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Ntshavheni said only South Africans with South African identity documents can vote. She said foreign nationals live in the country on permits and visas and are not eligible. She urged people who lost their IDs to get temporary identification documents from Home Affairs offices.

She also urged voters to cast their ballots early and said it would be best if everyone voted by 9pm without an extension of hours. She said special votes on Monday and Tuesday went well, with a few incidents that Natjoints could manage. She told parties to show tolerance.

Voting began at 7am, and stations and Home Affairs offices close at 9pm. More than 29 million registered voters can vote at nearly 24,000 voting stations. Some voters in Joubert Park waited for hours and were then told to vote at other stations.

Deputy government spokesperson William Baloyi warned that it is prohibited for a voter to photograph a marked ballot paper.Share

Thousands of people rallied in Prague, including on Wenceslas Square, and in other Czech cities. The coalition also wants to cancel the monthly household broadcasting fee of 205 crowns ($9.43). The bill passed a preliminary vote last month and awaits more debate in parliament.

Jan Molacek, a Czech TV reporter and strike committee member, said the plan would give the coalition tools to influence the content of both public media. Critics said it would cut the link between the media and paying viewers and expose funding to political pressure. Opposition parties compared the changes to reforms in Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Monday that the government was keeping a promise to ease the financial burden on the public. He denied that the government wants to control public media or that democracy is at stake.Share

Trump spoke on Tuesday in an interview with Fox News. He said some Democrats and left-wing politicians use US financial support to Israel as a talking point against Republicans. He said the US cannot allow that to continue. Netanyahu's office had not commented.

The US gives Israel $3.8bn a year in military aid under a memorandum of understanding that nears expiry in 2028. Netanyahu said in a May interview that he hoped to wean Israel off US military support within a decade.

A Quinnipiac University poll in June found that 48% of voters believe the US is too supportive of Israel. Among Democrats the figure was 66%. When the question was first asked in 2017, the figures were 16% for voters and 20% for Democrats.Share

Cape Town has 2,158,976 registered voters and eThekwini has 2,032,565. Ekurhuleni has 1,711,998 and the City of Tshwane has 1,684,463.

The three smaller metros have far fewer voters. Nelson Mandela Bay has 636,660, Buffalo City has 458,695 and Mangaung has 447,397.Share

The Commission issued a statement on which political activities are prohibited inside and outside voting stations. It said the law does not require a period of silence from campaigners on election day. Campaigning inside the boundaries of a voting station is still banned.

A person who breaks the campaigning rules can face a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both.

The Commission also reminded voters how to check their registration. A voter can send an ID number by SMS, which costs R1 per message.Share

El-Sayed is 42 and a former public health official. Rogers is 63 and a former congressman and FBI agent. US President Donald Trump backed Rogers.

Republicans held a 53-47 majority in the Senate going into the midterm elections. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take control of the chamber.

Rogers tried to portray El-Sayed as a radical sympathetic to Islamic extremism, through alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Those claims remain unsupported by evidence, and El-Sayed denies them. Democrats said the attacks relied on Islamophobic tropes.

Rogers also said that ending the war in Iran and the US trade dispute with Canada was necessary to help bring down costs for businesses and consumers.Share

The regional leaders said their special national executive committee took the decision. They named charges of dereliction of duty, conduct that brings the union into disrepute, gross violations of the Numsa constitution and wasteful expenditure. Mbuso Ngubane, a national office bearer, is also among those suspended.

The regional leaders said the national office bearers imposed their suspensions without proper constitutional authority, and that those suspensions must be lifted. They also said the central committee meeting of 23 October was properly constituted and that its decisions remain valid and binding. They said the union's recovery cannot come through factional manoeuvres, intimidation or the undermining of elected structures.

Jim and Chirwa said in a letter that the national office bearers remain the legitimate leadership. The national office bearers said their own special national executive committee resolved to suspend the regional leaders, pending investigations into alleged misconduct. Numsa national spokesperson Mbali Ngwenda was approached for comment.

Reports said the power struggle threatens the credibility of the union. Numsa had about 360,000 members at its peak, before Cosatu expelled it in November 2014.Share

The US government announced the removal on Monday. Deputy Trade Minister John Steenhuisen said South Africa will move to most-favoured-nation status, which adds roughly 3.5 percentage points to existing tariffs. He said the US has not closed its market to South African goods.

