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Frank Chikane says some never accepted democracy in South Africa

Published

Anti-apartheid activist Reverend Frank Chikane says some people believe 1994 should never have happened. He also said the ANC will announce its Johannesburg mayoral candidate and finalise the matter after the elections.

Chikane spoke in an interview ahead of the African Diaspora conference in Ekurhuleni. He said opponents of change tried to stop it by force. "They exploded bombs until the last week to stop this from happening."

Chikane rejected the word "genocide" for attacks on farms. He said more black farmers than white farmers are killed on farms. He also said change will affect those who were privileged.

Asked about his nomination for Johannesburg, Chikane said he never wanted to return to government. He said he would do it if there is a crisis people want to resolve.

Key facts

Who
Frank Chikane; African National Congress (Governing party; will communicate its decision on Johannesburg mayoral candidate)
When
25 October 2026
Where
South Africa, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg
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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