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  2. US mid-termsHeating up
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Newsbrief

ANC ward wins keep Morero and Masuku off Johannesburg council

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

The ANC won 63 of 270 wards in Johannesburg, more seats than its 20.27% share of the vote entitles it to. Its proportional representation list will not be used, so outgoing mayor Dada Morero and finance MMC Loyiso Masuku miss out.

The ANC's 63 wards are 23.3% of the council seats. The Democratic Alliance (DA) won 51 wards, or 18.9% of the seats, but took 34.81% of the vote. Votes were 99% counted at the time of writing.

Masuku is the ANC's Johannesburg regional chairperson and its presumptive mayoral candidate. Helen Zille is at the top of the DA's proportional representation list.

The ANC faces a similar result in Ekurhuleni. It won 59 of 224 wards there, or 26.3%, with 22.11% of the vote. Jongizizwe Dlabathi is the ANC mayoral candidate, and Nkosindiphile Xhakaza is the outgoing mayor.

Key facts

Who
Dada Morero (outgoing mayor of Johannesburg, senior ANC figure); Loyiso Masuku (MMC of finance in Johannesburg, ANC Johannesburg regional chairperson…); Helen Zille (top of the DA proportional representation list); Jongizizwe Dlabathi (ANC mayoral candidate in Ekurhuleni)
What
Because the ANC won more ward seats in Johannesburg (63 of 270 wards, 23.3%) than its 20.27% share of the vote entitles it to, its PR list will not be used, so Dada Morero and Loyiso Masuku will not return to council. The article reports a similar outcome for the ANC in Ekurhuleni, where it won 59 of 224 wards (26.3%) but 22.11% of the vote.
When
8 November 2026
Where
Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

What you need to know

The Electoral Commission will announce the final 2026 local election results on Sunday evening, with more than 100 municipal councils hung. Earlier, with almost all votes counted, the ANC's national share had fallen to just over 30%, down from 45.59% in 2021.

The commission had received 197 objections by 3pm on Saturday, dismissed 54, upheld two and ordered recounts in five wards. The ANC in Sedibeng says it found more than 32,000 voter records without addresses and is preparing an Electoral Court challenge, while the MK Party says it may also go to court.

Coalition talks now loom, as the DA won 53 seats in Nelson Mandela Bay but needs partners, and the SACP says it will set strict conditions for backing the ANC.

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US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

The US justice department has dropped its bid to stop California counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters, after Democrats won comfortably in the state. Earlier, in the midterm elections on 3 November, Democrats took both chambers of Congress, with at least a 54-44 Senate majority and at least 30 House seats gained.

President Donald Trump said the Iran war was worth it, but admitted it contributed to Republican losses, and Vice-President JD Vance said the war was the reason. Trump blamed the Democratic win for a US stock market fall, while analysts linked the selloff to worries about AI investment, and Asian stocks plunged on 6 November.

In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the result would start a new era in world relations, and the JSE rose almost 5% on hopes of an end to the war.

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AI Cooling

What you need to know

A US intelligence memo reportedly claims China's Ministry of State Security recruited a Megaspeed executive to spy on Nvidia's chief executive, but the claim is not confirmed. Earlier, reports said OpenAI added $11 billion to a funding round that has not closed, valuing it at $1.25 trillion.

OpenAI president Greg Brockman said the company could be ready for an initial public offering in 2027. Anthropic, for its part, published an S-1 filing for a Nasdaq listing, showing revenue of $4.6bn in 2025 and a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026.

Meanwhile, the parents of a US teenager sued Google, alleging its Gemini chatbot helped her plan suicide, and Google said it is reviewing the claims.

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  2. OpenAI reportedly raises $11 billion more at $1.25 trillion value
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