Steenhuisen said citrus and automotive exporters will feel the effect most. He urged a bilateral trade deal with the US and more export markets. Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo also said exporters keep access, but at higher tariffs. He said the higher tariffs do not necessarily mean disaster.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said the government should use the 60 days before the exit to negotiate. Its parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, said farmers in the Western Cape, Limpopo and Northern Cape are of most concern. He said jobs were already lost over the past year and a half because of changing US tariffs.

Saul Levin of Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies said the impact looks fairly limited. He said sectors hit by earlier tariffs, such as autos and fruit canning, will feel more pain from those.Share

Voters at the Soshanguve station spoke about their hopes. Thabo Maleka, 39, said he came to vote for change. He said he had been voting for the opposition, but not much had changed.

Bokang Maleka, 19, voted for the first time. The teenager said young people are committed to making the right decisions. Another voter, Baloyi, said illegal migration, unemployment and crime are top of mind.

Baloyi said unemployment keeps rising every year. Baloyi also said the many political parties have turned politics into a business that no longer serves the people. Voters who did not register this time will still be able to vote in the 2029 national elections, Baloyi said.

Voters in metropolitan municipalities receive two ballots. Voters in local municipalities receive three. The Electoral Commission has said it is ready for the polls.Share

Evelyn Mdlalose, 84, voted at Boitshepo Secondary School. She said the area has no clean water, no roads and no electricity. She hopes the party she voted for will deliver these services.

Piet Kekana, 80, said crime is his priority. He said he wants peace and a candidate who will fight crime, which he described as severe in the area.

Linah Kwinaka, 81, said she voted for a candidate who could address the water crisis. Elderly residents in general said they hope the next administration will solve the area's long-standing service problems.

Water is a sore point in Hammanskraal. More than 30 people died in a cholera outbreak linked to contaminated water supply in May 2023.Share

More than 29 million voters are on the voters' roll. The Electoral Commission said it is preparing for 100% turnout. Its chief executive, Sy Mamabolo, said special voting went smoothly the day before. He said the only significant problem was late delivery of ballot papers in Cape Town.

Several party leaders, including DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis and Good Party leader Patricia De Lille, planned to vote in Cape Town in the morning. Hill-Lewis is also the DA candidate for Cape Town mayor.

Analysts expect many councils to be hung. The Mapungubwe Coalition Barometer expects about half of the 257 municipalities to be hung. Analyst Tessa Dooms said smaller parties and independents may hold the balance of power. She also said trust in politicians is low.

Pre-election polls suggest no party will win a majority in any of the three Gauteng metros. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has said the party must review its place with the DA in the national unity government. An analysis said DA leaders may drive a harder bargain in coming talks.Share

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Freedom Front Plus, both partners in the Government of National Unity, blamed the ANC for the decision. DA MP Ryan Smith said the exclusion was avoidable and unnecessary. He blamed International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola and called him diplomatically inept.

Freedom Front Plus leader Corne Mulder said the US demands on South Africa were not unreasonable. He said Lamola refused to meet US requirements for normalising relations. The DA and the Freedom Front Plus predicted thousands of job losses and industry closures.

The government said South Africa will suffer losses because it must now pay tariffs on exports that were exempt from duties. The two parties urged voters to turn against the ANC in the ballot on Wednesday.

Former US diplomat Brooks Spector said the US midterm elections are unlikely to change the decision. He said the US president and his administration hold the power to decide which countries are eligible. He added that South Africa can still make its case to be included again.Share

Voters elect municipal representatives for the next five years. The Electoral Commission says about 16.1 million registered voters are women and 13 million are men.

Gauteng has the most registered voters, with 6.4 million, or 23.1% of the total. KwaZulu-Natal has 6 million, the Eastern Cape 3.6 million and the Western Cape 3.4 million.

Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu voted at the Thulamahashe Civic Centre. He urged voters to hold their councillors to account and said the province would pay special attention to water in Mbombela. He said plans for a new dam in the City of Mbombela and the Loskop Bulk Water Supply Project are under way.

