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MK Party's Baloyi sets out plan for Johannesburg finances

Published

Bongani Baloyi, the MK Party's Johannesburg mayoral candidate, said the city needs strict financial discipline, with borrowing kept for infrastructure. He also claimed greener energy could meet about 15% of the city's electricity needs.

Baloyi spoke on 702 ahead of Wednesday's local government elections. He said spending commitments must be carefully managed. In his words: "We cannot overcommit the city and strain its resources to the detriment of the city".

He said stronger law enforcement and enforcement of municipal bylaws would be essential to revive the CBD. He also set out MK Party proposals on immigration enforcement.

Baloyi said township microgrids and a social tariff would make households more financially viable. He said they would also reduce dependence on conventional electricity supply. He said residents were frustrated because they were effectively paying twice for services.

Key facts

Who
Bongani Baloyi (MK Party mayoral candidate for Johannesburg); MK Party (political party contesting the local government elections)
What
Speaking on 702, Baloyi said the city needs strict financial discipline with borrowing reserved for infrastructure, and set out MK Party proposals on the CBD, immigration enforcement and township microgrids. He claimed greener energy could meet about 15% of Johannesburg's electricity needs.
When
2 November 2026
Where
Johannesburg
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

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.

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AI Cooling

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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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