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Newsbrief

Mbalula urges ANC supporters to vote in local elections

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told supporters at a mini-rally in Zwelitsha, Qonce, on Monday that voter apathy would destroy the party. The local government elections take place on 4 November.

Mbalula said staying at home on voting day would destroy the ANC and the dreams of the people of the country. He said white people come out in numbers on voting day even though they do not attend rallies. He told the crowd: "Please do not stay in the house during the voting day, because the enemy wants to destroy the ANC."

Mbalula said the ANC will win the elections and keep Buffalo City metro. He also said the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa is steering the economy in the right direction. He referred to a R10 billion amount that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced to ease the burden of fuel costs.

Mbalula told councillor candidates to be honest and said the party will not support councillors accused of stealing. Princess Faku, the ANC regional chairperson and Buffalo City mayor, said the party will keep the metro with an outright majority.

Cosatu provincial secretary Mkhawuleli Maleki also spoke. He said there are things people are not happy about in the ANC, but they will continue supporting it.

Key facts

Who
Fikile Mbalula (ANC secretary-general); Enoch Godongwana (finance minister); Cyril Ramaphosa (President); Princess Faku (ANC regional chairperson and Buffalo City mayor)
What
Mbalula told ANC supporters that voter apathy would destroy the party and the future of ordinary South Africans, and made claims about the party's record, economy and candidates ahead of the local government elections.
When
26 October 2026
Where
Zwelitsha, Qonce, Buffalo City
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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