In Pietermaritzburg, voter Nondumiso Nzuza said the new councils must create jobs and help young people, as many graduates are unemployed. Voter Ntombi Kofane said leaders must enforce municipal by-laws, including those on underage drinking.Share

Fhumalini Thovhagale, the IEC Municipal Electoral Officer in Bushbuckridge, said the parties raised concerns about trust in the process. She said they told the IEC they wanted to guard the ballots.

Thovhagale said parties may guard outside the storage facilities. They must stay out of the warehouse area where the ballots are kept.

The parties claim that ballot boxes might be tampered with at the storage facilities. The IEC did not confirm any tampering.Share

Lord David Cameron, a former prime minister, now takes a leading role at Conservative Party events. He also reaches out to donors for the party.

Cameron led the Conservatives for almost five years in opposition. Kemi Badenoch is the current party leader.Share

Democrats also flipped Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. Paxton was Trump's handpicked Republican candidate in Texas. Jon Ossoff held his Democratic seat in Georgia, and Abdul El-Sayed was fighting to keep the party's hold on a seat in Michigan.

Democrats have flipped eight House seats so far. Analysts began to predict a big Democratic victory in the House. Kansas last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1932.

Polls pointed to public anger over Trump's handling of the economy after the war in Iran. They said fuel prices rose sharply and the cost of living went up. Columnist Ed Luce wrote that Trump's heavy-handed input backfired in several midterm races.Share

Wednesday is a public holiday. Some voters in the queue complained that 7am is a late start for voting.

Madumetja Mothabele, a 61-year-old voter, said residents want service delivery and electricity, and that rent is very expensive. Rejoice Makgoro, a state pensioner, said she gets an old age grant of R2,400 a month. She said food is expensive and the grant is too small for her food and rent, and she wants it raised to at least R3,000.Share

Experts expect the fight for control of councils to end in another round of coalition talks. They project more hung councils, where no party wins an outright majority.

Two other stories made news on the same day. Nomthandazo Nama, a KwaZulu-Natal flood victim, moved into a new home in the Cornubia housing development. She said she struggled with leaks and a crumbling floor in less than five months, and that the contractors did not install a gutter.

Muzi Ngongoma, a disabled flood victim, was allocated a double-storey home in Cornubia. Separately, the high court in Pretoria voided the award of the National Lottery licence to Sizekhaya Holdings. The court sent the matter back to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, and Ithuba welcomed the ruling.Share

President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to vote at Hyde Park High School in Johannesburg. Deputy President Paul Mashatile is due to vote at St Johannes Lutheran Church in Kelvin, Johannesburg. The Presidency announced the plans of both leaders.

IEC Chairperson Mosotho Moepya and his team promised credible, free and fair elections.Share

The MK Party has 15% support among registered voters aged 18 to 24, and the DA has 13%. Another 9% of these voters said they will not vote. The findings come from the Ipsos Pulse of the People study, released ahead of the local government elections.

Ipsos political analyst Mari Harris said young South Africans are sending a clear message to parties. She said many of them do not feel represented and are sceptical of politicians. She also said youth unemployment gets too little attention, which keeps registration lower than among older voters.

Statistics from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) show about 693,000 people aged 15 to 19 are registered to vote. About 5 million registered voters are aged 20 to 29. Councillor candidates aged 18 to 39 make up 32% of the total, and the IEC said young people are still not adequately represented on party lists.Share

NATJOINTS briefed the media in Pretoria. Co-chairperson Tebello Mosikili, who is also Deputy National Police Commissioner, said police recorded the 21 case dockets since Monday. The incidents also include destruction of election material and impersonating officials of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Two of the six suspects were arrested for impersonating an IEC official at Ingcobo in the Eastern Cape. The fact sheet also lists Mmametlake in Mpumalanga and Pienaar and Christiana in North West as places linked to incidents.

NATJOINTS said law enforcement agencies remain on high alert. It said they will act against anyone who tries to interfere with the electoral process.

SANDF Brigadier-General Martin Gopane said the military does not foresee problems that would need soldiers. He said the defence force remains on standby and is ready to deploy if the need arises.Share

Aubrey Ledwaba lodged the complaint in February 2026, when he was Gauteng acting judge president. The Judicial Conduct Committee produced the report that the commission considered.

