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Newsbrief

Police warn of no campaigning or marches on Voting Day

Published

Ongoing: Elections Hot

Empty school hall with rows of plain wooden voting booths in morning light.

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) said all protests must end by the close of Tuesday. Voting Day for the Local Government Elections is Wednesday 4 November, and anyone who defies the ban faces a response from law enforcement.

NATJOINTS Chairperson Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili spoke at a media briefing at the NATJOINTS Coordinating Centre in Tshwane on Sunday. She said defiance of the ban would be a crime. Her words were: "No campaigning or political persuasion is permitted on Voting Day."

Demonstrations are also banned within 100 metres of voting stations. The ban covers voting, counting and the announcement of results.

NATJOINTS said enough law enforcement personnel are deployed in all provinces. It said intelligence assessments and identified threats shaped the security plans. The aim, it said, is to protect life, property and the constitutional rights of all South Africans.

The briefing also covered a Durban High Court interim order on protests in KwaZulu-Natal. Special voting takes place on Monday and Tuesday, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa stated that it is ready.

Key facts

Who
Tebello Mosikili (NATJOINTS Chairperson, Lieutenant General); National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Briefing body (NATJOINTS)); Electoral Commission of South Africa (Election management body (IEC), stated readiness for special voting); March and March (Party to the Durban High Court interim order)
What
At a media briefing in Tshwane, NATJOINTS Chairperson Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili warned that no campaigning or marches are allowed on Voting Day and that all protests must conclude by the end of Tuesday. Security deployments and rules around voting stations and a Durban High Court interim order on KwaZulu-Natal protests were also outlined.
When
1 November 2026
Where
Tshwane, 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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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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