Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°16°CTCT30°17°PretoriaPTA31°17°DurbanDBN27°64%

Five mayoral candidates compete to lead Tshwane

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

Candidates from ActionSA, the DA, the EFF, the FF+ and BOSA are in the race for Tshwane mayor, with the ANC shortlist still open. Voters go to the polls in the local government elections on 4 November.

ActionSA's Nasiphi Moya is the incumbent Executive Mayor of Tshwane. She says the city has moved from strain to a fully funded budget, with growing cash reserves. She also says due process was followed when the City of Tshwane CFO, Gareth Mnisi, was reinstated in July 2026, and that Council made the decision.

Cilliers Brink, the DA Caucus Leader in Tshwane, blames poor budgeting and neglected infrastructure for costly emergency measures and chances for corruption. He cites six mayors in eight years in the city. He asks voters for five years and 50% to "finish what we started".

Omphile Maotwe, the EFF national Treasurer-General, pledges 40% of jobs and 50% of procurement for young people. She also pledges 50% women's representation. Willie Spies stands for the FF+.

Martha Moshiga, BOSA's Tshwane regional leader, uses the slogan "Stability first. Service always." She pledges to repair 1,000 potholes in her first 100 days. The ANC has not named its candidate, and Kgosi Maepa, a former ANC Tshwane Regional Chairperson, is on its shortlist.

Key facts

Who
Nasiphi Moya (ActionSA mayoral candidate and incumbent Executive Mayor of Tshwane); Cilliers Brink (DA mayoral candidate and DA Caucus Leader in Tshwane); Omphile Maotwe (EFF mayoral candidate and national Treasurer-General); Willie Spies (FF+ mayoral candidate)
When
26 October 2026
Where
Tshwane, South Africa
Status
Reported

Related stories

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.

  1. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll
  2. IEC says local election voting went largely smoothly
  3. IEC says about 12 million had voted by 5pm

See every update

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.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

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.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update