The Hawks arrested Phahlane and three co-accused in November 2025. The Hawks allege she accepted about R2m in cash and benefits to influence the outcome of a church succession case. The case involved the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Phahlane denies criminal conduct. Her bail affidavit said she intends to plead not guilty.

The National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit secured a preservation order over a luxury property in Hartbeespoort, worth about R6m. The authority said the property was bought partly with proceeds of unlawful activities, including corruption and money laundering.Share

Godongwana gave the reply to DA MP Andrew Gordon Bateman. He said the dismissal followed findings of serious procurement irregularities and misconduct. These arose from several forensic investigations that the Treasury started.

Madiehe's disciplinary hearing began on 2 February. She was found guilty on 24 August. The chair pronounced the sanction of dismissal on 7 September, and the dismissal letter was issued on 8 September.

Godongwana said the dismissal will be contested at the bargaining council and the CCMA. He said the department put internal disciplinary proceedings first and is now finalising referral of the matters to law enforcement authorities. In his view, letting the disciplinary process gain traction helped to consolidate the evidence.

Job Stadi Mngomezulu, the deputy director-general for corporate services, is the acting CEO.Share

Tau said the delegation is looking at Silicon Valley as it works to carry out South Africa's digitalisation strategy. He said the country continues to work on developing its tech industry.

The minister said the trip will include business-to-business engagement and learning. He said it will also influence future investment decisions in the sector.Share

Provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said the car carried a party colours and logo. She said this sends a wrong message and that IEC staff must be impartial. One report said the car was driven by the officer's son.

The IEC said supporters of one contesting party forced their way into the precinct of a satellite storage facility at Dassenhoek Library. It said parties also tried to gain access or post private guards in Richmond, uMkhambathini and Pietermaritzburg. The IEC said no election material was tampered with. Another report said the incident happened at a facility in Marianhill, and that the IEC asked police to reinforce security at all its storage facilities in the province.

On the first day, 133,931 special votes were administered in KwaZulu-Natal, or 37% of the 362,878 approved applications. Of these, 68,114 were home visits and 65,817 were votes at voting stations. On Tuesday, 228,947 special votes remained, including 83,315 home visits. Masinga said the IEC worries most about the home visits, because they depend on its teams reaching every voter.Share

The video was posted by a Facebook account called TheDebster Jaars, which describes its owner as a digital creator, singer and comedian. When it was examined, the video had about 8,000 likes, 634 comments and 7,600 shares. The identity and motives of the creator remain unclear.

A related AI-generated image also tested positive on SynthID, the watermark detection tool built by Google DeepMind. The video spreads ahead of municipal elections, which are due on Wednesday. The Electoral Commission of South Africa reported a Mandela deepfake to Real411.

The fact check found that the new videos and images give Mandela a political position he never expressed in this form. It said he allegedly warned against unquestioning loyalty to the ANC in a 1993 speech to a Cosatu congress. At an ANC rally for his 90th birthday in 2008, he said he would be nothing without the ANC.Share

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission is taking legal steps to hold the identified people and political parties accountable. Deputy chief electoral officer Masego Sheburi said videos of special vote ballots being moved show standard procedure. He said the envelopes were already reconciled and voter details were removed.

The IEC said a candidate in Mpumalanga was arrested after allegedly storming a voting station and damaging materials. It also said MK Party supporters allegedly stormed a storage facility in KwaZulu-Natal and held officials hostage.

The 34 complaints on the Real411 platform covered misinformation, disinformation, incitement to violence, hate speech and harassment. Of these, 58.8% involved X and 23.5% involved TikTok.Share

NatJOINTS co-chairperson Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili briefed the media on Tuesday evening. She said police opened the case dockets over the two days of special voting, ahead of the local government elections on Wednesday, 4 November.

Police are investigating the death of an Electoral Commission presiding officer in the North West. They are also investigating the killing of a regional leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party in KwaZulu-Natal.

Other arrests include two suspects for impersonating an election official at Ingcobo in the Eastern Cape. One suspect was held for destroying election material in Mmametlake, and one for malicious damage to property in Pienaar, both in Mpumalanga.

Mosikili urged political parties, members and supporters to show tolerance and restraint. She said the investigating team will follow all leads to bring those responsible to justice. She also said contingency measures are in place for power interruptions in some municipalities.Share