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Fresh from winning the Coach of the Month award for the period of September and October, AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane has given credit to the players, the club and the supporters for their success.

I wouldn’t do this work alone. Credit goes to players and the entire technical team

Arthur Zwane, AmaZulu headcoach

Zwane walked away with the accolade after guiding Usuthu to five wins in five games over this period. He beat off strong competition from Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou, who won the award in August, and Mamelodi Sundowns mentor Miguel Cardoso, whose side remained top of the log.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t do this work alone. Credit goes to players and the entire technical team. The club as well for giving us the support to be able to give our best and [be] able to grind results at the same time,” Zwane told the club media department.

“I think the media department as well, we really appreciate the support from our fans as well. It wouldn’t be possible if our supporters were not coming in numbers to our games in order for us to have a positive way of getting results. It’s simple because of our supporters; they have become our 12th man, more especially when we are playing at home.

“I would like to say thanks to them and everyone and thanks to the league sponsors and the coaches who were nominated.”

Meanwhile, Thapelo Mokobodi was named Player of the Month for September/October after his excellent performances for Pirates, with the Buccaneers also winning all their five games in the period and Mokobodi collecting four assists.

Mokobodi was picked ahead of the AmaZulu duo of Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya and Nkosikhona Radebe, who have been in impressive form.

The Goal of the Month was awarded to Teboho Mokoena for his fine strike against Golden Arrows, beating Vincent Pule’s brilliant free kick against Marumo Gallants and Luphumlo Sifumba, who also scored a brilliant free kick against Milford FC.

Sowetan

Brand — the former husband of US pop singer Katy Perry who in recent years moved away from the mainstream — was convicted on Thursday of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three more between 2004 and 2009. He had denied all the charges.

The 51-year-old stood in the dock at London’s Southwark Crown Court as judge Joel Bennathan sentenced him, describing Brand as a predator who believed “fame meant you could act how you liked when you liked”.

Earlier, one of Brand’s victims, whom Brand anally raped in 2009, said in a statement read by prosecutors that the trauma of the attack was “something I carry with me every day, and it often feels never-ending”.

Brand’s lawyer Ian Winter said Brand — who has spoken at length about his recovery from drink and drug addiction and his new-found Christian faith — was “a fundamentally different person today and has been for a very long time”.

London’s Metropolitan Police has said Brand is under investigation for two other alleged rapes, one involving a then-16-year-old girl, and the head of the force said on Friday that he “wouldn’t be surprised if many more came forward”.

Brand, who starred in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek and Arthur, had denied ever having non-consensual sex. He was acquitted of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault.

Reuters

First introduced in South Africa in 1966, the Corolla has evolved through multiple generations and body styles, including sedans, hatchbacks, coupés, performance models and SUVs. Today, the nameplate encompasses the locally produced Corolla Cross and the high-performance GR Corolla.

The three 60th anniversary editions add exclusive styling details and equipment to their respective model ranges. Here’s what buyers can expect:

Corolla hatchback 60th anniversary | R618,900

The Corolla hatchback 1.8 HEV 60th anniversary edition is distinguished by global 60th anniversary badging and 18-inch black alloy wheels. It is available exclusively in platinum white pearl bi-tone, paired with a black leather interior.

Inside, the special edition also features an engraved instrument panel and aluminium pedals.

Power comes from Toyota’s 1.8l Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) system, which produces a combined output of 103kW. Claimed combined fuel consumption is 4.0l/100km.

Corolla sedan 60th anniversary | R596,300

The Corolla sedan 1.8 HEV 60th anniversary edition takes a more understated approach. Its distinguishing features include global 60th anniversary badging and an engraved instrument panel.

Buyers can choose from glacier white, satin silver metallic and graphite grey metallic exterior finishes, all paired with a black leather-and-suede interior.

As with the hatchback, power comes from a 1.8l HSD system producing 103kW. Toyota claims combined fuel consumption of 3.9l/100km.

Both the Corolla hatchback and sedan anniversary editions come equipped with Toyota Safety Sense 3, the manufacturer’s suite of driver-assistance and safety technologies.

Corolla Cross 60th anniversary | R499,900

The Corolla Cross 60th anniversary edition is based on the 1.8 XS petrol model and adds several styling and practical features. The locally manufactured model is scheduled to go on sale in South Africa from early next month.

Exterior additions include a black bi-tone roof, 17-inch black alloy wheels, mud guards and black C-pillar garnish. Roof cross bars are also fitted, providing additional carrying capacity for outdoor equipment.

Inside, the special edition features black-and-brown partial-leather upholstery. Commemorative details include branded boot and door scuff plates, Corolla Cross all-weather floor and boot mats, and 60th anniversary badging on the front fenders.

The Corolla Cross is available in glacier white or chromium silver, both with a bi-tone finish.

Unlike the hybrid-powered hatchback and sedan, the Corolla Cross is powered by a 1.8l naturally aspirated petrol engine paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). It produces 103kW and 173Nm of torque, with a claimed combined fuel consumption of 6.7l/100km.

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Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus showed faith in the players who steered the team to victory against Italy for Friday’s second Nations Championship Northern Series Test against France.

Erasmus made just two changes from Saturday’s 66-7 win in Turin to his match-23 for the Test in Paris (10.10pm SA time), with Wilco Louw moving into the starting XV and Cobus Reinach being drafted onto the bench.

Louw will join forces with Ox Nché and Malcolm Marx in the front row in the only change to the starting team.

Thomas du Toit will link up with Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Gerhard Steenekamp among the replacements, with the other change among the impact players being the inclusion of Reinach, who played club rugby for Montpellier, replacing Grant Williams.

Lood de Jager and Ruan Nortje will again partner in the second row after Erasmus was forced to make a late change to his match-day squad in Turin last week due to the withdrawal of Salmaan Moerat with back spasms during the warmup. The experienced loose trio of captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese complete the forward pack.

Jasper spots the gap and drops gear 🤩⚡

📺 Stream #NationsChampionship on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/hmQpoeiVMb

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 7, 2026

Erasmus kept his backline with Morné van den Berg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at halfback, Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende in the midfield and Ethan Hooker, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Damian Willemse serving as the back three.

The Bok coach retained the split of six forwards and two backs on the bench. Utility forward Franco Mostert and loose forwards Cameron Hanekom and Paul de Villiers are impact players alongside the front row of Wessels, Steenekamp and Thomas du Toit. Reinach, who covers scrumhalf and wing, and Manie Libbok are the two backline players.

A total of 16 players in the match-23 featured in the Boks’ 32-17 victory over France in Paris last year, including the entire starting forward pack with the exception of Nché, and five of the backs in the run-on team: Feinberg-Mngomezulu, De Allende, Kriel and Willemse. Ten players in the group were members of the team that defeated France 29-28 in the 2023 World Cup quarterfinal.

“We said from the outset that we would not rotate too much on this tour, so it was always our intention to select a settled squad for this game to build momentum in the competition,” Erasmus said.

“Most of these players have faced France at home and know what to expect from them and they have also experienced their passionate and vocal crowd first-hand.”

Siya Kolisi always brings the vibes 🕺

The Boks are already in Paris ahead of their Test against France on Friday night 🇫🇷🆚🇿🇦#SSRugby | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/743iNvLYLZ

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 8, 2026

Of the two changes to his matchday team, Erasmus said: “Our front rows are well settled and have all been playing together for a few seasons, so we made a rotational switch with Wilco and Thomas, while Cobus is also very familiar with the French conditions as he played club rugby here.”

On the decision not to name Eben Etzebeth, who joined the squad early on Monday morning, Erasmus said: “Eben just arrived in France and though we know what he brings to the team, we feel it would be better for him to get back into the swing of things this week after some time on the sidelines.

“Lood and Franco are also very experienced players and they have been training with us for almost two weeks now after arriving in Italy the week prior to last week’s Test match. They’ve both faced France in high-pressure matches and delivered, so we know what we have in them and what they will bring to the team this week.”

Springbok XV

• 15 Damian Willemse (Stormers) – 56 caps, 81 pts (9t, 9c, 4p, 2dg);
• 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Dynaboars) – 36 caps, 135 pts (27t);
• 13 Jesse Kriel (Eagles) – 95 caps, 125 pts (25t);
• 12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 104 caps, 65 pts (13t);
• 11 Ethan Hooker (Sharks) – 15 caps, 15 pts (3t);
• 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers) – 26 caps, 221 pts (10t, 59c, 15p);
• 9 Morne van den Berg (Lions) – 12 caps, 42 pts (8t, 1c);
• 8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 51 caps, 20 pts (4t);
• 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Verblitz) – 103 caps, 75 pts (15t);
• 6 Siya Kolisi (captain, Stormers) – 108 caps, 80 pts (16t);
• 5 Ruan Nortje (Kubota Spears) - 25 caps, 5 pts (1t);
• 4 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 79 caps, 25 pts (5t);
• 3 Wilco Louw (Stormers) – 37 caps, 15 pts (3t);
• 2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 95 caps, 145 pts (31t);
• 1 Ox Nche (Sharks) – 54 caps, 5 pts (1t).

Replacements:

• 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Bulls) – 16 caps, 10 pts (2t);
• 17 Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls) – 24 caps, 10 pts (2t);
• 18 Thomas du Toit (Sharks) – 38 caps, 10 pts (2t);
• 19 Franco Mostert (Heat) – 86 caps, 20 pts (4t);
• 20 Cameron Hanekom (Bulls) – 7 caps, 10 pts (2t);
• 21 Paul de Villiers (Stormers) – 6 caps, 10 pts (2t);
• 22 Cobus Reinach (Stormers) – 57 caps, 100 pts (20t);
• 23 Manie Libbok (Kintetsu Liners) – 35 caps, 149 pts (2t, 50c, 13p).

SA Rugby media

Medics said heavy rain late on Sunday washed away a rocky sand bank abutting a camp for displaced families south of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. A woman and two of her children, aged 8 and 6, were killed. A fourth child, aged 4, was also killed, and six others were injured.

A video verified by Reuters showed residents using hammers to break large sandy rocks and others removing sand with shovels, searching for people trapped underneath using flashlights.

“What can one say about the situation in Gaza? Whoever did not die from bombs and missiles is dying from buildings collapsing on them, from the collapse of sand and mountains on them,” said Amal Al-Zein, 35, a relative of the victims.

Sohaib Abu Darbali, a witness, said the collapse of the embankment sounded like an explosion.

“We found that three tents were covered completely after the mountain collapsed on top of them. People were under the rubble, and we couldn’t see them,” he told Reuters.

‘The only solution is reconstruction’

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million population lives in tent encampments or the ruins of bombed-out buildings, with reconstruction yet to begin following Israel’s two-year military assault, launched after the 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.

For many of them, this is the fourth winter during which they will need to cope with flood water overtaking their tents and soaking their belongings when it rains.

Local authorities said at least 70,000 tents had been flooded in the first hours after heavy rain began on Saturday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said humanitarian partners had received appeals from more than 26,000 households reporting damage to shelters or belongings following weekend rainstorms.

A US-brokered ceasefire last year called for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza, but little progress has been made. Negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm or for Israel to withdraw its troops, which control about two-thirds of the territory and from which residents have been ordered to leave.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence service, said people put up their tents next to sand banks believing they could protect them.

“Tents can’t protect people, neither from rain nor the heat; the only solution is reconstruction,” Basal told Reuters.

Israel says no reconstruction can happen before Hamas is disarmed.

Reuters

Teen Accounts, available on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, include built-in protections that automatically limit who can contact teens, the content they see and their time on the apps.

Parents in the US will begin receiving Instagram notifications this month explaining how teens are placed in age-appropriate protections, Meta said.

In Australia, Meta has started using Apple’s age-range signal as an additional method to help determine users’ ages.

Meta said it is continuing to roll out the technology on Facebook and will begin launching similar technology globally on Threads later this year.

Meta faces multiple lawsuits over allegations that its platforms harm teens.

In August, Meta struck settlements worth up to $18bn (R295.58bn) with nearly every US state and territory to resolve lawsuits brought by attorneys general over the platforms’ harm to teens.

Under the settlements, Meta agreed to improve how it identifies teens and children under 13.

Meta settled with a teen plaintiff last month in a Los Angeles trial testing claims that Instagram and Facebook were designed to be addictive, causing mental health problems and an eating disorder.

Reuters

Carrim was arrested at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport by the Madlanga commission’s recommendations task team in October for allegedly contravening the Commissions Act after repeatedly failing to appear before the inquiry.

He was granted bail of R100,000 by the Pretoria magistrate’s court in that matter.

Video courtesy of SABC.

TimesLIVE

The explosion occurred at 9am GMT at the Habas iron and steel manufacturing plant in the Aliaga district of the coastal Izmir province, the governor’s office said in a statement.

According to initial findings, the incident occurred when a ceiling crane snapped and fell into an arc furnace during the liquid steel casting process. Footage broadcast by local TV stations showed large plumes of dust rising above the plant.

Those injured were referred to various hospitals in the region for treatment, and three of the 14 injured were in a serious condition, according to the statement.

Search and rescue operations were ongoing to reach the 10 people still trapped under the rubble after the blast.

Reuters

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South African DJ and music entrepreneur Ashley Kholofelo Raphala, popularly known as DJ Shimza, has been removed as a director of Kunye Records following allegations of financial misconduct and failure to fully disclose his business interests.

The allegations are contained in papers filed by Kunye Records director Hannes Hoffmeister, who sought the removal of Shimza and fellow director Jarrad Evan Treger from the company.

The papers were filed at the Companies Tribunal, an independent government agency mandated to provide a speedy, accessible, and cost-effective platform for resolving company disputes outside of the normal court system. The judgment was delivered recently.

Hoffmeister’s application was backed by financial records and email correspondence which allegedly show conduct that was not in the best interests of the company.

One of the central allegations relates to a payment of more than R700,000 from Kunye’s business account to a company that Shimza owned.

“During 2024, [Shimza] completed a Shareholders Confirmation, in which he failed to disclose that he is a director of Just Exists, into whose account he had paid R752,000 from Kunye’s account,” the court documents state.

The papers further allege that Shimza established two brands, U’R and Shimza, between 2021 and 2023 while serving as a director of Kunye Records.

According to Hoffmeister, the brands operated in the same entertainment space as Kunye and worked with some of the same promoters, creating a conflict of interest.

“Shimza registered two new brands [U’R and Shimza] with similar concepts to the brands/businesses of Kunye between 2021 and 2023. These brands hosted events in Durban with the same promoters as Kunye,” the court papers read.

Hoffmeister argues that these actions amounted to direct competition with Kunye while Shimza remained a director of the company.

The application alleges that company funds were used to benefit a competing business linked to Shimza and that Kunye’s relationships with promoters were leveraged for events outside the company.

“In the one instance he [Shimza] appropriated funds from Kunye and deposited them into the account of a competitor. In the other instance, he hosted events using Kunye’s promoters. This was very disloyal of him and, in the absence of an explanation, cannot be condoned,” Hoffmeister said in the court papers.

