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DA Federal Council Chairperson and Campaign Manager Ashor Sarupen said the party's immediate priority is to get its supporters to the ballot box. He said the DA has run an extraordinarily long 18-month campaign.

Sarupen said the DA was the first party out of the blocks to make voters understand its offer, its mayoral candidates and its track record. He said the party hopes to turn this extensive campaign into votes.

Sarupen said: "We are calling for every single DA voter to get out to vote on Wednesday."Share

Tau said government is confident the US will respond favourably to the offers South Africa made in talks. He said two rounds of talks between senior officials made substantial progress on the issues. Tau said, "We are ready, whatever the decision."

If US concerns remain, South Africa will have 60 days to address them before any suspension could take effect, Tau said. A suspension could be full or partial.

Tau gave figures on trade ties. Bilateral trade between South Africa and the US was $28.8 billion in 2025. About 600 American companies operate in South Africa and support 134 600 jobs, and US companies made investment commitments of more than $5 billion in the last year.

South Africa supplies 12 of the 50 minerals the US considers critical. Under AGOA, more than 1 800 products have duty-free access to the US market. More than 5 000 products are eligible under the Generalised System of Preferences.Share

KwaZulu-Natal has 165 of the high-risk stations, the most of any province. Of these, 124 are in the eThekwini District. Gauteng has 119, including 75 in the Johannesburg district.

The Western Cape has 33, all in the City of Cape Town. Mpumalanga has 11. The Eastern Cape has three, all in the OR Tambo District.

Masemola said police have increased deployments, with specialised units on standby. He said the South African National Defence Force and the State Security Agency also support election security.

Masemola said two people were attacked and killed in connection with violent marches around Durban. He said 16 vehicles were burnt or damaged. The police service has a court application on marches in KwaZulu-Natal and awaits the court's decision.

Masemola said the application does not aim to stop lawful marches or the right to protest. He said it aims to ensure that people follow the law.Share

Ramaphosa toured sites in the eThekwini area, including Montclair, Cornubia, Tongaat and Hambanathi. He handed over houses at Cornubia and addressed members of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and ANC supporters. SADTU members presented nine grievances to him.

Addressing candidates in Hambanathi, Ramaphosa said: "don't steal money for development." He said the ANC has the policies, capacity and experience to deliver meaningful development. He also said many people told him during the campaign that they had no jobs.

Ramaphosa said the renewal of the ANC would be judged in the wards, not in Luthuli House. Polls cited in reports say the ANC could lose the eThekwini metro for the first time, to the MK Party founded by former president Jacob Zuma.

At Cornubia, 145 houses are under construction in phase 2. Ramaphosa said 460 permanent homes should be complete there by mid-2027. A further 500 units are planned for refurbishment at Montclair.Share

The Weather Service said below-normal rainfall and above-normal temperatures are likely in parts of the country. It linked this to a developing El Niño pattern. Senior forecaster Tokelo Chiloane made the claim about the El Niño influence.

Chiloane advised the public on precautions for the voting period. He said: "Carry umbrellas or raincoats where showers and thundershowers are expected."Share

The money went to permanent residents and refugees. The department said it spent R1.12bn on permanent residents, including R931.5m on old-age grants and R134.5m on child support grants. It spent R150.8m on refugees, made up of R105.8m on child support grants and R32.7m on old-age grants.

The department also reported on social relief of distress (SRD) grants. It paid R10.6m to qualifying foreign nationals, which is 0.03% of the total SRD grant budget.

The department said the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) must by law help qualifying citizens, permanent residents and recognised refugees. It repeated its rule on people in the country unlawfully. The department said: "Sassa does not provide social grants or SRD benefits to illegal immigrants or any person unlawfully present in the republic."Share

One community member said unemployment is a high concern in Ward 47 of Vosloorus. The resident said many young unemployed people sit at home and are idle. The resident called youth unemployment a clear sign of high unemployment in the area.

The same resident said: "It's a very huge concern, especially for someone with a university degree." Residents said unemployment will be among the key issues that influence their votes.

Radio 702 is hosting an Ekurhuleni mayoral debate at Nguni Hall on Thursday.Share

The NPA's asset forfeiture unit obtained a preservation order against Sibanyoni and his co-accused in an extortion case. One co-accused is taxi fleet owner Oupa Sindane. The order freezes their assets.

Western Cape police said they will crack down on taxi violence in Cape Town. They said the killings will be met with the full force of the law.

