Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. AIHot
  3. US mid-termsHeating up
Newsbrief

ANC wins control of first council declared in local elections

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

The ANC has won 6 seats on the Renosterberg Council in the Northern Cape and leads in three more. The Electoral Commission declared it the first council result, while vote counting continues across the country.

The Patriotic Alliance leads in Prince Albert. Two smaller parties have also made gains: the Peoples Movement for Change won two seats and the Siyancuma Independent Forum won one seat.

The Electoral Commission has verified 39% of Northern Cape votes so far. The CSIR has released its first national prediction of the final local government election results.

Key facts

Who
African National Congress (party that has taken control of the Renosterberg Council); Electoral Commission (body declaring council results); Patriotic Alliance (party leading in Prince Albert); Peoples Movement for Change (smaller party that won two seats)
What
The ANC has control of the first council declared by the Electoral Commission, Renosterberg Council in the Northern Cape, with 6 seats won so far and leading in another three. The Patriotic Alliance is leading in Prince Albert, and two smaller parties have made gains, while vote counting continues nationally.
When
5 November 2026
Where
Renosterberg, Northern Cape, Prince Albert
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting stations in KwaZulu-Natal closed at 9:00pm on 4 November and counting began, with police saying pockets of political intolerance did not break the calm. Early results show the ANC leading with 19 seats and the DA with seven, after over 5% of votes were counted.

Earlier, about 12 million voters had cast ballots by 5:00pm, a turnout of 44% before special votes, after 98% of the 23,696 stations opened by 7am. Problems did arise: some Cape Metro voters said they waited up to six hours, and the IEC said it fixed faulty devices and added staff.

Disputes continue, as the IEC set aside ballot boxes at two Matsulu stations over tampering claims, and the EFF plans a criminal case over special votes in the Eastern Cape.

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AI Hot

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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US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

President Donald Trump said on 5 November that the Iran war was needed to stop Tehran getting a nuclear weapon, though he admitted it contributed to Republican losses. Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the 3 November midterm elections, according to media projections, as exit polls showed voters angry about high prices.

The Senate majority came after projected upsets, including James Talarico beating Republican Ken Paxton in Texas. Iranian officials said US voters had rejected the war, while Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Scope Ratings said Democratic control of Congress supports its AA rating and stable outlook for the US, and expects fiscal policy to stay broadly unchanged.

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