In relation to Treger, Hoffmeister accused him of making an undisclosed payment to his then partner, Sarah Opperman, in December 2022. Treger allegedly made a further payment of R6,000 to an entity without the approval of Kunye shareholders.

Hoffmeister claimed that Treger further invoiced Kunye for his private expenses at different overseas hotels and was paid R185,000 for a Durban event without authorisation by the Kunye board. He allegedly registered a company named “Kunye Events”.

“These actions by Treger cumulatively go against the essence of a director’s duty of loyalty to the company. The second respondent’s divided loyalties appear from the evidence set out herein and are not merely speculative and do not only exhibit dereliction of duty but also inexcusable dishonesty,” claimed Hoffmeister.

He said Shimza and Treger refused to involve him in the financial affairs of the company.

Shimza and Treger did not submit documents or evidence to dispute the allegations against them.

Nomagcisa Cawe, who presided over the matter, ruled in favour of Hoffmeister, saying that evidence before her pointed to Shimza and Treger having neglected, or been derelict in, the performance of the functions of directors.

She ordered for Shimza and Treger to be removed as directors of Kunye Records with immediate effect and also directed the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission to update the company’s records to reflect the removals.

Despite the fallout, Shimza has continued with public appearances and headlined the Kunye Jozi XI event at Huddle Park in Johannesburg at the weekend, which sparked the conversation about his removal from Kunye Records.

Sowetan

Arena Holdings is a news and entertainment content provider and one of Africa’s largest English-language news publishers. It owns iconic news titles, including the Sunday Times, Sowetan and Business Day. Arena also broadcasts on DStv through Business Day TV, Ignition TV and The Home Channel, and owns three film production and distribution assets — Empire Entertainment, Indigenous Film Distribution and Ochre Moving Pictures.

Arena is also home to Africa’s longest-running independent recording label and music publisher, Gallo Music.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Sowetan is looking for a news reporter with the ability to research, investigate, broadcast and write accurate and engaging news content across multiple platforms while working independently and meeting tight deadlines.

The role requires strong current affairs knowledge, excellent storytelling skills, and the ability to deliver timely, high-quality journalism.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Produce compelling digital-first content and break unique and exclusive news.
• Use information and data to map out and report on emerging societal trends.
• Identify and independently pursue stories of public interest.
• Create audio and video storytelling content.
• Work according to established deadlines.
• Establish and maintain an extensive network of contacts that can be relied upon for sourcing unique stories.

EXPERIENCE & REQUIREMENTS

• Relevant diploma, degree or equivalent qualifications.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in journalism.
• Audio and video editing skills are critical.
• Good general knowledge and understanding of online and print media.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• Excellent organisational and communication skills.
• Digital savvy and strong multimedia skills.
• Unimpeachable integrity.
• Ability to work irregular hours, including public holidays.
• Demonstrable understanding of the SA Press Code and relevant regulations.

HOW TO APPLY

Qualified applicants may submit their CV and two references to mediarecruitment@arena.africa

Please include “News Reporter” in the subject line of your application.

Closing Date

19 November 2026

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By Olena Harmash

The IMF began a review of Ukraine’s lending programme on Monday that could unlock $1.67bn (R27.46bn) in fresh financing for Kyiv as it struggles to shore up its war-hit economy and plug a looming funding gap.

Co-operation with the IMF, Ukraine’s key international lender, is critical to ensure funding from other partners and help maintain economic stability as the conflict with Russia grinds on and Kyiv faces a multibillion-dollar financing shortfall for 2027.

“Discussions will cover macroeconomic and fiscal policies, as well as key structural reforms,” Priscilla Toffano, the IMF’s resident representative in Ukraine, said.

The review combines the second and third assessments of Ukraine’s four-year IMF programme, potentially clearing the way for the disbursement of about $1.67bn.

Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said the meetings would also cover the budget and international financial aid for 2027.

Ukraine’s economy, battered by more than four years of war, is now in one of its most challenging periods due to intensified Russian air bombardments on businesses, energy infrastructure and revenue-generating sectors.

The economy slipped into contraction in 2026, with GDP down 0.7% year on year in the third quarter. The central bank expects GDP to slip 0.4% in 2026. Inflation is on the rise and expected to reach 12.5% this year.

As exports via the Black Sea ports are blocked and main exporting sectors — agribusiness and the steel industry — are crippled, the budget revenues are also falling below the plan.

The country faces a massive funding gap of about $70bn (R1.15-trillion) next year, Ukrainian officials have said.

The central bank said the IMF’s team and Ukrainian officials would hold meetings in Lviv and Warsaw, with some experts joining the talks online.

Reuters

The footballer was fatally shot during a home invasion in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, in October 2014.

Video courtesy of SABC

TimesLIVE

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Grammy-winning superstar Kaytranada is returning to SA next month to kick off the vibes for the third annual Milk + Cookies festival.

The producer headlined the inaugural festival in 2025 and performed at Afropunk Joburg in 2019. Now he will perform at:

• Kenilworth, Cape Town, on December 18; and
• Nasrec in Johannesburg on December 20.

He will be joined by his brother, Lou Phelps, and a line-up of local talent, including Jinji, Kid Fonque, Kudbeu, Mamthug and Tumi Moliko, in Cape Town. The Johannesburg show will feature MCHLSN, Muzi, Shamiso, Thakzin and Yolophonik.

“We’ve been rocking with Kaytranada for over a decade. He laid the blueprint for us in South Africa,” said Chase Freeman, head of marketing at Milk + Cookies.

“When it came time to launch Music Week and set the tone for the 2027 season, there was no other phone call to make. He understands this community and the energy we’re bringing into the summer better than anyone.”

The December festival will include multi-day cultural experiences bringing together music, fashion, wellness and community. Beyond the performances, fans can expect yacht parties, industry panels, writing workshops, exclusive merchandise collaborations, more parties and further activities.

Mzansi will start 2027 on a high when Grammy-winning British singer Olivia Dean headlines the third edition of the festival. Dean will perform at:

• Sandringham Farm in Cape Town on January 29; and
• Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on January 31.

She will be joined in the line-up by artists including Elaine, Zee Nxumalo, Chelsea Sloan and Jade T.

“People keep asking how Kaytranada, Gunna and Olivia Dean end up on the same bill,” Freeman said two weeks ago. “It’s never the same sound, but always the same feeling. That’s the only brief we’ve ever had. We book for the people in the room, not for a genre, and they come for what the room feels like as much as the name on the poster.

“Three years in, that’s what South Africa has given us. We came here to put on a show and ended up building something with the people who live here, and it’s changed how we do this everywhere else.”

Sowetan

Oil prices fell on Monday after US President Donald Trump downplayed the likelihood of renewed strikes on Iran, though attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz kept supply concerns in focus.

Brent crude dropped 75 US cents, or 0.75%, to $97.57 a barrel in morning trade while US West Texas Intermediate lost 38c, or 0.4%, to $90.45.

The Brent benchmark plunged 16% last week for its steepest weekly drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Oil continues to trade lower on hopes of a US-Iran peace deal rather than concrete signs of progress,” said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen, adding that Trump’s latest comments that fresh strikes on Iran are highly unlikely have added to the pressure on prices.

UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said: “Weakness in the physical market, supported by still-elevated flows out of the Middle East, is one factor weighing on prices.”

US midterms

Trump said on Sunday that he was highly unlikely to order fresh attacks on Iran as long as talks to end the conflict progressed, even as both countries reported that shipping had been hit in or near the Strait of Hormuz.

He had hinted at renewing attacks on Iran ​after ⁠last week’s US midterm elections, but there has been no sign of a large-scale US military operation. Iran has said it would respond by striking US and Israeli targets.

Trump was to meet the prime minister of mediator Qatar on Monday as efforts to end the Iran war ramp up after last week’s midterm elections, though senior US and Gulf officials cast doubt on the chances of an imminent deal.

With no victory in sight more than eight months into the conflict he launched alongside Israel on February 28, Trump has played down the likelihood of major warfare restarting soon but remains unwilling to accept an existing Iranian truce plan.

Tim Waterer, chief analyst at KCM Trade, called Trump’s comments “more measured” but said the market is still waiting to see whether the midterms have produced a lasting shift in Trump’s approach to the conflict or whether this is just another temporary change in tone.

Oil is headed for a glut again as recovering Middle Eastern oil flows, rising production from other countries and weak demand have pushed global supply above consumption, JPMorgan said in a report on Friday, estimating a surplus of 1.1-million barrels per day in September, widening to 1.4-million bpd in October.

Separately, the Iran-aligned Houthis said they were responsible for an attack on Saudi Aramco’s offices in Riyadh on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery was set on fire after a Ukrainian drone attack on the region on Monday, governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

Reuters

Commission chair justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga on Monday rejected arguments from Matlala’s representative, advocate Annelene van den Heever, that a statement provided by Matlala to the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption in a plea deal process cannot be used by the commission.

In July Matlala withdrew from the plea deal in a R228m tender scandal case after having submitted a statement during the plea deal negotiations.

The Criminal Procedure Act provides that after a plea deal collapses and a trial starts afresh, the agreement shall be null and void, and no regard shall be had to any negotiations which preceded the entering into the agreement or any record of the agreement, unless the accused consents to the recording of all or certain admissions made by him.

Van den Heever argued that a statement made by Matlala that was provided to the commission by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) legally should never have been before it and should not be considered.

Madlanga in his rejection said the law bars a criminal court from taking into consideration the plea agreements when a trial starts afresh, but that does not apply to the commission.

“I take the view that what section 105(A)10 relates to is criminal proceedings. It does not relate to proceedings of a commission of inquiry,” Madlanga said.

“The nullity of the statement that is at issue does not apply to a situation that is outside of the criminal proceedings that the introductory part of the section refers to. That is, criminal proceedings that are contemplated to have started. Therefore, I reject the submissions made by Mr Matlala’s legal representative that the section 204 (Criminal Procedure Act) statement cannot be used in these proceedings.”

Matlala’s legal team indicated that they intend to take the ruling on review on an urgent basis.

“I hold instructions to at this stage take the ruling by the commission on review. This is an extremely important issue that we believe will have a profound impact not only on our client but also on the legal process as a whole,” Van den Heever said.

The commission’s ruling would lead to accused persons “never entering” plea agreements with the state, in that certain information provided during plea negotiations would be provided to commissions by the NPA and not protected as promised, she argued.

She asked the commission to proceed with hearing Matlala’s evidence in camera, but the request was not made in the form of an application.

“He will not answer any questions unless there is a situation whereby this, the issue of the content of that statement, at some point is done in camera with strict security relating to who can hear and who can’t hear, and if necessary, we will then make a separate application to deal with that issue because of threats to my client’s life and to those of his family,” she said.

The hearings continue.

Business Day

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History will likely judge newly crowned WBC international cruiserweight champion Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena as one of SA’s most resilient and versatile modern boxing champions.

This is according to WBF president Howard Goldberg, who gave Lerena his first title opportunity in his eighth professional bout in September 2013 at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria.

Ushered to war by trainers Peter Smith and his brothers Sean and George, Lerena, then known as the “KO Kid”, dropped Ibrahim Labaran of Ghana three times — once in the first round and twice in the second — forcing referee Eddy Marshall to halt the contest just 30 seconds into the second round and declare Lerena the winner of the WBF Africa cruiserweight title.

“He’s done amazingly well for his career,” said 70-year-old Goldberg, a former boxing referee and judge for over 50 world title fights and numerous South African title bouts. “He works harder, trains harder and is dedicated to his craft.”

“He works harder, trains harder and is dedicated to his craft.” — WBF president Howard Goldberg

Having turned professional at 18, left-handed Lerena has built a highly commendable career with 31 wins, 15 knockouts and five losses through pure grit, spatial intelligence and technical evolution.

”I would like to see him stay at the cruiserweights," said Goldberg.

Lerena, whose successful career path was mapped out by respected veteran boxing promoter Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves, is rated among the top cruiserweights in the world.

“Credit to him and his team,” Goldberg added. ‘Kevin brings crowds, which is the main thing about boxing.”

The No 6 contender for the WBC cruiserweight belt, held by Poland’s Michael Cieslak, returned to that weight class on Saturday.

He defeated South African-born, Scotland-based Scott “Furious” Forrest via a unanimous decision for the WBC’s international title. The judges scored the 10-round bout 97–92, 97–92, and 98–91 in Lerena’s favour.

Lerena last fought as a cruiserweight in 2020 when he still held the IBO belt, which he defended successfully six times, before vacating it as he moved up to the heavyweight class.

Lerena fought big guns, including Daniel “Dynamite” Dubois, before moving down to bridgerweight, a division WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán created in 2020.

Lerena became world champion in that weight division, which sits between the heavyweight and cruiserweight classes.

Lerena lost in the attempt at a second successful defence against Ryad Merhy in Belgium on May 30.

He came back home, shed over 16 kilograms and returned to cruiserweight.

His legacy splits into distinct chapters that boxing historians will analyse.

To the broader global boxing audience, Lerena will always be remembered for the chaotic, dramatic night in December 2022 when he fought but lost to Dubois for the WBA heavyweight world title.

Lerena shockingly dropped Dubois three times in the very first round, though Dubois ultimately rallied to stop him.

The opening round remains a defining example of Lerena’s dangerous southpaw power and willingness to take immense risks on the sport’s biggest stages.

Rather than letting setbacks at heavyweight and bridgerweight define the end of his career — such as competitive losses to elite operators like Lawrence Okolie, Justis Huni, and Merhy — Lerena chose a path of ultimate discipline.

While his record features losses when stepping up to the absolute apex of the heavyweight division, history will look past the simple numbers.

He will be remembered as an overachieving master of reinvention — a multiweight champion who went from a rugby-loving kid with no amateur experience to the absolute pinnacle of world boxing.

Sowetan

Brand — the former husband of US pop singer Katy Perry who in recent years moved away from the mainstream and became an anti-establishment commentator — was convicted on Thursday of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three more.

The 51-year-old sat in the dock at Southwark Crown Court, wearing a grey suit and open-necked white shirt and occasionally turning round towards his wife in the public gallery, as one of his victims read out an impact statement in person.

When it happened, I was in complete shock and turmoil for weeks

Victim

She accused Brand of sexually assaulting her in 2004 and then orally raping her. Brand was convicted of sexual assault but acquitted of rape.

“I wanted to express how this crime has affected me over the years,” she said from behind a screen. “When it happened, I was in complete shock and turmoil for weeks.”

She added that an “undeserved feeling of shame and ‘what if I had done this or done that’ has been carried round inside me for over 20 years”.

Another woman, whom Brand sexually assaulted in 2004 or 2005, said he was a “sexual predator who has no remorse”.

Brand’s victims also spoke about the impact of his public profile, with a woman whom Brand anally raped in 2009 saying his fame made it “difficult to escape reminders of what had happened”.

Brand faces lengthy prison sentence

Judge Joel Bennathan told Brand last week that he faced a lengthy prison term.