In Spain, 68 people died in a high-speed rail collision. The country declared three days of mourning. Spain's transport minister said an error and inexplicable circumstances led to the crash.Share

Zuma-Sambudla, a former MK Party MP, faces charges of incitement to commit terrorism and public violence over her social media posts during the July 2021 unrest. She wants the court to discharge her under section 174. Naidu said the state presented a strong case, especially on count one, and that its witnesses gave strong testimony.

Naidu argued that the tweets became more escalating and must be read cumulatively. He said the charges are drafted the same way.

Her lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu, said the state's case is weak and must be discarded. He said state witnesses conceded that none of her posts amounted to incitement of violence. He also said the state targets her because she is the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma.

Mpofu called the state's evidence on her "We See You" tweets laughable. He said many people retweeted her posts but were not charged. Reports put the deaths in the July 2021 unrest at 354 and the damage at about R50bn.Share

Ramaphosa said the money would help ease overcrowded classrooms. He told teachers government agreed with SADTU on teacher vacancies, Grade R wages and school safety.

He was responding to a SADTU march in Durban earlier in the month. Thousands of teachers marched through the central business district.

Ramaphosa said: "My wish this is a clear determination from my part our focus on education must be to appoint more teachers, to lessen the number of learners in the classroom"Share

The three suspects are accused of passport fraud at the Bothaville home affairs office in the Free State in 2023. Home affairs said 10 passport applications were processed fraudulently. The Counter Corruption Unit investigated the case with the Hawks.

The department said the fraud used weaknesses in outdated systems. Photographs were swapped to obtain South African passports. Home affairs said it has introduced biometric verification to close these loopholes.

The suspects appeared in the Bothaville magistrate's court on Monday. The case was postponed to 20 January 2027.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said: "Our approach is twofold: pursuing corruption without fear or favour, while using technology to eliminate opportunities for corruption in the first place,"Share

Parliament set up the Ad Hoc Committee last year to probe alleged criminal infiltration, corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system. The committee is at its final stage, and a draft report has gone out for comment.

Bloem criticised the repeated extensions and said Speaker Thoko Didiza granted the committee six of them. He claimed she is complicit in an embarrassing situation. He also claimed the committee was a stillborn project from the start.

Bloem said: "The Speaker must tell the country how much money was spent on the Ad Hoc Committee." He claimed millions of rand of taxpayers' money went to the committee. He also said Parliament's credibility and integrity are severely damaged.Share

Sizakhele Dyantyi, the provincial police commissioner, linked the rise in taxi violence to route disputes between rival taxi associations. At a police briefing on Thursday she warned those stirring violence: "They will be dealt with harshly." Reports said one person was also gunned down earlier in the week at the same Delft rank.

Charles George, a community activist and pastor in Delft, said the violence makes voters question whether they can reach a voting station and get home safely. The ANC Dullah Omar region said the violence comes at a critical moment. It warned that the violence will intimidate voters if it goes unchecked.

Michael Hendrickse, the IEC provincial electoral officer, said police are assessing high-risk areas as part of election preparations. He said the commission remains concerned about crime that could affect voters' ability to reach voting stations.Share

Creecy gave the answer in a written reply to questions from MK Party MP Adil Nchabeleng. She said the staff involved were distracted by unrelated tasks and did not stay alert while the aircraft was towed. An SAA Airbus A320 hit a stationary Safair Boeing 737-800 at OR Tambo International Airport on 11 November 2022.

Creecy said the tug driver and engineer were formally reprimanded. She said they also had to attend human factors refresher training. SAA Technical (SAAT) is the SAA maintenance unit whose personnel were involved.

Safair first claimed about R7.43 million for repairs and around R53.71 million for lost income. Insurers for SAAT manage the revised claim. One report said Safair filed the claim in the Gauteng High Court in September 2026.Share

EFF mayoral candidate Sinawo Thambo said there is no political violence in Zwide and that parties live in harmony there. He also said Zwide is an EFF stronghold. Thambo said he was "quite surprised" that the area was calm.

Rozario Frolick, the DA Ward 25 councillor candidate, said political leaders want to lead the city out of its governance problems. He said this means there will always be synergy during the campaign. Parties in Nelson Mandela Bay have not held talks before the election.

Thambo called such talks a defeatist political mentality. UDM councillor candidate Luxolo Namethe said the party expects to pull significant numbers because it has fielded a candidate in all 60 wards.

