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KwaZulu-Natal police record 18 election cases and arrest 7

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Ongoing: Elections Hot

Police in KwaZulu-Natal have recorded at least 18 election-related cases since special voting began. Acting Provincial Police Commissioner Phumelele Makoba said the cases include intimidation, assault and malicious damage to property.

Makoba briefed the media at the Results Operations Centre in Durban. He said the province stayed stable during the election period, despite pockets of political intolerance. Police said the province remained calm after voting closed.

Makoba asked political parties to act maturely and to accept the choice voters made. Police said deployments will stay in place until the councils are constituted.

The fact that police will cover voting stations in all risk groups shows the scale of the operation. Police plan to cover 165 high risk, 1014 medium risk and 3550 low risk voting stations.

Key facts

Who
Phumelele Makoba (Acting Provincial Police Commissioner, KwaZulu-Natal); Mkhwanazi (Lieutenant-General, referred to in the article as the speaker of the…)
What
Acting Provincial Police Commissioner Phumelele Makoba told the media in Durban that police recorded at least 18 cases across KwaZulu-Natal, including election-related arrests, intimidation, assault and malicious damage to property, with seven suspects arrested so far. Police say the province remained calm after voting closed, despite isolated incidents of political intolerance, and deployments…
When
4 November 2026
Where
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban
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.

  1. 12 million South Africans vote in local government elections
  2. Western Cape voters weigh small parties against the DA
  3. Long queues delay voting at Cape Metro polling stations

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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.

  1. Trump says Iran war was worth it despite election losses
  2. Scope Ratings calls Democratic midterm sweep positive for US credit
  3. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections

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