London’s Metropolitan Police has said that Brand is under investigation for two other alleged rapes, one involving a then-16-year-old girl, and the head of the force said he “wouldn’t be surprised if many more came forward”.

Brand, who starred in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek and Arthur, had denied all the charges and ever having non-consensual sex.

Prosecutors said Brand, who rose to fame as a television presenter known for his loquacious manner and flamboyant appearance, used and abused women to satisfy his own desires.

Brand acknowledged in evidence he had dedicated a lot of his life to what he described as “reckless philandering and idiocy” but said sexual consent was fundamental.

But, after a four-week trial, Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three sexual assaults committed between 2004 and 2009. He was acquitted of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

The Madlanga commission has ruled that its evidence leader can use the contents of Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s collapsed plea agreement to question him.

This follows an objection by Matlala’s lawyer, advocate Annelene van den Heever, who sought to block the commission from questioning her client about the now-defunct agreement.

Van den Heever raised concerns about how the agreement came about, arguing that officials from the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) had approached Matlala and led the negotiations.

She said Matlala had also been assured that the agreement would not be used by anyone outside Idac.

She further questioned how the commission obtained a copy of the agreement without making a formal application.

Van den Heever told the commission that the defence vehemently opposed the use of statements contained in the agreement.

However, commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ruled in favour of the evidence leader, giving the green light for the agreement to be used.

“The nullity of the statements that is at issue does not apply to a situation that is outside of the criminal proceedings. Therefore, I reject the submissions made by Mr Matlala’s lawyers that the section 205 agreement cannot be used by the commission,” he ruled.

Shortly after the commission’s ruling, Van den Heever informed the commission that they intended to urgently take the ruling on review.

Just in: Madlanga Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga rules that Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s collapsed plea agreement may be used by evidence leaders to question him. @Sowetan1981

— The Journalist (@Moloi_Herman1) November 9, 2026

Madlanga further ruled that the commission could continue hearing Matlala’s evidence until his legal team secured an interdict.

Should an interdict be granted, the commission would immediately stop hearing the evidence and would not consider it until the review application had been finalised.

The plea agreement relates to fraud and money-laundering charges Matlala faces in connection with his company Medicare 24 Tshwane District’s SAPS tender.

Matlala withdrew from the agreement in July after rejecting a 12-year direct imprisonment sentence proposed by the court instead of the eight years he had agreed to with the state. The plea agreement was subsequently declared null and void.

During the now-nullified plea proceedings, the court heard that affidavits submitted by Matlala implicated senior police officials. The state indicated that the information contained in the affidavits could assist in securing convictions against the officials.

The state alleges that members of the SAPS bid evaluation committee and senior officials colluded to bypass proper National Treasury regulations to award the health services contract to Matlala’s company.

Investigators allege that Medicare 24 Tshwane District did not have the necessary facilities, staff or equipment to fulfil the contract.

Several senior officers who were part of the adjudication process have also been arrested alongside Matlala and face similar charges.

Sowetan

Its co-founder Dmitry Muratov, addressing journalists who gathered to witness the newspaper’s closure, issued an impassioned plea for free speech and human rights in wartime Russia.

“Those in our country who advocate for peace have been denied the right to read what they choose, as we see happening today,” he said.

“We are currently at a point where the section of the Russian constitution that guarantees political and civil rights has effectively ceased to function.”

The closure marks the end of one of Russia’s most influential independent news outlets.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was part of a “rotational process” in a fiercely competitive media environment.

Paper known for courage of reporters

The newspaper, renowned for its fearless reporting that led to six of its journalists being murdered over the years, was founded by Muratov and the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, using money from Gorbachev’s 1990 Nobel Peace Prize.

Inspired by Gorbachev’s vision of glasnost, or openness, it became one of Russia’s most influential newspapers and defenders of democracy, with investigations into corruption and critical coverage of politics.

We cannot blame the citizens themselves for this — especially the wonderful, truly remarkable younger generation. I urge you to distinguish between the Russian authorities and the Russian people

Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta co-founder

After President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale war with Ukraine in 2022 and Russia imposed tight censorship laws, the paper halted its print edition but continued to publish online, becoming a refuge for independent journalists who chose to remain in the country.

But it announced late last month that it would have to close after it was designated a “foreign agent” and ordered to vacate its offices, and banks stopped processing reader donations on which it relied for financial survival.

Muratov, a co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, said people needed to understand that it was the Kremlin that was to blame for waging the war and suppressing free speech.

“We cannot blame the citizens themselves for this — especially the wonderful, truly remarkable younger generation. I urge you to distinguish between the Russian authorities and the Russian people,” he said.

He called for a broader ceasefire in Ukraine following a six-day truce in one area brokered by US first lady Melania Trump in late October.

Muratov also urged the release of what he said were around 4,000 political prisoners in Russia.

The Kremlin defends the need for censorship laws, denies there are any political prisoners and says that Russia is taking necessary action at a time of war to prosecute people engaged in subversive activity.

It was unclear whether the newspaper would attempt to regroup and publish in another form. In a long article on its website, describing its final weeks, journalist Irina Vorobyova was quoted as saying its spirit would survive like a “good virus”.

“Not even a nuclear explosion could destroy it. It will continue in everyone who was part of it,” she said.

Reuters

Prosecutors rested their case last month after withdrawing three of the four impeachment charges against Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, to try to expedite the trial by focusing on her wealth and business interests and her asset declarations.

The trial heard nearly four months of testimony from prosecution witnesses, including tax, banking and anti-money-laundering officials.

Prosecutors said assets they linked to Duterte and her family were either missing from her declarations or inconsistent with her net worth. A forensic financial analyst who testified said Duterte could have more than 800 million pesos (R208.6m) in unexplained assets.

Duterte’s lawyers rejected that and called their first of 24 witnesses on Monday. Duterte has called the proceedings political harassment and denies wrongdoing.

What happend to the other charges?

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on four charges initially, including misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth, bribery and threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, the first lady and a former house speaker.

The withdrawal of most of the charges should shorten proceedings, raising the prospect that a verdict could be reached before year-end.

In the last impeachment trial in 2012, which resulted in the conviction of then supreme court chief justice Renato Corona, the verdict came a few days after the defence concluded.

What is needed to convict Duterte?

Under the constitution, two-thirds of senators, or 16 or 24, are required to convict an impeached official, but in Duterte’s trial the threshold has been changed.

In a major ruling in September, the number of votes prosecutors need for a conviction was lowered from 16 to 14 because four senator-judges cannot participate.

They were sidelined due to legal actions against some, which include a scandal in a multi-billion-dollar public works programme, and the International Criminal Court’s investigation into a bloody “war on drugs” led by Duterte’s father.

With the possibility that more senator-judges could be subject to separate legal proceedings, the change in the vote threshold could have broader implications.

While the lower threshold is seen as favourable for prosecutors, it could still be a challenge to secure a conviction.

Political loyalties in the Philippines are fluid, and Duterte has influential allies in the Senate and beyond, making the outcome difficult to predict.

The trial came with the backdrop of a bitter fallout between Duterte and Marcos that followed the collapse of the once-powerful political alliance between their families, which joined forces to win the 2022 election.

Political impact

Duterte plans to run for president in 2028 and surveys consistently show her as the frontrunner to succeed Marcos, who cannot seek re-election and is limited to a single term. He has said he would endorse a successor.

A conviction could remove Duterte as vice-president and disqualify her from holding public office, potentially knocking the top contender out of the 2028 race.

That gives the trial consequences beyond the remaining years of Duterte’s term and has focused attention on how individual senators, some of whom have their own political ambitions, will vote.

What happens if she is convicted?

If Duterte is removed, Marcos would nominate a new vice-president from among members of the Senate and lower house, who must be confirmed by a majority of both chambers, voting separately.

If acquitted, Duterte would remain vice-president and could pursue the presidency in 2028, though an impeached official can still face separate criminal proceedings.

Duterte is facing a criminal case before a trial court in connection with the alleged threats she made against Marcos and members of his family. She posted bail in September after the court ordered her arrest.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

By Yomna Ehab and Alexander Cornwell

US President Donald Trump will meet the prime minister of key mediator Qatar on Monday as efforts to end the Iran war ramp up after last week’s midterm elections, though senior US and Gulf officials cast doubt on the chances of an imminent deal.

With no victory in sight more than eight months into the conflict he launched alongside Israel on February 28, Trump has played down the likelihood of major warfare restarting soon, but remains unwilling to accept an existing Iranian truce plan.

Mutual attacks continue, with the US striking Iran’s Qeshm island overnight, according to Iranian state media, and Iran attacking tankers in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz this month while its Yemeni Houthi allies have hit Saudi Arabia.

Diplomatic moves

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is both prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, will meet Trump and US vice-president JD Vance in Washington later on Monday after visiting Tehran last week.

Iran’s proposal to end the war involves an end to the US blockade of its ports, the lifting of some sanctions and a halt to bombing in return for Tehran stopping its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with talks on its nuclear programme and other sanctions to follow.

The US has repeatedly rejected that plan, which Iran has said could be condensed to a two-day timeframe, with US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Sunday describing Tehran’s conditions as “outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic”.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei defended the plan on Monday as the most reasonable offer on the table.

Senior US Republicans, including Vance, have blamed their party’s dire showing in last week’s elections on the Iran war, but despite growing domestic political pressure to end the conflict, Rubio said he did not believe a diplomatic breakthrough was imminent.

We should prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor a stable regional order can be taken for granted

Anwar Gargash, senior United Arab Emirates official

A senior United Arab Emirates official, Anwar Gargash, echoed that view on Monday, saying a comprehensive political settlement between the US and Iran appeared difficult.

“We should prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor a stable regional order can be taken for granted,” he said.

Vance, who led the negotiations for a short-lived truce in June, will also meet Al-Thani, whose country has been a prime mediator since early in the war, conveying messages between the sides and proposing ways to bridge their differences.

Military action

Sunday night’s strikes on Qeshm Island did not impact vital infrastructure or services, a provincial official told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency on Monday. The US has not commented on the Iranian media reports.

Attacks on tankers in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz ramped up sharply in October and have continued at the highest rate since the start of the war, figures from international maritime agencies showed last week.

On Sunday Iran, which typically does not acknowledge striking vessels that report being hit by projectiles, said a tanker had hit a mine east of the Strait of Hormuz.

The war has triggered a global energy shortage, prompted Iranian strikes on Gulf Arab countries, spilt over into a major Israeli offensive in Lebanon during the spring and summer, and has reignited Yemen’s long-frozen civil war.

On Sunday Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi group said it had struck an office building of Saudi state oil company Aramco in Riyadh. The Saudi energy ministry said an attack had blown out windows across several floors of a building in the city’s financial district, without assigning responsibility.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

Montecasino transformed into a high-octane arena of aerial acrobatics on Saturday as the Ducati King of the Whip delivered a visually explosive showcase of Motocross and Freestyle Motocross.

Bringing together top-tier local talent and elite international riders before a roaring crowd, the premier action-sports event combined huge airtime, intricate tricks and dazzling pyrotechnics into an unforgettable festival-style experience.

The competition raised the stakes across both the Best Whip and FMX Best Trick categories, with world-class riders pushing the absolute limits of machine and momentum.

Spectators were treated to an adrenaline-fuelled afternoon and evening that included an exclusive Pit Walk and rider meet-and-greets, cementing the event’s reputation as one of the most anticipated and electrifying motorsport showdowns on the calendar.

Sowetan

The trade truce was due to expire on Tuesday, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump expected to meet for the third time so far this year at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders’ summit in China next week.

After September’s Washington summit between Trump and Xi, both sides proposed a $60bn (R988.23bn) package of reciprocal tariff cuts, including about $17bn (R279.99bn) worth of US farm goods that China imported in 2024, though the plan has yet to be finalised.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in September the two-month extension would give the two sides “more time to see what we can do on the economic front”.

A 24% additional tariff on US imports will remain suspended for two months from 1.01pm (5.01am GMT) on Tuesday, but a tariff of 10% will remain, China’s state council said.

China will extend export-control waivers for certain critical minerals and related technologies until January 10 2027, the commerce ministry said.

Measures affecting 11 US firms on China’s unreliable entities list and 16 on its export control list will remain suspended until January 10 2027.

The suspension of special port fees on US-linked vessels will also be extended until January 10 2027, China’s transport ministry said.

A probe into shipping and shipbuilding supply chain security will remain suspended.

The Chinese commerce ministry said it would also extend the suspension of sanctions on five US-linked units of Hanwha Ocean by two months.

China is extending the tariff suspensions to implement the “outcomes and consensus reached at the Washington meeting between the heads of state of China and the US”, the state council’s tariffs commission said.

China has “noted that the US side has repeatedly stated that it intends to use section 301 tariffs to replace the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that have been held invalid by judicial rulings”, it said.

China will “closely follow subsequent measures taken by the US side and will, as appropriate, adjust relevant tariff countermeasures in light of developments”, it added.

Reuters

Vocalist-turned-DJ Shoba, better known as Shota, says the possibilities of a Shana reunion — the trailblazing Afro-house trio with Black Coffee and Demor — are greater than ever.

Shoba continues to reinvent his music career, reintroducing himself with his four-track EP, Africa to the World, released on November 1. He speaks to Sowetan about his evolution, close friendship with Black Coffee, the possibilities of a Shana reunion and taking his sound to a global audience.

Click here to read more.

Diabetes: Why it’s vital to know your numbers

A recent Stats SA Mortality and Causes of Death report reveals that diabetes is among the top three causes of death due to non-communicable diseases, claiming dozens of lives daily.

The report shows that in 2024, diabetes accounted for 6.1% deaths. “In 2024, diabetes mellitus remained the top leading underlying cause of death, just as it was in the previous two years, responsible for 6.1% deaths in the country. It remained the leading underlying cause of death in the three-year period,” reads the report in part.

Click here to read more.

• Click here to join Sowetan’s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered to you on the move.

Sowetan

Matlala withdrew from the agreement in July after rejecting a 12-year direct imprisonment sentence proposed by the court instead of the eight years he had agreed to with the state. The plea agreement was subsequently declared null and void.

Matlala appeared before the commission in Pretoria on Monday, where his lawyer, Annelene van den Heever, objected to the use of the plea agreement and evidence linked to it, including section 205 affidavits.

“We vehemently oppose the use of section 105 [plea agreement] and section 205 [incriminating evidence], whether it is the affidavits or whatever is presented to the commission. We say it will bring justice into dispute if that is allowed at the commission.”

WATCH | Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala at Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into criminality political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system taking place at Brigette Mabandla Justice College in Tshwane.

Video: ANTONIO MUCHAVE pic.twitter.com/i3FAYQxmEd

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 9, 2026

Van den Heever argued that allowing the commission to use the plea agreement and related evidence would infringe on her client’s constitutional rights.

The commission is investigating allegations that criminal cartels, including alleged cartel member Matlala, had infiltrated the criminal justice system.