Violence has hit other areas. Michael Thulani Mbana, the DA caucus leader in Metsimaholo, was killed in a shooting. An earlier report counted at least 42 people killed in suspected political assassinations since January.Share

More than 140 families displaced by the 2022 floods have moved into the Cornubia houses, near Phoenix. Premier Thami Ntuli and Human Settlement Minister Thembi Simelane went with Ramaphosa on the visit.

Ramaphosa urged beneficiaries to look after their homes and not sell them. He said houses fall down a month after being built when there is no way to repair them. He called for a facility management entity, paid a fee, and said black businesses should be encouraged into that space.

The 2022 floods killed more than 440 people in KwaZulu-Natal and completely destroyed 4 000 homes. More than 8 300 homes were partially damaged. A 62-year-old woman who received a new home said she is moved to tears each time she looks back on the floods.Share

The province credits tighter spending controls, better cash management and a Provincial Financial Recovery Plan. It puts the improvement at 74%. The main provincial budget in June 2024 was R150.488 billion.

Rodgers said the recovery process needs sustained discipline, consistency and institutional reform. He said: "Our task is not simply to spend less, but to spend better." The province says it still faces spending pressures in health, public works and education.

The province also cites gains in service delivery. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure reported that it completed 70 of 100 planned capital projects. KwaZulu-Natal had a 90.6% pass rate in the 2025 National Senior Certificate, the first in the country.

In health, the province says it added 44 ambulances and appointed more than 240 nurses and 238 doctors. It says more than 1.1 million active patients collect chronic medication closer to home. It also says it traced over 210 000 defaulted patients and returned them to care.Share

Detective Services and Forensic Services get 739 vehicles. Another 200 go to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units. Visible Policing and Operations get 290 vehicles.

The Eastern Cape gets 163 vehicles and Gauteng gets 151. Mpumalanga gets 147, KwaZulu-Natal 135 and the Western Cape 113. The Free State gets 103, North West 84, Limpopo 79 and the Northern Cape 54.

Masemola said vehicle availability is crucial. He said that when mobility is compromised, communities face delayed responses and lose confidence in the police.

He also called for strict oversight of how the vehicles are managed. "These vehicles belong to the people of South Africa. They are not instruments of personal convenience or symbols of privilege."Share

Moodley leads the CSIR's work on natural language processing and is a principal AI specialist. He said the challenge is enormous and that organisations cannot address it in isolation. The Government Communication and Information System helped host the roundtable.

Moodley said a flood of content has created an environment not seen in earlier elections to this extent. He said it is likely to grow in future. In his words: "You do not know what is real and what is AI-generated."

He described the CSIR's election monitoring process and two tools. The Informed Fake News Advisor Project could benefit fact-checkers, but Moodley said it is still a work in progress. He said the audio search technology could be a game-changer for multimodal content.Share

The 2005 guidelines of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) widened the criteria for prosecuting apartheid-era human rights abusers. Ackermann, head of the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, argued that they were unconstitutional. He also said they amounted to a back door amnesty for people who had not applied to the original Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mpshe relieved Ackermann of his role soon after his appointment in September 2007. Mpshe said he did this to protect Ackermann from stakeholders who did not want him to head the unit.

Mpshe said: "When I went through them myself then I realised that he may have had some merit on his attitude towards the guidelines".Share

The programme sought to buy 2000 MW of generation capacity. The department received the four bids on 29 May 2026. It issued the revised request for proposals on 20 October 2025.

The department said no generation capacity was awarded in Bid Window 1. Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said: "South Africa is not retreating from our gas-to-power objectives."

The department said it will share more information on any later procurement before the end of the calendar year. It said it and the IPP Office remain committed to procurement integrity.Share

The video reportedly shows Mandela telling citizens to stop voting for the ANC. It says the party has failed them and calls it corrupt. The video also includes allegations that the ANC stole pension funds.

These are claims made in the video itself. They are not established facts, and the video has not been verified.Share

Hill-Lewis spoke at a DA rally in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. He said one DA government created half the new jobs in the country's cities. He told the crowd: "Everywhere where the DA governs jobs come to that town or city."

The DA is an opposition party on the Nelson Mandela Bay council. It holds 48 of the 120 council seats and is campaigning for control of the metro.

Some residents said they hope for better jobs and easier access to education. A 21-year-old resident has been out of school since 2023 and has no job. The resident said the DA must create access to jobs.Share

A further 145 houses are under construction in Phase 2 of the project, which launched on Thursday. Ramaphosa said emergency accommodation must never become a permanent way of life. He said the end goal must be housing that delivers dignity.

