Ongoing

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  2. US mid-termsHeating up
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Newsbrief

MK Party wins Richmond and Impendle in KZN local elections

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

Early results on the Electoral Commission of South Africa dashboard show the MK Party winning outright majorities in two KwaZulu-Natal municipalities that the ANC governed outright before. Counting continues, and the commission will declare final results on Sunday.

The two municipalities are Richmond and Impendle. The results are the latest on the commission's dashboard, and more are still coming in. The election is the first local government contest for the MK Party.

Mkhuseli Mlengane, the MK Party's provincial spokesperson, said the people of KwaZulu-Natal want change. He also said the party took a couple of municipalities from the Inkatha Freedom Party.

Mike Mabuyakhulu, the ANC convenor in KwaZulu-Natal, said it is still too early to analyse the party's performance.

Key facts

Who
Mkhuseli Mlengane (provincial spokesperson of the MK Party); Mike Mabuyakhulu (ANC KZN convenor); uMkhonto weSizwe Party (contesting local government elections in KwaZulu-Natal for the first time…); Inkatha Freedom Party (received the most votes in three KZN municipalities)
What
Based on the latest Electoral Commission of South Africa dashboard results, the MK Party has won outright majorities in Richmond and Impendle municipalities in KZN, which the ANC previously governed outright. Results were still trickling in, and the IEC's final results are to be declared officially on Sunday.
When
6 November 2026
Where
KwaZulu-Natal, Richmond, Impendle
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

What you need to know

The Electoral Commission (IEC) will announce the final 2026 local election results on Sunday evening, with more than 100 municipal councils hung. In Mpumalanga, the ANC's support fell to 43.6%, which reports describe as its lowest ever, and it lost Victor Khanye and Mbombela.

Before that, the IEC said objections would not delay results, with 197 received and 54 dismissed. Some parties dispute the count: the ANC in Sedibeng is preparing an Electoral Court challenge over the Vaal voters' roll, and the MK Party may go to court over Ethekwini.

Coalition talks come next, and the SACP says it will set strict conditions before it backs the ANC in hung councils.

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US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

The US justice department dropped its bid to stop California counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters, filing its notice of dismissal after Democrats won comfortably in the state. Earlier, Democrats won both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections on Tuesday, 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, while Vice-President JD Vance said the war was the reason. Markets reacted sharply: US equities lost more than $3tn, and South Korea's Kospi fell 8.5%, while Trump blamed the Democratic win and analysts pointed to worries about AI investment.

In South Africa, the JSE rose almost 5%, and senior US Democrats urged talks over the removal of AGOA trade preferences, which takes effect on 1 January 2027.

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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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