The plea agreement relates to fraud and money-laundering charges Matlala faces in connection with his company Medicare 24 Tshwane District’s SAPS tender.

During the now-nullified plea proceedings, the court heard that affidavits submitted by Matlala implicated senior police officials. The state indicated that the information contained in the affidavits could assist in securing convictions against the officials.

The state alleges that members of the SAPS bid evaluation committee and senior officials colluded to bypass proper National Treasury regulations to award the health services contract to Matlala’s company.

Investigators allege that Medicare 24 Tshwane District did not have the necessary facilities, staff or equipment to fulfil the contract.

Several senior officers who were part of the adjudication process have also been arrested alongside Matlala and face similar charges.

The commission continues.

Sowetan

Arena Holdings is a news and entertainment content provider and one of Africa’s largest English-language news publishers. It owns iconic news titles including the Sunday Times, Sowetan and Business Day. Arena also broadcasts on DStv through Business Day TV, Ignition and The Home Channel, and owns three film production and distribution assets — Empire Entertainment, Indigenous Film Distribution and Ochre Moving Pictures.

Arena is also home to Africa’s longest-running independent recording label and music publisher, Gallo Music.

Role overview

Arena Holdings is looking for a video and audio producer to join our multimedia team and help shape digital storytelling across some of South Africa’s leading news and lifestyle brands.

We are looking for a creative, highly skilled and digitally savvy storyteller who can conceptualise, produce, shoot, edit and publish compelling video and audio content.

The ideal candidate should have a cutting-edge portfolio, a strong understanding of local and international digital trends, and the ability to tell stories that resonate with audiences across multiple platforms.

They will need to be comfortable working at speed, under pressure and across multiple projects, while maintaining the highest editorial and commercial production standards.

Key responsibilities

• Conceptualise, produce, shoot, edit and publish high-quality video and audio content across Arena platforms.

• Produce engaging breaking news, interviews, explainers, social videos, podcasts, documentaries and long-form content.

• Manage the full production process, from story development and scripting to recording, editing, packaging and publishing.

• Develop innovative, audience-focused approaches to visual and audio storytelling.

• Write scripts, headlines, captions and supporting copy for multimedia content.

• Repurpose content into engaging, platform-specific formats for digital and social audiences.

• Collaborate with journalists, editors and producers to identify and develop multimedia story opportunities.

• Co-ordinate interviews, contributors, locations, schedules and production requirements.

• Develop content ideas that drive audience engagement, reach and revenue.

• Work across multiple Arena brands, tailoring content for different audiences and platforms.

• Work weekends and after hours when required by the news cycle.

Experience and requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or diploma in journalism, audiovisual engineering or a related field.

• Experience in an audio and video industry, digital newsroom and related fields.

• Valid driver’s licence.

• Ability to work quickly and accurately under pressure.

• A self-motivated person with an ability to work within a team.

• Excellent communication skills.

• Unimpeachable integrity.

What we are looking for

• Exceptional video and audio storytelling skills with a strong editorial instinct.

• Highly proficient in video/audio recording and editing software.

• Creative, digitally savvy and always looking for new ways to tell stories.

• Able to manage multiple projects and collaborate across newsrooms and brands.

• Self-motivated, adaptable and comfortable working independently.

• Committed to accuracy, ethics and editorial integrity.

• Experience using AI and emerging technologies in digital storytelling would be an advantage

• Understanding of audience analytics and content performance.

How to apply

Qualified applicants may submit their CV and two references to mediarecruitment@arena.africa.

Please indicate “Video and audio producer” in the subject line of your application.

Closing Date

November 19 2026

The incident occurred off Kebemer, a town about 180km north of Dakar, and the interior ministry on Sunday put the death toll at 21, with one survivor rescued.

A report from the official Senegalese Press Agency said the toll had climbed to 34 “following the recovery of additional bodies”.

The boat was carrying people seeking to migrate irregularly, the interior ministry said. It did not say how many were on board.

Thousands of people have died in recent years attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa, including 635 in the first five months of this year, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders.

Action for Human Rights and Friendship, a local NGO, on Monday said it was calling on the National Assembly to investigate Senegal’s “migration governance”.

“It is no longer enough to deplore shipwrecks, announce control measures and count interceptions,” the group said.

Reuters

Shoba continues to reinvent his music career, reintroducing himself with his four-track EP, Africa to the World, released on November 1. He speaks to Sowetan about his evolution, close friendship with Black Coffee, the possibilities of a Shana reunion and taking his sound to a global audience.

What have you learnt from Black Coffee?

People see the performances and success, but there is a lot of work behind the scenes. I have seen how he operates, approaches business and builds relationships. SA artists need to understand that we have to compete with the world. In Europe, there is a strong festival culture. You don’t necessarily have to release a hit every few months to remain relevant. If you are a good performer, there are opportunities to work consistently. Here, we are constantly chasing the next hit. We need structures that allow artists to build sustainable careers.

What is your relationship with Black Coffee like away from music?

Our friendship is very special. We have known each other since 1992. I was under the care of his grandmother for three years, so our relationship goes beyond music. He knows my family, and I know his. We can go a while without seeing each other because we are both travelling and then suddenly there will be a message asking whether we are meeting for dinner. I am also involved in certain aspects of his international work. When we travel, I communicate with promoters and people on the ground.

Will a Shana reunion ever happen?

We are in touch and communicate regularly, although everyone is extremely busy. We travel almost every day, so finding time to sit down and properly plan things isn’t always easy. We have been working on music together, including a song called Khanya. But we don’t want to rush anything. If Shana is coming back, it needs to make sense musically and commercially. We have to think about the group’s legacy and what the music represents.

How are you reintroducing yourself?

It started with conversations about when I was going to release music again. I wasn’t particularly motivated because of some personal experiences I had gone through. I had lost some of that drive. But music keeps evolving, and I started thinking about how I could remain relevant without losing my identity. Then I started travelling, particularly Europe, where I was exposed to different sounds, festivals and technology. That experience opened my eyes to what was possible.

Your transition as a DJ, how did that happen?

I was experimenting with Ableton and discovered that I could use the equipment to mix music like a DJ. Then, at a Formula 1 event in Abu Dhabi, a DJ who was supposed to perform didn’t arrive, and they needed someone to fill the slot. I stepped in and played. People enjoyed the set, and a few days later, I started receiving calls from different countries asking who I was and whether I could open for Black Coffee. That experience changed my life.

What is the message behind your EP, Africa to the World?

Travelling has given me a different perspective. As South Africans, sometimes we don’t realise how much potential exists beyond our borders. The title is about communicating that I am bringing African sounds to the world. There are elements of Afro-house and Afro-tech, but there is also Zulu in the music. I have prepared two songs in English because I understand that language can sometimes be a barrier when introducing your music to different audiences. I also see this release as the beginning of a bigger journey. I want to build momentum ahead of the international summer festival season.

What’s next?

There is no rush or pressure to do everything at once. I consider myself a new artist in this space, and I want people to discover something about me that they might not have known before. There is more music coming, including an album, and there will be more collaborations.

Story audio is generated using AI

A woman whose business earned her almost R200,000 a month has lost her court bid to force her estranged husband, who earns about R34,000 monthly, to pay her maintenance.

This after a judge questioned her failure to fully disclose her finances while she demanded R22,000 maintenance from her hubby’s R34,000 salary.

The husband argued that his estranged wife’s business income was substantially higher, leaving her with about R109,800 a month after business expenses.

Western Cape High Court judge Daniel Thulare was unconvinced by the woman’s version, saying she had not taken the court into her confidence by disclosing her true financial position, particularly her monthly income from her beauty business.

The judge dismissed her application for interim maintenance, which included a demand for R12,000 a month for their two children, R10,000 in spousal maintenance and R85,000 towards her legal costs.

The court heard that the woman, who runs a hair and make-up business specialising in weddings and special events, had failed to disclose under oath how much she earned on average each month.

In his judgment delivered on November 6, Thulare said the husband had provided a plausible factual response to her claims rather than simply denying them.

The matter was brought under Rule 43, which allows spouses going through divorce proceedings to seek interim financial and other relief while awaiting the finalisation of their divorce.

The woman also sought changes to the existing care arrangements for their two children, aged 15 and four.

However, the court found that the parties had already agreed to a provisional parenting plan under which they shared care and contact.

Their teenage son had been living with his father since August 2025, while the mother exercised contact with him. The parents shared care of their four-year-old daughter on an alternating two-two-three-day arrangement.

The husband argued that the woman had based her maintenance demand on the assumption that both children lived with her full-time, which was not the case.

He was already paying R5,850 a month towards the daughter’s expenses during the periods she stayed with her mother, while covering the son’s living expenses in full.

He also paid for the woman’s and the children’s medical aid.

The husband offered to continue paying the R5,850 and keep all three on his medical aid scheme.

His payslips for June, July and August 2026 showed average gross earnings of R54,598.68 a month. His average net income was about R32,838, increasing to R35,574 when bonus payments were included.

The judge noted that his earnings included emergency overtime and standby allowances, without which his income would have been lower.

His expenses exceeded his income by just over R4,000 a month.

Thulare acknowledged that changing family and financial dynamics meant women could also be the main earners in marriages, with significant income differences between spouses. He said Rule 43 applications had to be carefully considered to prevent either party from being placed at a severe financial disadvantage during divorce proceedings.

The wife’s business bank statements showed that her business received between R141,500 and R223,000 a month.

After deducting business expenses, about R109,800 remained available to her monthly.

The statements also showed that the business paid several of her personal and household expenses, including school fees, groceries, electricity, clothing, fuel, insurance policies and instalments on two vehicles.

Her recorded spending included R47,344.79 on household necessities and R32,240 on personal expenses.

The woman argued that her business income was irregular and seasonal, with money received as deposits often needed to cover future bookings and operating expenses.

She said she did not receive a fixed salary but drew money from the business when funds were available to meet personal and household expenses.

However, Thulare said he was not persuaded that she had given the court a complete picture of her finances.

“I am not persuaded that the applicant took this court into her confidence and disclosed her true financial position, in particular her monthly income from her business. The respondent’s answer is not far-fetched, clearly untenable or fictitious. The respondent did not simply state bare denials but provided real factual rebuttal,” said Thulare.

He also found no reason to change the existing arrangements for the children before the family advocate had investigated and provided an expert report on their care and contact.

The application was dismissed, with no order as to costs.

Sowetan

The line has stayed with me because of its implicit promise: someone will do the difficult work so the rest of us can make sense of things. Watching the 2026 local government results unfold, I think that promise became a test of how information travels in our democracy.

On Sunday night, when the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) declared the final results, the scale of the shift finally hit home. The ANC finished at 30.89% and the DA at 24.60%, according to the IEC chairperson’s declaration address.

Of the 213 municipal councils, only 72 produced a party with an outright majority of seats, while about two in three are hung, and every metro except Cape Town will be run by a coalition.

The focus now shifts to seat formulas, thresholds and coalition arithmetic — a great deal to ask of citizens in an age of divided attention.

Psychologist Gloria Mark’s first workplace study, published in 2004 with Víctor González, tracked how often people switched tasks. As she recounts in her 2023 book Attention Span, attention on a screen then averaged about two-and-a-half minutes. Of course, this is not proof people cannot think; it describes fragmented digital attention.

The real question is who did the work of making that attention count.

Established publishers remained essential.

The SABC, for instance, kept live IEC results and CSIR predictions on separate views, recognising a forecast and a declared outcome carry very different authority.

Sowetan made a deliberate choice to take their reporting into other information environments rather than wait for readers to return to their websites with their rolling election coverage, which kept pointing readers to its WhatsApp channel and social media platforms.

But the heavy lifting was not done by newsrooms alone.

The IEC deserves credit for always opening up its data. According to the chief electoral officer’s address, preliminary results were transmitted through an application programming interface (API), from voting station to voting station, as soon as they were audited. Media houses, researchers, ICT groups and political parties drew on it, logging 14.3-million requests. That pipeline is what made much of the week’s visual storytelling possible.

The IEC’s own results dashboard separated voting districts, wards, municipalities and seats allocated and showed how far each leading party sits from a majority.

The commission also ran a WhatsApp channel alongside its app, its website and a podcast explaining how counting works, and expanded its social media team to 25 specialists, including disinformation analysts, graphic designers and multimedia content creators.

The most telling detail of the elections is that EskomSePush, the app millions downloaded to survive load-shedding, became a place where people checked their wards. An app built to tell us when the lights would go off ended up showing us where power was shifting.

On the other hand, Mzansidata tackled the confusion that matters most in a hung council: winning the most votes does not automatically deliver the mayoral chain.

It compared every council with 2021, ranked “kingmaker” councils by how close the largest party came to a majority, and told readers plainly that results are counted, not final, until the IEC declares each council.

These platforms and many others that were plugged in to the IEC’s API shifted the burden of interpretation from the audience to themselves. The best of this work rested on two kinds of simplicity: factual and emotional.

An example of factual simplicity: The Outlier has set the standard. For years it has shown data journalism can be rigorous and readable at once. Its work is a masterclass in visual hierarchy. Whether the story is a shift in turnout or a municipality that flipped, your eye goes exactly where it needs to go.

By making ward ballots, proportional representation and seat allocations navigable, it turns complexity into a public good. When understanding an election requires political fluency or expensive data, it becomes a privilege. When it is made simple without being made false, it becomes access.

But politics is not only data. It is felt before it is calculated. That is where emotional simplicity matters.

If The Outlier decodes the mechanics, creatives such as David Tshabalala, known as Slaying Goliath, decode the mood. Works such as How to Survive Cyril’s Economy and Making Sense of Mzansi’s Elections offer social commentary in illustrations and few words.

They deal not in percentages but in sentiment. Sometimes citizens do not need another calibrated dashboard; they need one image that names the exhaustion, the frustration or the unexpected humour of waking up to a municipality run by a fragile coalition. That kind of work reminds us there is a human being behind every voter statistic.

Then there was WhatsApp, where family groups, friendship circles, community and interest-group chats all became election desks. With attention to this fragmentation, few people waited for think pieces.

They forwarded screenshots, charts and maps, dashboard links, infographics and TikTok explainers. Each one arrived carrying the implicit endorsement of a comrade, a colleague, a friend or a family member, sometimes landing in groups without context. That is where meaning is now made in South Africa: within circles of trust, not on publishers’ websites.

That informal distribution network is powerful. But it also exposes three structural vulnerabilities, and they should trouble us.

First, trust cuts both ways.

The Human Science Research Council (HSRC)’s Election Satisfaction Survey, conducted among voters at polling stations on November 4, found 90% rated the election free and 91% fair.

However, as the IEC chairperson acknowledged in his declaration address, trust in the commission “remains high at 81%, but has gradually declined from 93% in 2016”.

The same survey flagged “information gaps” as an area that requires improvement. HSRC research director Benjamin Roberts linked the decline in trust partly to misinformation and disinformation, especially rumours spread on social media.

