roberts said 91% waited no longer than 30 minutes, and 4% queued for more than an hour. One source put the share at nine in ten. He said queuing times improved markedly on 2024 and returned to 2021 levels.

Trust in the IEC was 81%, down from 85% in 2024, 89% in 2021 and 91% in 2016. Trust was highest in the Eastern Cape at 87% and lowest in KwaZulu-Natal at 72%. Roberts said allegations of corruption, bribery and fraud were prominent reasons for distrust.

The HSRC said intimidation, impartiality, inclusive voting and information gaps need attention. Of voters, 65% said IEC officials were impartial to a great extent. The survey also flagged a need for better facilities for visually impaired voters, pregnant women and voters with babies.Share

Mabuyane told the media that the ANC was swimming against the tide. He said there was a clear agenda to remove the party from the metros. He also named high unemployment as the party's biggest problem.

The ANC looks set to lose its majority in Buffalo City for the first time. It also performed poorly in Nelson Mandela Bay. Several municipalities in the west of the province returned hung results.

In Makana, ANC support fell from 50.65% in 2021 to 31.27%. The DA won 27.24% and the Makana United Civic Movement won 19.5%.

In Blue Crane Route, the ANC won 45.2%, down from 56.37%, and the DA won 37.5%. In Inxuba Yethemba, the ANC won 42.7%, down from 53%, and the DA won 40.6%.

In Walter Sisulu, the ANC won 47.5%, down from 55.6%, against 23.7% for the DA. In Ndlambe, the ANC won 43%, down from 52.6%, and the DA won 35%.Share

The UDM placed second behind the ANC in the metro. Its mayoral candidate, Nqabayomzi Kwankwa, won 18% of the votes for mayor. In Scenery Park ward 5, UDM candidate Mbeko Nobatyi won with 49.17%, or 4,794 votes, against 32.56%, or 3,174 votes, for the ANC's Monica Goci.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the party gained from a protest vote by ANC supporters. He said this would make the UDM careful in any coalition talks. He also said voters were fed up with the ANC and that Kwankwa would lead any talks. Holomisa said ward candidates endorsed by communities helped the UDM win former ANC wards.

Political commentator Dumisani Mthethwa of Walter Sisulu University said poor service delivery was the main reason for the ANC's fall. He said immigration protests and the ANC's silence on the debate could also have played a part. He said the result threatens the ANC's dominance in the province ahead of the 2029 elections.Share

The three accused face charges including defeating the ends of justice, corruption and fraud. The charges relate to blue lights that were installed and used on four of Matlala's vehicles. The vehicles were listed as municipal assets.

The State alleges that Matlala used the vehicles to project false law enforcement authority. It also alleges that he used them to intimidate others and to evade traffic laws.

Mkhwanazi is a former deputy chief of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department. Steyn is the Ekurhuleni fleet manager.Share