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Newsbrief

DA youth leader expects party gains in KwaZulu-Natal elections

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

Sthabelo Ntshangase, the DA Youth chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, spoke at the party's final provincial rally at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban. He said the DA expects to win seats and govern some municipalities in the 4 November local government elections.

Ntshangase blamed poor service delivery for growing public dissatisfaction with municipalities. He said residents of KwaZulu-Natal are sick and tired of municipalities that do not deliver services.

He also claimed that investors would come and unemployment would fall if the DA ran municipalities. He urged young people to vote, saying they are the ones who are unemployed.

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis was due to address the rally, according to a video caption.

Key facts

Who
Sthabelo Ntshangase (DA Youth Chairperson in KZN); Democratic Alliance (political party contesting the local government elections); Geordin Hill-Lewis (to address the final DA rally in Durban (per video caption))
What
At the DA's final KwaZulu-Natal rally at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban, ahead of the November 4 local government elections, DA Youth KZN chairperson Sthabelo Ntshangase said the party expects to win seats and govern some municipalities, blaming poor service delivery for public dissatisfaction.
When
25 October 2026
Where
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

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US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

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AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

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