The circles of trust that carried clear maps also carried unverified results, where screenshots sometimes lost their captions, timestamps and “provisional” labels the moment they left the publishers’ pages. The credibility of whoever forwarded it travels with it either way.

Second, many people were not in the conversation at all.

Turnout rose to 52%, up from 45.9% in 2021, with 15.2-million of the 29.2-million registered voters taking part, according to the IEC. That is welcome, but it means about 14-million registered South Africans stayed away. Roberts described a divide between contented election day voters and “a broader discontented majority who are choosing to abstain.”

Beautiful maps reach those who are already paying attention, and sadly they do little for the Orange Farm resident who has concluded voting changes nothing. The deeper communication failure of this election is not confusion. It is disengagement.

Third, access still costs money.

Stats SA’s General Household Survey shows most households reach the internet through cellphones, and only about a fifth have a broadband connection at home.

Among the poorest 40% of households, it is fewer than one in 20. Interactive dashboards quietly assume data, a decent phone and fluency in English. The residents most affected by who governs their municipality are often the least able to explore a ward map on data bought by the megabyte.

While none of these diminish what the publishers achieved, they demonstrate something consequential: simplicity can redistribute the power to interpret public events.

That is the real public value of this expanding publishing ecosystem. It gives citizens more than a view of who finished ahead. At its best, it gives them a language for asking what political power will actually do in their lives.

The hardest explaining, however, lies ahead.

Hung councils must elect speakers and mayors, and the deals will be struck in rooms no dashboard can see into. The count was transparent. The coalitions may not be.

Our democracy needs more than results people can screenshot. It needs those who hold power to explain what is being negotiated in our name and who answers when it fails.

• Tshenkeng is founder and CEO of Decode, a Pan-African strategic communications and reputation advisory firm, and publisher of the annual South African Government Leaders on X Report.

Sowetan

Story audio is generated using AI

The Hawks have arrested nine foreign nationals at Johannesburg airport and a hotel in Bruma in connection with an alleged attempt to travel from South Africa to participate in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale said an investigation into the case involved Interpol, the Hawks’ crimes against the state unit and serious organised crime investigation team, international law enforcement agencies, South African crime intelligence, the Gauteng police tracking team and various security companies.

“Acting on intelligence gathered during the investigation, the multidisciplinary team operationalised an intervention that resulted in the arrest of the nine suspects, aged between 20 and 26 last night,” Mogale said.

They were preparing to board flights out of the country when they were apprehended.

The suspects are expected to face charges relating to the contravention of the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.

TimesLIVE

The commission has heard from several witnesses in camera since October 5 due to ongoing investigations and/or the confidential nature of the material.

Its final report is due to be delivered to President Cyril Ramaphosa by January 25 2027.

Video courtesy of SABC.

TimesLIVE

The defeat came just a few weeks after their shock exit in the Champions League preliminaries. The loss was also Sundowns’ first this season across all competitions and Komphela said they will need to show character in the coming weeks.

“This is how your character gets built. And I don’t think we are the first ones to go through this, and we are not going to be the last ones,” Komphela told the media during the mix zone after the match.

“Sundowns has been in situations where we needed to dust ourselves and show character. We have a great dressing room with experienced players, and a technical team that’s strong enough and that has a way to focus on what has to be looked at. As they always say, this is breakfast for champions.”

Komphela also has revealed the words of encouragement he received from a USM Alger player after their defeat and that this will also motivate them.

“It’s funny because as soon as the match came to an end, one of the players from USM Alger came through and said something very strange. He said, ‘You guys are a big team, you will recover.’ For me, that was profound. Sometimes in life, we need reminders about who we are and this is the one,” he said.

“We wanted to win it, unfortunately, it couldn’t fall our way. You don’t want to start throwing forward and get paralysed by the fact that you start looking at things that are coming.

“But where we are, we are hurting and also for our supporters. And the fact that you are the Champions League winners, when you play folks who are also winners, but in the Confederation [Cup], logic or common sense or expectation would be Champions League winners should win and sometimes football is not like that. We regret the result, we wanted it different. Unfortunately, it did not come our way.”

Meanwhile, Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso pointed to a chaotic start, including losing key player Nuno Santos during the warm-up and having to substitute striker Bryan Leon just 15 minutes into the game.

“Of course, we can only speak about a very unfortunate match played in tricky circumstances. It is not normal that we lose a player during warm-up, where we should be preparing them to start,” Cardoso told the media during the post-match press conference.

“I think we also made mistakes that at this level are penalised by goals.”

Sowetan

The achievement surpasses the previous record of 496.22km/h, set by the same car at Germany’s ATP Papenburg proving ground in September 2025. It has earned the 2,220kW hypercar two Guinness World Records: highest speed achieved by a production car in a single-direction run and highest speed achieved by an electric production car in a single-direction run. The record has also been recognised by motorsport governing body the FIA.

The record-breaking run took place on Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed International Road on November 1, with German endurance racer Marc Basseng again behind the wheel. Unlike the previous attempt at a dedicated proving ground, the Abu Dhabi run was conducted on a public road closed for the event.

The achievement marks a significant milestone in the century-long pursuit of a production car capable of exceeding 500km/h, a threshold that has remained beyond the reach of conventional combustion-powered vehicles.

The U9 Xtreme’s performance is the result of three years of development, with BYD’s electric motor and battery technologies underpinning its extraordinary speed. After initial runs in Abu Dhabi that reached 490km/h, engineers adjusted the car’s aerodynamics, suspension software and tyre pressures to improve high-speed stability.

The U9X has an electric motor at each wheel, with an independent torque-vectoring system that continuously monitors road feedback, adjusting each wheel’s torque to maintain traction in all conditions.

BYD executive vice-president Stella Li said that “503.17km/h is a fantastic achievement, and it moves the benchmark for pure electric power even further ahead of where others might dream”.

The U9 Xtreme has also demonstrated its circuit performance, setting a production electric car lap record of 6:59.157sec around Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife.

The U9 Xtreme is intended for limited production with only 30 examples to be built worldwide, with customers able to specify bespoke finishes and details.

The first production-standard example, named Dawn Moment, was unveiled at this year’s Beijing Auto Show.

Chiefs advanced to the Carling Knockout last four after beating Siwelele 2-1 at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday, setting up an away date with Sundowns. The league is yet to confirm dates and venues for the competition’s semifinals, though they are expected to be played after the current Fifa break.

Asanele Velebayi came off the bench to score the winner for Chiefs, his first since arriving at the club in August last year. Siyabonga Ndebele had put Siwelele ahead early in the first half before Wandile Duba restored parity for Amakhosi on the stroke of halftime. Mduduzi Shabalala had skied one spot-kick seven minutes before Duba converted his.

“We knew when we qualified for the semifinals we’d play a big game there. We need this type of game because our team needs to grow. With this type of game against Sundowns our team will grow,” Da Cruz said.

“It will be a very good game for us and we will play that game for sure to qualify for the final.”

Chiefs have missed two chances of winning a cup this season after being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the MTN8 in August, before failing to make it to the CAF Confederation Cup group stages last month. Amakhosi have struggled to stay consistent in the league, having already played five draws.

It is because of this that Da Cruz feels reaching the Carling Knockout semifinals will boost their morale and put them on a “positive dynamic” after a tough few months.

“When you win, it’s always a pleasure. It gives confidence to the team and allows us to be on a positive dynamic. At the start of the season we didn’t get the results we expected, but I am happy about the work of the team and the mindset and how the team progressed as well,” the Chiefs coach said.

Sowetan

It was the first time she had seen 68-year-old Serhiy in four and a half years — time he had spent trapped with others in the Russian-held town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine.

“I can’t believe you are here,” Larysa, 72, kept repeating, her mascara smudged with tears after they embraced outside a hospital in Kyiv. “Honestly, I can’t believe it myself,” Serhiy replied.

They last saw each other in 2022 when Larysa fled to England to live with their son, three months into the occupation following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. Serhiy stayed to look after the family home, ending up stuck in the town peppered with Russian-laid landmines and facing a mounting humanitarian crisis.

“We hoped for better. Turned out, it got ‘better’,” he said sarcastically.

Oleshky’s residents described living through constant drone attacks and without power and heating. Things got even worse this spring, when food deliveries stopped.

Your heart is torn apart at the thought of leaving everything behind. How can you? Your home, your family, the cemetery — all your relatives are there

Serhiy

Serhiy got out on October 30 with hundreds of other residents, evacuated during a ceasefire that US first lady Melania Trump was involved in brokering, with the additional involvement of Pope Leo.

For all the joy of seeing Larysa — and the prospect of being reunited with his three children and six grandchildren — he found his escape from Oleshky a devastating wrench.

“Your heart is torn apart at the thought of leaving everything behind. How can you? Your home, your family, the cemetery — all your relatives are there,” he said. “How will you ever visit their graves, keep them cared for?”

‘It’s hard to recognise him’

As Oleshky’s evacuees were moved by buses and planes through occupied land in Russia and Belarus, Larysa set out on her own 2,000km journey to meet Serhiy and bring him back with her to Britain.

“How haggard he looks,” she said when she saw the first pictures of her husband crossing into Ukraine. “It’s hard to recognise him.”

Serhiy called Oleshky a “zone of death” where life under occupation could depend on the mood of an individual Russian soldier. He survived on humanitarian aid that he had stockpiled during the occupation — noodles, grains, sometimes canned meat and fish. He tried frying up flatbreads with flour stored before the war, riddled with weevils.

“Sometime around April [this year], the people who used to bring us food died — two men. After that, all food deliveries stopped completely. There was nothing,” Serhiy said over a cup of coffee in a Kyiv cafe.

Locals shared what they had. Some risked the dangerous 20km journey on foot or bicycle to Radensk for supplies. Rare provisions were sold at severely inflated prices.

The local hospital ran out of supplies. Bodies were stacked up in the morgue, as forensic experts refused to risk the journey to the town to perform autopsies.

“Bodies are just lying there. Everything is leaking. When my neighbour died, I carried his body in there, and the smell was absolutely horrific,” Serhiy said. “God forbid!”

A lot of people were killed in Oleshky. Someone would go out to pick a cherry plum and get blown up. Someone else would pick up a mushroom or a nut and step on a landmine

Another neighbour asked him to bury her in her own courtyard if she ever got killed.

Serhiy said he probably would not have left the town himself had it not been for the evacuation. They laid landmines on all the roads and even in the town. “They [Russian troops] had their own objective, as I understand it: to mine everything so they could keep everything under control,” he added.

“A lot of people were killed in Oleshky. Someone would go out to pick a cherry plum and get blown up. Someone else would pick up a mushroom or a nut and step on a landmine.”

Serhiy said Russian troops “had done a great job of cleaning up” to put on a show before the organised evacuations began. He didn’t see a single burnt-out car on the way. He said he felt sure he could have survived another winter, despite the ordeal of occupation and food shortages.

Larysa rolled her eyes, still tearful. “I’ll fatten him up with borscht and varenyky [dumplings],” she said.

Reuters

Bafana will look to win both matches when they host the Harambee Stars at Orlando Stadium on Friday at 6pm before travelling to Nairobi for the return leg next Tuesday.

Bafana defeated Guinea and Eritrea in the Afcon qualifiers in late September before beating Egypt in an international friendly at the beginning of October.

Kenya have already secured their place at the 2027 edition as co-hosts alongside Uganda and Tanzania and are using these matches to prepare for the tournament.

“I hope it remains like that,” Mosimane said of his perfect start and insisted he is still under pressure despite it.

When you are not under pressure, you must know that you are in the wrong space

Pitso Mosimane

“If you don’t want pressure, don’t coach Bafana. In fact, don’t coach any team. Is the coach at Chippa [Brandon Truter] under pressure? Who is not under pressure, and who is in their comfort zone?

“I’ve seen the coach of [Orlando] Pirates [Abdeslam Ouaddou] celebrating the derby [victory]. I feel how difficult the emotions and the build-up of this thing are. We are all under pressure. The minute you are not under pressure, you are in your comfort zone, and when you are not under pressure, you must know that you are in the wrong space.”

Mosimane dismissed the notion that Kenya will have a significant advantage because of McCarthy’s familiarity with Bafana.

“I guess everybody knows how Barcelona plays, right,” he said.

“Everybody knows how Arsenal is playing, right? Everybody sees Bayern Munich. Everyone has got analysts, four analysts — people have got that, so they don’t know how they play? Everybody knows how you play. Just because I know how Benni plays doesn’t mean I have an advantage now. No, it just gives me a little bit of data and understanding of seeing patterns and what is most likely to come.

“What if he has changed the plan? Everybody knows how Pirates play until you get into Orlando [Stadium], right? It is the way it is in football.”

A separate internal assessment, compiled by France’s foreign ministry and also seen by Reuters, found that social media accounts linked to Israel and to the US MAGA movement also pushed “hostile narratives” around the riots, linking them to radical Islamism and migration.

Taken together, the assessments offer an insight into how external actors have been trying to use France’s domestic turmoil for their own political ends, according to analysis by European disinformation specialists.

The EU analysis found that a covert Russian network known as “Operation Overload” spread videos impersonating Western media outlets to target French audiences, some falsely claiming migrants had raped protesters or terrorist attacks were imminent.

The Russian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In August, ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova rejected allegations by a French state watchdog agency of spreading disinformation about France’s 2027 elections and said they would “not be the last concoction which the authorities will use to manipulate public opinion”.

Rioting erupted in cities across France last month as demonstrations against rising living costs and declining public services spiralled out of control in some of the worst violence the country has ​witnessed for decades.

Such events offer opportunities to undermine national governments, fuel fear and division, and shape public perceptions ahead of elections

EU document

The EU analysis, which covers the period from October 7 to 21, found that Russia sought to “depict the French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian”.

“Such events offer opportunities to undermine national governments, fuel fear and division, and shape public perceptions ahead of elections,” said the restricted-circulation EU document, prepared by disinformation experts in the bloc’s diplomatic service.

It found no evidence that Moscow or other actors had instigated or escalated the protests, describing the activity as “the opportunistic exploitation of unrest”.

Millions of views for Russian, Israeli, MAGA posts

The French foreign ministry’s assessment found that the 10 most-viewed X posts on the unrest from “pro-Russian spheres” got 2.8-million views from October 16 to 18.

But those figures were dwarfed by the views achieved by X posts on the riots from accounts linked to the MAGA movement and to Israeli officials and influencers.

The 10 most-viewed X posts on France’s unrest by MAGA-linked officials, media outlets and influencers got more than 49-million views from October 16 to 18, according to the French ministry report.

The 10 most-viewed posts from Israeli officials, government accounts, media outlets and influencers got more than 35-million views in the same period, the French report said.

Campaigns part of ‘narrative competition’: expert

Elina Treyger, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation think tank, said such campaigns wage a slow-burning “narrative competition” that over time can shape how Western democracies are seen in Europe and beyond.

Treyger said they feed an anti-immigrant backlash that is pushing European voters toward political extremes.

