Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
Newsbrief
JoburgJHB29°69%
CTCT21°90%
PretoriaPTA33°75%
DurbanDBN30°20°

uThukela municipal manager Langelihle Jili arrested on corruption charges

Published

Jili is accused of demanding and receiving R100 000 from a service provider to process a payment. His co-accused, Bongumenzi Dlamini, was arrested at the Hawks' offices in Durban, allegedly while delivering a R600 000 bribe to police officers.

Jili was arrested on Wednesday. The allegation is that he took the R100 000 in exchange for processing payment for a service done for the municipality.

Dlamini was allegedly delivering the R600 000 to police officers to make the case go away when he was arrested in Durban.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs urged the municipality to keep services running and to appoint an acting municipal manager. Spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi said: "The department calls upon all the senior management and councillors of uThukela District to ensure that the service delivery continues uninterrupted."

Key facts

Who
Langelihle Jili (Municipal manager of uThukela District Municipality, arrested on corruption…); Bongumenzi Dlamini (Co-accused, arrested while allegedly delivering a R600 000 bribe to police…); Siboniso Mngadi (KZN CoGTA spokesperson); Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (KwaZulu-Natal) (Provincial department that urged continuity of service delivery)
What
Langelihle Jili, municipal manager of uThukela District Municipality, was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges, allegedly for demanding and receiving R100 000 from a service provider. The KwaZulu-Natal CoGTA department urged the municipality to keep services running and appoint an acting municipal manager.
When
21 October 2026
Where
uThukela District Municipality, 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.

  1. BOSA's Solomons flags one-ballot problem at Cape Town voting stations
  2. Mashatile urges new councillors to put voters first
  3. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll

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