Ramaphosa said government is changing its housing model to build integrated human settlements. These place housing near jobs, public services and economic opportunities. He said this is needed to reverse apartheid-era spatial planning.

The Cornubia development covers more than 1 300 hectares. It should house more than 110 000 people over the next 10 to 15 years. Building Phase I of the Cornubia Business Park created around 300 jobs, and the wider project should create more than 2 000 jobs.

Ramaphosa urged faster delivery and said construction problems and other delays must be resolved. He said government will not allow corruption, extortion or patronage in the development. He also asked residents to vote in the local government elections on 4 November.Share

Ramaphosa spoke to the media after a door-to-door campaign in Magabheni. He said the killings aim to destroy the efficacy of South Africa's democracy and roll back democratic gains. He said: "We condemn the killing of councillor candidates, whether serving or prospective, in the strongest terms."

Data from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, cited in the coverage, counts at least 42 people killed in suspected political assassinations since January 2026. The same period in 2025 saw 23 such killings. At least 10 people have died in political killings since the start of October.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli said in August that almost 18 councillors had been killed in the province since the 2021 local elections. He said eThekwini was the province's epicentre of political assassinations.

Ramaphosa also said the ANC will do extremely well and regain a majority in the eThekwini council. A poll of 1 000 registered voters by SABI Strategy Group modelled the MK Party at 43%, the DA at 30% and the ANC at 11%. He also spoke about anti-immigration unrest in Durban, after 510 SANDF members were deployed to KwaZulu-Natal.Share

The application asks the court to stop March and March protests, convoys and processions in the province. It also seeks to stop intimidation or incitement by the movement's members and leaders.

Court papers say the applicants received intelligence about a planned action against the centre in Che Guevara Road this week. The papers also cite concern about escalating violence after the recent death of a foreign national, and about retribution for that murder.

Brigadier Thamsanqa Gama made the founding affidavit for the applicants. He said: "This application concerns an immediate threat to life, to personal safety, and public order in and around Durban as well as within the province of KwaZulu-Natal".

Sandile Dube, the national spokesperson for March and March, called the application "orchestrated efforts by the government to silence the people's voices barely days before the local government elections".Share

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said the final push should win his party a majority in Nelson Mandela Bay. He said the metro could become the first outside Cape Town with a solid DA majority government. Hill-Lewis and DA mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal both called the vote a make-or-break election for a metro troubled by political instability.

Nelson Mandela Bay has been under a coalition for 10 years. Speaking at the DA rally in Gqeberha, Hill-Lewis said: "We can turn it around forever,"

In Buffalo City, the ANC needs 51% for an outright majority. Recent polls put the party well below that level. The latest polls show both metros will be hotly contested, with no clear winner expected.Share

Wenger says the shortages come from several causes. She listed manufacturing constraints, international shipping disruptions, supplier backorders, procurement challenges, regulatory delays and testing delays. She says medicine supply problems affect the whole country.

The provincial health department has not yet established the nature and extent of the port delays. Quality testing of imported medicines can take three and four weeks before distribution. Wenger said: "Every day we can save in the supply chain is a day gained in getting essential medicines to our patients."

Wenger first raised her concerns on June 2. The issue went to the National Health Council on June 11. The national department of health said it knows about the stock-outs and is preparing a comprehensive statement.Share

Johannesburg Water said excessive draw-off causes low pressure, intermittent supply and outages. It will consider level 2 restrictions if demand keeps rising. Areas named include Crosby, Brixton, Parktown, Berea, Soweto, Midrand and Randburg.

DA Ward 101 councillor Ralf Bittkau blamed the government. He said: "This is not an agreement between parties. This is a failure by the government to supply adequate access to water," He also said Johannesburg's allocation from Rand Water should have been raised long ago.

Bittkau claimed Johannesburg Water loses 49.8% of its water to illegal connections, bypassed meters and pipe bursts. He said losses were 42.5% last year, and that the international accepted maximum is 19%.

The ANC in Greater Joburg questioned Rand Water's decision to restrict bulk supply to the city. The party said the move could deepen hardship for residents who already face unreliable water. Regional secretary Sasabona Manganye questioned the timing, close to the local government elections.Share

Sifolo agreed that the listed documents can be led in public without being placed on display. He has not released other documents for open hearings. Those documents can be used to question witnesses in in-camera hearings.

The step follows a direction from the Commission to its evidence leaders. They had to check which documents Sifolo would testify on could be used in public. Some media houses had opposed a blanket in-camera hearing, and the Commission acted after that.Share