Reuters was not able to independently verify assertions made in either the French or the EU report.

Asked for comment, French officials referred Reuters to remarks by President Emmanuel Macron, who said on October 21 there had been no visible foreign interference behind the protests but there had been “foreign manipulation of information”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Israeli foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Russian-aligned effort to discredit West

The EU report said Operation Overload, active since September 2023, has targeted Western “public figures, institutions, and media outlets” to “discredit these entities and their support for Ukraine while promoting content aligned with Russian interests”.

Its activity “also intended to undermine European support to Ukraine by claiming that European governments prioritise Ukraine over domestic issues”, the report said.

The operation creates and posts videos that appear to be news reports, uses AI to clone experts’ voices, forges newspaper headlines, and manipulates images

Institute for Strategic Dialogue

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a Britain-based think tank, said in a report last year that Operation Overload was “a persistent and high-volume Russian information operation. It impersonates trusted sources to sow discord, confusion and distrust”.

“The operation creates and posts videos that appear to be news reports, uses AI to clone experts’ voices, forges newspaper headlines, and manipulates images,” the institute said, adding that it “pivots from country to country to exploit crises and debates”.

France’s disinformation watchdog Viginum published a detailed report on Overload and similar Russian operations in 2024, and French officials have said they resurface during protests, elections or other opportunities to discredit France.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

Irvin Jim, who has been “suspended” as general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), has written to regional leaders who orchestrated the suspension to provide written representations about why their membership of the metalworkers’ union should not be terminated.

Numsa’s national office bearers, including Jim, announced recently that their special national executive committee had resolved to suspend the regional leaders, who in turn said they had lost confidence in them.

However, the regional leaders announced at a media briefing that their own executive committee, which met last week Monday, had resolved to suspend the office bearers on charges of dereliction of duty, conduct bringing the union into disrepute, gross violations of the Numsa constitution and constitutional procedures, and wasteful expenditure.

The central committee meeting held by the regional leaders in October resolved to strip the national office bearers, including Jim and president Andrew Chirwa, of their powers and replace them with a task co-ordinating team.

In a letter dated November 5 to the regional leaders and Numsa staff members, Jim hit back, saying the task team had no standing in Numsa or authority to speak on behalf of the union “whatsoever”, given among others that no valid central committee was convened on October 23 and as such any resolutions arising from that meeting are null and void.

“Accordingly, you are well advised to ignore the content of the letter issued by [task team members Silumko] Nondwangu and [Karl] Cloete and make use of the opportunity afforded to you to make written representations as to why your membership/services should not be terminated by 6pm on Saturday November 7 2026. Failing which, Numsa’s national executive committee will proceed to consider your continued membership/services in the absence of any such representations,” Jim said.

At its peak before its expulsion from Cosatu in November 2014, Numsa was its largest affiliate with about 360,000 members

However, the regional leaders’ special national executive committee meeting had maintained that the central committee meeting of October 23 was “properly constituted and that its decisions remain valid and binding. No court of law has set aside those decisions.”

In their letter to the “suspended” regional leaders dated November 5, Nondwangu and Cloete said they were writing to “formally advise you of developments regarding the purported suspension issued against you by comrade Irvin Jim”.

“The special national executive committee, duly convened on November 2 2026, considered the decisions and actions taken by comrade Irvin Jim in relation to the suspension of elected leaders and office bearers of the union.

“Having considered the relevant constitutional provisions and surrounding circumstances, the special national executive committee concluded that the purported suspension issued against you was not authorised by the Numsa constitution and was therefore unlawful, unconstitutional, invalid and of no force or effect.

“The special national executive committee accordingly resolved that the purported suspension be lifted with immediate effect and that all comrades affected by such actions be restored to their full rights, responsibilities and standing within the union.”

Nondwangu and Cloete stated the regional leaders remained members and/or elected leaders in good standing, and the “purported suspension issued against you is regarded as invalid and unenforceable”.

“Any restrictions that flowed from that purported suspension are withdrawn. You are entitled to resume and perform all functions, duties and responsibilities attached to your elected position within the union.”

Numsa regional leaders from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, JC Bez, Mpumalanga and Sedibeng defied Jim by convening a central committee meeting recently, the highest decision-making body between national congresses. Jim had written to them to say the meeting scheduled for October 23-25 had been cancelled until further notice.

The letter by Jim followed a ruling by labour court judge Edwin Tlhotlhalemaje preventing Numsa and the office-bearers from barring delegates from Mpumalanga from attending, participating and voting at committee meetings.

The dispute arises from events at the Mpumalanga regional congress on June 29 and 30. Before the congress, the region’s Ehlanzeni local shop stewards council resolved that local office bearers would identify and nominate delegates from among its members.

After the congress, a shop steward complained directly to Jim that the process used to select delegates from Ehlanzeni structures was unlawful. They alleged that the election of Ehlanzeni council delegates contravened the Numsa constitution, “which in turn called into question the status of the regional congress and the delegates elected at that congress”.

In a letter dated September 4 to all central committee delegates, Numsa president Chirwa announced that the committee would reconvene without the Mpumalanga delegates.

This prompted Mpumalanga regional chair Nkosinathi Makhanya to approach the courts for relief.

In his ruling, Tlhotlhalemaje interdicted the office bearers from excluding the Mpumalanga delegation and found that Chirwa “on his own or with the general secretary” had “usurped the powers of the CC, acted ultra vires, and put the cart before the horse” and that such conduct “amounts to self-help”.

Numsa is expected to hold its national congress later this month, where a new national leadership will be elected.

The power struggle and counter-suspensions were viewed as threatening the credibility of the union, the backbone of the South African Federation of Trade Unions.

At its peak before its expulsion from Cosatu in November 2014, Numsa was its largest affiliate with about 360,000 members.

Business Day

Mbalula’s honesty about how the ANC anticipated an outcome much worse than what they got in the local elections is a frank admission many would shy away from.

But it is a good sign they haven’t thrown in the towel yet, despite the damage to their fortunes in KZN from the MK Party.

The ANC lost it when it became fixated on unworkable policies that have brought suffering to children who know that whatever education and training they receive will lead to dependence on social grants.

It’s not over for the ANC. It can bounce back by doing good in the fewer municipalities it now controls. — Cometh Dube-Makholwa

Story audio is generated using AI

ActionSA has ended the ANC’s long-standing hold on Ekurhuleni’s ward 6 in Thembisa, securing it with 38.84% of the vote in last week’s local government elections.

The ward, which covers six sections, including Isiziba, Endulwini, Ibazelo, Isithame, Igqagqa and Lidinga, had been an ANC stronghold for the past two decades. In the 2021 local elections, the ANC won with 64.3% of the vote.

ActionSA secured 4,587 votes, finishing 6.2 percentage points ahead of the ANC, under the leadership of its Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate, councillor-elect Xolani Khumalo.

Speaking to Sowetan, ActionSA ward branch secretary Fihliwe Nkohlisa said the result reflected the work the party had put into building its presence in the area over the past eight months.

WATCH | Fihliwe Nkohlisa, ActionSA’s Ekurhuleni ward 6 branch secretary, speaks to Arena journalist Michelle Banda about winning the ward, which has been an ANC’s stronghold for many years. After ActionSA claimed the ward in the recent local government elections, it will be led… pic.twitter.com/wjZo3u1Pkw

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 8, 2026

“We launched this ward in March with very few members, but the election has gone quite well and makes me think about where we come from. Now we have more than 700 members,” she said.

Nkohlisa said residents had approached the party with concerns ranging from poor service delivery to unemployment and substance abuse, particularly among young people.

“The administration we have just come from did not seem to take these issues to heart, but we are here ready to effect change,” she said.

Nkohlisa said the party had worked to assist residents with issues ranging from burst sewer pipes to electricity outages, adding that it tried to communicate with residents when it could not resolve their complaints.

Residents who spoke to Sowetan said they hoped Khumalo’s election as councillor would bring more responsive leadership to the area.

We are happy now that he will be our councillor because he really cares about people

Tembisa resident Thandiwe Dlokolo

Thandiwe Dlokolo, a neighbour of Khumalo’s grandmother, said she was pleased he would represent the ward, citing his previous involvement in community matters.

She said he had recently helped a family with transport for a funeral and had assisted in resolving electricity problems in the area.

“We are happy now that he will be our councillor because he really cares about people and always has, even before getting into politics,” she said.

Dlokolo said residents wanted the new administration to tackle drug abuse, illegal immigration and crime, while creating opportunities for local people.

She accused the previous administration of failing to involve residents in community projects, saying people from outside Thembisa were often brought in while locals remained unemployed.

For 27-year-old Siyabonga Mnguni, who has been unemployed since completing matric in 2018, the change in political leadership brings hope of better opportunities.

“I get contract and seasonal jobs, but nothing sustainable. At 27, I have to ask for assistance at home while relying on the R370 social relief of distress grant, which is barely enough for my needs,” he said.

Mnguni said unemployment, crime and substance abuse remained major concerns for young people in the area.

Mziwenkosi Jacobs, a teacher at a local school, said he hoped the incoming administration would be accessible and respond more effectively to residents’ concerns.

He cited recurring water and electricity outages, delays in installing speed humps and an unused sports field at a nearby school as issues requiring attention.

“We hope all these issues will be addressed,” he said.

Sowetan

The issue of undocumented immigrants should be considered when assessing the ANC’s poor electoral performance in Gauteng. This is because the party did not show that it is taking the problem seriously.

Given its nonchalant approach to addressing these concerns, the party should not have contested the election in the first place if it had known what was coming. Its lack of attention to detail is clear.

It appears that nearly six metropolitan municipalities will need to be governed through coalitions. For political parties to enter coalition governments in the metros with the ANC would be a miscalculated move akin to political suicide. — Pitsi Moloto, Tshwane

The tribunal, consisting of retired Supreme Court of Appeal justices Boissie Mbha and Sharise Weiner and advocate Pule Seleka, Legal Practice Council chair, will investigate allegations against Hartle and whether she is guilty of gross misconduct.

The hearing has been scheduled to begin on Monday and run until November 18 in Sandton, Johannesburg.

A gross misconduct finding by a tribunal and endorsed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) could lead to a recommendation of impeachment to be voted for by parliament. If impeached, the judge could lose her lifetime salary benefit and her job as a judge.

The complaint against Hartle was filed by a court official, Thozamile Semekazi, who alleged Hartle hurled derogatory and racist remarks at him in the East London (now KuGompo City) high court chambers in May 2025.

Hartle has denied the allegation before the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC), which dealt with the matter before the JSC.

Semekazi alleged he was belittled by the judge when he delivered “a pile of case files” to Hartle’s office. The case files were delayed.

“Judge Hartle did not even allow me to speak for myself; what she heard from [the secretary] was sufficient for her to the extent that, while standing at the door, facing the inside of her secretary’s office, while I was seated … she uttered the following words to my face: ‘F**k you’, ‘p**s man’, and as she turned to look at her secretary, continued with the insults and said, ‘I am tired of [registrar Thabosa] Mafalala’s staff, bloody f**king k****r’ — with such a confident, loud and aggressive, firm voice,” Semekazi alleged.

Semekazi said the judge later apologised to him.

Hartle, before the JCC, denied using the k-word. She, however, accepted that she used an “expletive” but said it was not directed at Semekazi. The judge said that she had been dealing with delayed delivery of files for cases to be heard.

“In my brief interaction with Mr Semekazi — who I did not expect to be seated in my secretary’s office when I entered to inform her of the status of the trial I was hearing — I did inform him very firmly that I would not be accepting the chairload of files that was standing in the entrance to her office. It is my sharp rebuke that must have upset him,” the JCC report quotes Hartle to have said.

“My expression of frustration with regard to the registrar’s abuse of my kindness was directed at [the secretary] Ms Frost and her alone. I used a single expletive. I hardly had time to consider who was present in her office before the word had slipped out. I immediately apologised to the stranger in our midst [Mr Semekazi] that I was sorry for the word.”

Before the JCC, Hartle disputed ever using the k-word and accused Semekazi of grossly misrepresenting the interaction. She said the complaint constitutes an attempt to undermine her work and destroy her.

The tribunal takes place months after Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge also faced a tribunal probing a complaint of sexual harassment against him lodged by a judge’s secretary, Andiswa Mengo.

Business Day

The title was Mercedes’ first constructors’ crown since 2021 and came a week after 20-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli became the youngest drivers’ champion with four races to spare in Mexico City.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished second, racing from 21st on the grid due to engine penalties, in a race that started and ended in the rain, and teammate Isack Hadjar was third. George Russell was fourth for Mercedes and Antonelli fifth with the fastest lap.

Mercedes had needed to score only three points more than Ferrari to clinch the title and the Italian team never threatened to prolong the fight on a treacherous track with Charles Leclerc seventh and Lewis Hamilton ninth in his 400th race.

“It was a very tough race, very, very tough,” said Norris, the 2025 world champion, of his 14th career win and 50th podium a d his team’s first victory since August.

“A lot of challenges today with the conditions and going onto slicks in the wet is always tough, especially when you are pushing for the lead and trying to catch up a bit,” added the Briton, who lost out to Antonelli at the start.

“The main thing today was I kept it cool and didn’t make any mistakes and had the pace when I needed to. Nice to be back on the top step and what a place to do it.”

Norris took the chequered flag, waved by Brazil soccer forward Neymar, 14.602 seconds clear of Verstappen.

Mercedes equalled Williams’ nine constructors’ championships.

“It was a very strong beginning of the season and that kind of got us over the line. These last few races have been challenging at times. Today it was difficult, but overall I’m so proud for the organisation,” said team boss Toto Wolff.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was sixth with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson sandwiched between the Ferrari drivers in eighth after a fine race that saw the New Zealander start third and run in second place for the first five laps.

Nico Hulkenberg took the final point for Audi in a race of spins, slippery moments and changeable conditions.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

The Madlanga commission investigating criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system will resume its public hearings with alleged criminal kingpin Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala expected to take the stand on Monday and Tuesday.

Over the coming weeks the commission will also hear the testimony of witnesses scheduled to appear under subpoena, including:

• suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu;
• KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi; and
• crime intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo.

The commission has heard from several witnesses in camera since October 5 due to ongoing investigations and/or the confidential nature of the material.

Its final report is due to be delivered to President Cyril Ramaphosa by January 25 2027.

TimesLIVE

Once again, in last week’s local government elections, the ANC lost control of more councils. Most municipalities are likely to be governed through coalitions. Negotiations have already begun, with political parties engaging one another on the sidelines of the Electoral Commission’s results operations centre.

SA needs stable coalitions that place service delivery at the heart of any agreement. However, the situation may prove more complicated this time around. The ANC’s electoral setback has shaken Luthuli House and raised questions about the future of its leadership.

Reports over the weekend suggested that ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and other national officials had considered stepping aside as the party reflects on its poor performance at the polls. There have also been suggestions of an early national election.

