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Newsbrief

IEC warns KZN voting stations may face weather disruption

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

KwaZulu-Natal electoral officer Ntombfuthi Masinga said at a Durban media briefing that some tent stations could be hit by bad weather. The South African Weather Service issued a Yellow Level Four warning for several parts of the province.

Masinga said 148 voting stations are tents. In some informal settlements, no permanent building is available. She said: "there is absolutely no permanent structure we can use as a voting station".

Masinga said temporary service providers are on standby. They will put the tents up again if anything happens to them. She spoke at the briefing on Monday.

Key facts

Who
Ntombfuthi Masinga (KZN electoral officer, Electoral Commission of South Africa); Electoral Commission of South Africa (election management body; said some voting stations may be disrupted); South African Weather Service (issued Yellow Level Four weather warning for parts of KwaZulu-Natal)
What
KZN electoral officer Ntombfuthi Masinga said at a Durban media briefing that some IEC voting stations may be affected by inclement weather, as SAWS issued a Yellow Level Four warning for several parts of the province. Some stations are tents, with no permanent structure available in some informal settlements.
When
2 November 2026
Where
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban
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

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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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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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