Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°16°CTCT30°17°PretoriaPTA31°17°DurbanDBN27°64%

IEC fires KwaZulu-Natal presiding officer over ANC-coloured vehicle

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) found the vehicle seen carrying election material in Hammersdale belonged to the officer himself, not to an e-hailing taxi as first claimed. Members of a political party also stormed an IEC storage facility in Mariannhill on Monday night.

KwaZulu-Natal electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga explained the dismissal at a media briefing at the IEC operating centre in Durban. She said the IEC had no option but to end the officer's service, because he knew he would perform election duties.

The IEC said it would open a criminal case over the storm of the storage facility at a Mariannhill library once the party affiliations of those involved were confirmed. Masinga said party members had demanded that the IEC change its Dassenhoek Library storage facility, citing past break-ins and computer thefts. The facility serves four wards and 24 voting stations.

Masinga said fears about the safety of the materials in the facility were not justified. She also said political parties had shown a sudden interest in storage facilities since the 2024 general elections.

The IEC approved 362,878 special votes in KwaZulu-Natal. It administered 133,931 of them on Monday, which is 37% of the total. The IEC said 83,315 people were still to be processed on Tuesday. Voting stations open at 7:00am and close at 9:00pm on Wednesday.

Key facts

Who
Ntombifuthi Masinga (KwaZulu-Natal electoral officer, IEC); Electoral Commission of South Africa (fired presiding officer; operates storage facilities)
What
The IEC fired a presiding officer after an investigation found the party-coloured vehicle belonged to him, not an e-hailing taxi as first claimed. Separately, members of a political party stormed an IEC storage facility at a Mariannhill library on Monday night, and the IEC said it would open a criminal case once party affiliations were confirmed.
When
3 November 2026
Where
Hammersdale, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, Mariannhill
Status
Reported

Related stories

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. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll
  2. IEC says local election voting went largely smoothly
  3. IEC says about 12 million had voted by 5pm

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