Developments within the former governing giant will play a critical role in shaping coalition negotiations. In Gauteng, three parties emerged as dominant forces — the DA, ActionSA and the ANC. Together, with support from smaller parties, they could establish a framework to guide co-operation in councils across the province and potentially elsewhere. Such an arrangement could provide greater stability.

The political landscape, however, is far from straightforward. Numerous dynamics are at play, including the unique situation in KwaZulu-Natal, where the MK Party emerged as the largest party. Some within the ANC may favour working with the MK Party, the EFF and smaller partners. Another possibility is that the ANC chooses to occupy the opposition benches in councils where it failed to secure the largest share of the vote.

Each of these options carries consequences, not only for political parties and their leaders but, more importantly, for voters. Sanity must prevail. Political parties must place good governance, effective service delivery and the interests of residents above all else.

Coalition negotiations cannot be driven solely by the pursuit of positions. They must focus on building councils capable of delivering stable and accountable government. The era of treating municipalities as employment agencies for politicians must end. The people have spoken. Their will should now be respected and acted on.

,

The attackers set fire to a health post during their assault on Cantine-Aloya in North Kivu province, a hotspot of the Ebola outbreak coursing through the DRC, officials said.

Patients from a nearby hospital also fled, including one confirmed Ebola patient and five suspected cases, among them three high-risk contacts, the head doctor there, Christian Kakule Vulembera, said.

The militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, a group recognised by Islamic State as an affiliate, set fire to several houses and killed civilians, Beni territorial administrator Col Charles Omeonga said.

A death toll could not yet be established because heavy rain hampered army operations and investigations, he said.

A total of 33 bodies were recovered after the attack, most bearing gunshot wounds, while others had been burnt or hacked with machetes, according to Tchetche Aliamini, a local civil society leader.

The attackers struck the village about 50km west of Beni at about 11pm local time on Thursday, officials said.

North Kivu currently accounts for half of all new infections in the DRC’s outbreak. Authorities have recorded more than 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths around the country.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

The ANC’s national leadership will meet this week to determine its approach to coalition negotiations after the party’s worst electoral performance yet, as political formations begin positioning themselves to govern hundreds of hung municipal councils across South Africa.

The party’s national working committee (NWC) is scheduled to meet today, followed by a national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, where its coalition task team is expected to present various options for adoption ahead of formal negotiations.

Nationally, the ANC garnered 30.7% of the votes, with the DA, MK and EFF following with 24.24%, 9.76%, and 6.22% of the vote, respectively. Only Cape Town will be governed with an outright majority after the DA received 56.42% of the vote. The other metros ― Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Buffalo City and Ethekwini ― will be governed through coalitions.

“Greater choice and competition is a sign of a strong democracy … to have our election declared free and fair is an incredible achievement,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. “All who seek public office must be judged by one standard: whether they put public services first.”

The ANC’s internal meetings will be among the first major tests of how it intends to exercise its diminished electoral mandate, with the party facing the prospect of negotiating its way into administrations in municipalities it previously governed outright.

WATCH | IEC announces election results

Meanwhile, the DA’s coalition discussions will be co-ordinated nationally under the federal executive’s authority to ensure a consistent, principled approach countrywide, the party’s federal council chair, Ashor Sarupen, said.

“The DA’s federal executive has mandated the party to initiate discussions with political parties that share a commitment to clean and accountable government, rooting out corruption, service delivery for all, the rule of law and nonracialism.”

SACP leader Solly Mapaila told Business Day the party would invite the ANC, EFF, MK and other parties “of the left” to discuss possible coalition partnerships across the 138 hung municipalities.

The negotiations will take place against a 14-day deadline for the new municipal councils to be finalised after the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s declaration of the final results. In the first council meetings councillors will elect mayors, speakers and other officebearers, pressuring parties to reach agreements quickly.

The ANC has already begun preliminary engagements with potential coalition partners, including ActionSA, with discussions so far limited to what the parties are prepared to bring to the negotiating table rather than specific municipal agreements.

WATCH | Business Day political editor, Hajra Omarjee speaks to ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba on the party’s coalition negoations and the proposal that the DA’s Helen Zille not be made mayor of Johannesburg. pic.twitter.com/G5ZSQXM0iT

— Business Day (@BDliveSA) November 8, 2026

The ANC’s national leadership is expected to play a central role in determining which partnerships it pursues, amid indications that provincial and regional structures will have limited autonomy in striking agreements.

Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the NEC would determine the party’s approach to coalitions, while ruling out any rush to secure positions at the expense of its political principles.

The ANC has also indicated that it is prepared to sit in opposition where the terms of a coalition agreement do not meet its requirements.

“The ANC will not be in a hurry to get into coalitions. That is not the only option. There is also an option to sit in opposition,” Mbalula said.

The position comes as the party confronts differing political calculations in key provinces and metros, particularly Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, where the election results have altered the balance of power.

In Johannesburg, where the DA emerged ahead of the ANC, the regional party leadership has had to contend with the prospect of losing control of the municipality. The ANC’s Johannesburg structures have indicated a willingness to occupy the opposition benches rather than enter an arrangement that does not serve their interests.

In KwaZulu-Natal the ANC’s provincial leadership has moved to centralise control of coalition negotiations, instructing regional structures not to initiate discussions or enter into agreements with other political parties without prior authorisation.

In a directive dated November 6, provincial co-ordinator James Nxumalo told all regional co-ordinators that the coalition process remained the sole responsibility of the provincial structure and would be guided by a clear provincial mandate.

“No region is authorised to make commitments, enter into agreements or represent the organisation in any coalition engagement without an explicit mandate from the province,” the letter says.

The directive also cautions regional structures against drawing conclusions about potential coalition arrangements, stating that the election results had not yet been formally declared at the time it was issued.

The intervention comes as the MK party emerged as the leading political formation in KwaZulu-Natal and indicated a preference for working with the ANC, raising the prospect of an alliance between the two parties in municipalities where neither can govern alone.

The directive in effect places the responsibility for determining the ANC’s negotiating position in the province with its provincial leadership while preventing regional structures from pursuing separate arrangements with prospective coalition partners.

Business Day

I argued then that the governing party had reached a critical political crossroads that required introspection, institutional renewal and a fundamental reconsideration of its approach to municipal governance.

I contended the party’s electoral setbacks in major metropolitan municipalities were closely linked to inadequate service delivery, unfulfilled political promises and declining public confidence. A decade later, South Africa’s political landscape has changed considerably.

However, fundamental questions regarding democratic accountability, responsive governance and public confidence in political institutions remain as pertinent as ever. The outcome of the 2026 local government elections presents an opportunity to revisit these concerns from a broader democratic perspective.

The central question should extend beyond whether the ANC can recover its electoral support or whether opposition parties can consolidate their gains. Instead, a more profound question warrants national reflection: what are the implications for our constitutional democracy when millions of eligible citizens do not participate in selecting their government?

South Africa has an estimated 41-million eligible voters, about 29.2-million registered voters, and about 14.9-million citizens who participated in the 2026 local government elections. Though participation increased from the about 46% turnout recorded in 2021, the figures raise critical questions about the broader state of democratic participation.

While competitive multiparty elections and constitutionally established institutions are significant achievements, their continued existence should not preclude critical examination of declining political trust, persistent governance challenges and potential citizen disengagement

When measured against the estimated eligible voting population, only about 36% participated, leaving nearly 64% outside the electoral process. Though these estimates require verification, they underscore a critical distinction between electoral legitimacy and meaningful democratic participation.

Governments derive constitutional authority through elections. However, democratic legitimacy also relies on public confidence, institutional accountability and sustained citizen engagement.

In How Democracies Die (2018), Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt demonstrate that democratic deterioration does not always result from military coups or the immediate collapse of constitutional institutions. Instead, democratic norms may gradually erode even as elections, legislatures and courts continue to function.

Their argument offers a valuable analytical perspective on South Africa’s democratic trajectory. While competitive multiparty elections and constitutionally established institutions are significant achievements, their continued existence should not preclude critical examination of:

• declining political trust;
• persistent governance challenges; and
• potential citizen disengagement.

Low voter turnout does not inherently indicate democratic decline. Nevertheless, persistent non-participation becomes a significant concern when considered alongside issues of:

• institutional performance;
• political accountability; and
• citizens’ confidence in democratic processes.

David Runciman, in How Democracy Ends, similarly challenges the assumption that democratic crises necessarily involve dramatic institutional breakdowns. He contends contemporary democracies may retain formal structures while experiencing increasing political disengagement and declining confidence in representative institutions.

His analysis raises the question of whether South Africans may gradually distance themselves from electoral politics without explicitly rejecting democracy as a constitutional ideal. However, it would be misleading to interpret every non-vote as political apathy or protest against the governing party. Some citizens may be dissatisfied with available political alternatives, while others face socioeconomic, administrative or logistical barriers to participation.

Nevertheless, the scale of non-participation warrants serious attention. While political parties may celebrate electoral victories, democratic institutions must also reflect on the millions of citizens who remain outside the electoral process.

Michael J Sandel’s Democracy’s Discontent adds another dimension by examining the relationship between democratic citizenship, socio-economic conditions and meaningful political agency. Sandel challenges conceptions of democracy limited to formal political rights and electoral procedures. His analysis emphasises that democratic citizenship requires substantive opportunities for individuals to influence collective decisions that affect their lives.

South Africa’s democratic debate must extend beyond electoral competition to encompass the broader conditions that sustain public participation

This perspective resonates with South Africa’s socioeconomic realities, where democracy is experienced through access to water, electricity, sanitation, housing, employment opportunities and functioning public infrastructure. When these expectations remain unmet, citizens may begin to question whether electoral participation meaningfully influences their living conditions.

After the 2016 elections, the ANC’s electoral difficulties in metropolitan municipalities were inseparable from governance performance. This principle remains relevant and should apply equally to all political parties entrusted with municipal authority. Citizens are entitled to assess elected representatives based on measurable performance, transparency and responsiveness, rather than relying solely on political promises.

Jonathan Sumption, in The Challenges of Democracy and the Rule of Law, offers an additional perspective by examining the relationship between democratic authority, constitutional restraints and political responsibility. His analysis underscores that legal institutions alone cannot sustain democracy. Democratic governance also requires political restraint, institutional accountability and respect for constitutional principles.

South Africa possesses a comprehensive constitutional and legislative framework governing municipal administration, public participation and financial accountability. However, these frameworks do not automatically result in effective governance. A municipality may comply with electoral procedures yet still experience significant deficiencies in service delivery, financial management and responsiveness to community concerns.

The distinction between procedural democracy and substantive democratic accountability is therefore fundamental. Citizens must possess not only the constitutional right to elect representatives but also meaningful opportunities to influence decisions and hold elected officials accountable between elections.

These considerations indicate South Africa’s democratic debate must extend beyond electoral competition to encompass the broader conditions that sustain public participation.

Ultimately the test of South Africa’s democracy is not solely whether elections produce constitutionally legitimate governments, but whether democratic institutions can maintain public confidence, meaningful participation and accountable governance between elections.

This democratic question warrants national attention long after election results have been declared.

• Singo is a resident of Tshwane ward 5 and writes in his personal capacity.

Sowetan

Story audio is generated using AI

Nomusa Zulu, 63, who died after collapsing at the Shallcross Primary School voting station in Demat, about 20km southwest of the Durban CBD, on Wednesday morning, was laid to rest at Mopel cemetery in Hammarsdale on Saturday.

The former expanded public works programme worker had cleaned the roads in her locality until two years ago when she went on pension.

Her family told Sowetan’s sister publication TimesLIVE they had to make the funeral arrangements with their meagre resources, without any assistance, messages of condolence or visits from the IEC or any government agency.

For them, that silence has become part of the pain.

Her sister Cynthia said she and members of her family would not bother to vote again.

“There is no point in voting because nobody cares,” Cynthia said.

“She went to vote because she believed her vote would change things. Now we are burying her alone.”

The family said only the MK Party, which won ward 72 where Demat’s Shallcross Primary School voting station was located, that extended visits, condolences and promises to assist the family with funeral arrangements.

Zulu collapsed while standing in the queue at the voting station. She died on arrival at Chatsworth’s RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth, about 7km by road from the voting station.

The family says they had to call an e-hailing vehicle themselves to take her there, despite many police vehicles and cars belonging to IEC officials present at the scene.

“No one thought of transporting her to hospital,” a family member said.

Her daughter, Amanda Zulu, said her mother was so excited about going out to vote.

“She normally wakes up at 4am on the voting day, on Wednesday she was up at about 5.30am. By 6.30am she was already pestering me saying ‘We must go early so that we must come back and rest’,” Amanda said.

“At about 7.30am we made our way to the voting station. It took us about 30 minutes because the voting station is far away. When we arrived at the station, officials said, as an elderly person, she must go to the front and vote and she left me in the ordinary queue.

“A few moments later I got a call from one of the neighbours saying I must rush inside the voting station as my mother had collapsed. I hurried in and found her on the floor.”

The family is angry and believe Zulu could have been saved if IEC officials at the station had rushed her to a medical facility. They say the IEC should have ensured there were people with medical training at voting stations.

Previous reports said election observer Pretty Jwarah, who was at the station, said bystanders gave Zulu water, contacted her daughter and called for an ambulance.

On Thursday, provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga confirmed the death and conveyed the IEC’s condolences.

TimesLIVE

The report shows that in 2024, diabetes accounted for 6.1% deaths. “In 2024, diabetes mellitus remained the top leading underlying cause of death, just as it was in the previous two years, responsible for 6.1% deaths in the country. It remained the leading underlying cause of death in the three-year period,” reads the report in part.

“...28,174 deaths had diabetes mellitus as the underlying cause and mentioned on the form as a contributing cause of death, while 593 deaths had diabetes mellitus as an underlying cause but was not mentioned as a contributing cause on the form…

“In eight of the 10 leading causes of death, 99% of the time where a contributing cause was mentioned, it [diabetes] was selected as the underlying cause of death.”

The report highlights that diabetes was the leading cause of death among the age group 45–64 years, responsible for 7.9% deaths.

Pharmacist Patrick Kodibona of Medipost Pharmacy says diabetes is “one of the most significant health challenges” in SA.

Saturday is World Diabetes Day.

“The way we look at type 2 diabetes has changed. Medical experts no longer regard it as a permanent, progressive disease if it’s detected early enough,” says Kodibona.

“With type 2 diabetes, the body becomes less responsive to insulin. The pancreas works harder to compensate, but over time it may struggle to produce enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels under control.

“Insulin is a vital hormone that acts like a key, helping glucose from the food we eat to move from the bloodstream into our cells, where it can be used for energy.

“When a person’s cells become less responsive to insulin, this is known as insulin resistance. As a result, sugar builds up in the blood, but over time the pancreas may no longer produce enough to keep blood glucose from reaching diabetic levels.”

What happen when your body doesn’t use glucose

Kodibona says when your body is not using glucose, you will feel exhausted, and this happens a lot with many people with undiagnosed or uncontrolled diabetes.

“Over time, persistently high blood glucose damages the blood vessels. This is why it’s so important to test for type 2 diabetes, understand what is going on in the body, and know how to manage the condition effectively,” he warns.

Kodibona says being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes can often come as a shock. However, managing the condition soon becomes second nature with a few adjustments and treatment.

He says diabetic patients should prioritise monitoring their blood glucose levels and keeping a record.

“Checking your blood sugar at home provides immediate feedback on how your meals, exercise, and medications are affecting your glucose levels. By tracking regularly, you can identify patterns that guide you on how to stay within your target range to prevent long-term health complications or sudden emergencies,” Kodibona says.

What your numbers should be

“Measure blood sugar exactly two hours after your first bite of a meal. The standard goal for after a meal is a reading under 10.0 mmol/L, while morning fasting levels should sit between 4.0 and 7.0 mmol/L. Glucometers, glucose test strips, lancets, and insulin pumps help monitor and control blood sugar levels,” says Kodibona.

He says while regular finger-prick tests will give you quick results, an HbA1c laboratory blood test is essential as it measures the average amount of sugar that has built up in your red blood cells over a three-month period.

“Keeping your HbA1c below 7.0% is the most reliable medical standard for avoiding long-term complications,” Kodibona says, adding that consistently taking prescribed medication is critical for diabetes management.

“Anyone diagnosed with diabetes [should] take extra care to gain control of the condition as early as possible because uncontrolled diabetes can lead to serious complications, including vision loss, kidney disease, strokes, heart attacks and nerve damage that can cause painless foot ulcers and, in severe cases, lead to amputations.”

What can you eat to manage diabetes

Diet, Kodibona emphasises, remains at the cornerstone of the disease’s management.

“Managing your blood sugar successfully does not require expensive specialty items. Excellent, budget-friendly South African whole foods that are diabetic-friendly include proteins such as dried brown lentils, split peas, whole eggs and canned pilchards or sardines, as well as vegetables including cabbage, carrots, and dark leafy greens such as spinach or morogo.

“Rolled oats, pearl barley and cooked, thoroughly cooled pap, are better starch options. Allowing pap to cool completely changes its structure, turning it into a resistant starch that your body digests more slowly, helping to reduce sudden sugar spikes,” he says.

Kodibona shares tips for newly diagnosed diabetics

Aim to lose between 5% and 10% of your starting weight early in your diagnosis, as this can significantly improve blood glucose control.

Fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables, one-quarter with lean protein, and the remaining quarter with high-fibre starches.

Eat vegetables and protein before carbohydrates, which can help slow blood sugar absorption and avoid spikes.

Visit an ophthalmologist for an eye screening and a podiatrist for a foot assessment annually to catch any nerve or blood vessel changes early.

Take a brisk 15-minute walk after eating. It encourages your muscles to clear sugar directly from your blood, allowing your pancreas to rest.

The frustration is real. The cost of everyday essentials has a direct impact on household livelihoods, particularly for those already under financial pressure. However, there appears to be a persistent misunderstanding of what the Competition Commission is legally mandated to regulate and investigate.

Let us be clear: the Competition Commission does not generally set or control the retail prices of goods and services. Its mandate is to promote and maintain competition in markets, in pursuit of the purposes set out in the Competition Act.

This distinction is important.

The Competition Act 89 of 1998, as amended, establishes the framework through which the Commission investigates anti-competitive conduct, abuse of dominance and mergers, and undertakes market inquiries.

Its mandate is not to determine what a retailer should charge for a particular product. Rather, it is to ensure that the conditions under which businesses compete do not undermine consumer welfare, exclude competitors or distort the competitive process.

This does not mean that prices fall outside the scope of competition law. Quite the contrary. The Commission can investigate conduct such as price-fixing between competitors and excessive pricing by dominant firms, where the legal requirements are met. What it does not do is routinely prescribe the price at which an ordinary product must be sold.

Competition regulation is not only about intervening in market structures and conduct. It involves examining how businesses interact, how markets are organised, whether new firms can enter and expand, and whether dominant market participants are using their positions to restrict competition.

It is about addressing the conditions that shape market outcomes, rather than simply intervening in the price of an individual product. Consider a pair of running shoes. If the price of a particular brand increases, consumers may reasonably ask why the Competition Commission does not intervene to bring that price down. The answer is that the Commission cannot simply instruct a retailer to reduce its selling price because consumers consider it unaffordable.

What the Commission can do is examine the competitive dynamics across the value chain – from the sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing to distribution and retail. It can investigate whether competitors are colluding to fix prices, whether dominant firms are engaging in exclusionary conduct, or whether barriers are preventing new manufacturers and retailers, including smaller local businesses, from entering and expanding in the market.

The question, therefore, is not simply whether a pair of shoes is expensive. It is whether the market is functioning competitively and whether consumers and businesses are being denied the benefits of effective competition.

So, how does competition regulation translate into tangible benefits for ordinary South Africans?

First, effective competition creates the conditions for more competitive prices, greater product choice and can help promote improved quality. Where businesses face meaningful competition, they have stronger incentives to innovate, improve their products, operate efficiently and offer better value. Consumers benefit because they have alternatives.

Competition also creates opportunities for businesses that might otherwise struggle to enter markets dominated by established players. Ultimately, competition regulation is not about controlling every price in the economy. It is about protecting the competitive process that makes competitive pricing, innovation, consumer choice and meaningful economic participation possible.

South Africans should expect businesses to compete fairly, consumers to have meaningful choices and markets to remain open to new entrants. That is the value of competition regulation. And that is the work the Competition Commission is mandated to do.

• Makunga is spokesperson for the Competition Commission of SA

Today, that the ANC is on its way out is no longer an opinion. It is fact, proven by numbers, by geography, by demography, and by its own behaviour.

First, look at the numbers. Numbers do not have feelings. They do not hate the ANC. They just count.

In the 2011 local government elections, the ANC got 61.95%. In 2014, nationally, 62.15%. In 2016, local, 53.91%. In 2019 nationally, 57.50%. In 2021, local, 45.59%. In 2024 nationally, 40.18%. In 2026, locally, they got just over 30%.

That is not a dip. That is a straight line downwards for 15 years. Every election, without exception, the ANC loses.

No party in world history has reversed a 30-point decline over 15 years and come back to dominance. The ANC has lost half its support. From 62% to 31% is not renewal; it is an exit.

Second, look at geography. The ANC is no longer a national party. It is a rural party with cities it cannot hold.

It has lost Johannesburg. It has lost Tshwane. It has lost Ekurhuleni. It has lost Cape Town long ago. It has lost Nelson Mandela Bay. It has lost eThekwini. In 2026, it is struggling even in the very township it claims to own.

A party that cannot govern the economic heart of a country cannot govern the country. The ANC now survives in Limpopo, Eastern Cape, and Mpumalanga — where poverty is deepest and opposition is weakest. That is not a national movement; that is a regional rump.

Third, look at demography. The ANC is dying of old age, literally. Its loyal voters are the gogos and mkhulus who remember Mandela, who vote ANC because “my child, we suffered for this party”. Those voters are an endangered species.

The new voter — the 18- to 35-year-old born after 1994, who has never known apartheid but knows load-shedding, knows unemployment and knows a toilet that does not flush — has no loyalty to history. He/she votes on service delivery, not on struggle credentials.

The youth are not waiting for renewal. They have moved on to MK Party, DA and ActionSA. The ANC has no youth pipeline. Its youth league is a fighting ground for tenders, not for ideas.

Fourth, look at behaviour. A party that is confident does not behave like the ANC behaves now. A confident party announces its mayoral candidate months before an election, not after.

In 2026, the ANC failed to submit 181 candidates in six municipalities and had to run to the Constitutional Court to be saved. A confident party does not beg the court to fix its own incompetence.

A confident party does not go into a government of national unity (GNU) and then spend two years fighting its own partner. Ramaphosa had to publicly defend the GNU against his own secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, who wanted the DA kicked out. That is not a party in control; that is a party at war with itself.

And finally, look at the moral fact. The ANC is not losing because South Africans are ungrateful. It is losing because it broke the social contract.

It promised houses and delivered tenderpreneurs. It promised jobs and delivered 45% youth unemployment. It promised clean water and delivered cholera in Hammanskraal. It promised safety and delivered a police service that arrives after the crime.

The ANC will not disappear tomorrow. It will linger in councils, in parliaments, and in coalitions, like an old chief who refuses to leave the kraal. But its time as the natural governing party of South Africa is over. The dustbin of history is not a threat anymore. It is a destination, and the ANC is already on the road.

History will remember the ANC for liberating South Africa. It will also remember that it failed to govern the freedom it won. And the people have already delivered the verdict.

• Mbatha is a freelance writer and current affairs analyst.

Sowetan

There is something very immediate about a municipal election. You can pass a pothole on your way to vote and wonder whether the person asking for your vote has ever driven down that road. You can be standing in a queue thinking about the water you stored the night before, because nobody could tell you when it would come back. National politics can feel far away. Your councillor’s phone number is supposed to bring the government a little closer.

In the 2021 municipal elections, about 14.1 million registered voters did not cast a ballot.

It is easy to say that people who stay home have no right to complain. I have never found that argument particularly helpful. Stats SA asked people why they had not voted in the 2024 national and provincial elections. About a third of those said they had forgotten or were uninterested. Some said no candidate represented their views. Others cited illness or disability. We will need to hear from people who stayed away this time before we can say what kept them from voting.

I think that is where the ANC needs to begin. Johannesburg has had shifting coalitions, and several parties share responsibility for how it has been governed.

The ANC’s role in the liberation of this country deserves respect. For many families, voting for it carried a meaning that went beyond any one candidate. I can understand that loyalty, and I can understand the voter who has reached the point where they want someone else to run the city. Thanking the ANC for what it did for SA and asking it to make way in Johannesburg are two things we are capable of doing at the same time.

If the DA forms a coalition government, I am ready to give it a chance. We all have something to gain from a city that works, no matter which party we voted for. I want to see it help rebuild Joburg, make it easier for businesses to open and create jobs, and get the metro police doing their part to reduce crime. I also want to be able to afford to live in the city after we rebuild it.

There is something else I want to say to the DA. This is Joburg. Leave behind the racism concerns that people have raised in Cape Town. Johannesburg has its own history of deciding where people could live and what services they could expect based on the colour of their skin. We have every reason to pay attention to who gets heard and who is made to wait.

A resident in Soweto should get the same urgent attention when the water goes off as someone in Sandton. A person who walks into a municipal office should be treated with dignity, whatever their race, where they live, or how they speak.

I am ready for change. If Joburg has decided the ANC’s time at the helm is up, the ANC should respect that decision. If the DA gets the chance to govern, I hope it remembers the people who voted against it and the people who stayed home.

• Hlatswayo is a Johannesburg-based digital marketer and the author of the isiZulu novels Imibala Yothando and Inhlonipho.

It is where residents experience the state most directly: through a tap that either provides water or runs dry; through a streetlight that either works or leaves a neighbourhood unsafe; through a refuse collection service that either arrives or allows waste to accumulate; and through roads that either support economic activity or become impassable.

The conclusion of the 2026 local government elections in South Africa marks the beginning, rather than the end, of a difficult democratic process. While political parties have campaigned on promises of better roads, reliable water, dignified sanitation, refuse removal, electricity provision and safer public spaces, municipalities must now convert electoral commitments into practical delivery. In many councils, this will occur through coalition governments.

Coalition politics may broaden representation and encourage negotiation, but they can also produce instability, fragmented decision-making and competition for positions.

These risks become particularly severe when municipalities lack the technical competence required to plan, procure, construct, operate and maintain infrastructure.

My central argument is that South Africa’s municipalities cannot resolve infrastructure failures through political slogans, leadership changes, or ambitious plans alone.

Effective local government depends on a technically competent, professionally independent, and ethical public service. Where municipalities lack sufficient engineers, town planners, project managers, environmental practitioners, quantity surveyors, artisans, financial specialists, and infrastructure asset managers, political promises will remain disconnected from the material realities of service delivery.

Consequently, the country must urgently accelerate the development, recruitment, retention, and ethical deployment of built-environment professionals within local government. Coalition councils, in particular, should treat technical capacity as a non-negotiable foundation of governance rather than a secondary administrative concern.

This is because infrastructure shapes public health, local business activity, educational attendance, household dignity and social cohesion. A burst sewer pipe near a school, for example, is not merely a maintenance defect.

It can expose children to disease, reduce attendance, contaminate water sources and deepen distrust in public institutions. Similarly, a failed water treatment works, such as the one in Bronkhorstspruit (a facility designed to clean water before it is supplied to residents), can affect an entire town’s health and economic prospects.

For this reason, municipalities must be understood not simply as political arenas but as complex technical organisations.

The problem is that political debate often reduces service delivery to the allocation of visible projects. Councillors may pledge to build houses, repair roads or extend water infrastructure, but infrastructure delivery involves a long chain of specialised functions.

It requires credible feasibility studies, spatial planning, environmental approvals, engineering designs, cost estimates, procurement plans, contract management, construction supervision, quality assurance, commissioning, asset registers and preventative maintenance. Failure at any point can cause delays, cost overruns, defective construction or complete project collapse.

The Municipal Systems Act recognises that municipalities require the capacity to fulfil their constitutional and developmental responsibilities. It provides a framework for municipal administration, integrated development planning, and performance management.

Yet, legislation alone cannot create capacity. A municipality may have an Integrated Development Plan, but such a plan has little value if there are no suitably qualified officials able to translate it into engineering programmes, procurement packages, and maintenance schedules.

Coalition arrangements can create valuable opportunities for democratic accountability. They may force parties to negotiate priorities, reduce one-party dominance, and bring different community interests into municipal decision-making.

However, coalition councils can also be vulnerable to short-term bargaining over mayoral committees, senior appointments, and budget priorities. When political office becomes the primary object of negotiation, the machinery of administration is often neglected.

This is dangerous because municipal infrastructure requires continuity. Water networks, roads, wastewater-treatment plants, and electricity systems are not designed around five-year electoral cycles. They require multi-year capital planning and, more importantly, routine maintenance over decades.

A coalition agreement that changes every few months can interrupt projects, delay approvals, and weaken accountability. Councillors may focus on who controls a portfolio, while residents bear the consequences of neglected pumps, deteriorating substations, and collapsing roads.

For this reason, coalition agreements should contain clear commitments to protect the professional integrity of municipal administrations. Political leaders should determine broad policy priorities and exercise democratic oversight. Officials, however, should be appointed, managed, and evaluated on the basis of competence, performance, and legality.

The Municipal Structures Act and the Municipal Systems Act establish a distinction between political and administrative roles, but in practice, this separation is frequently weakened by patronage.

A technically qualified municipal manager, director of infrastructure, or chief financial officer must be able to provide frank professional advice without fear of political retaliation. If an engineer warns that a proposed housing development lacks sufficient bulk water capacity, that advice must inform decision-making.

It cannot be dismissed merely because it conflicts with a councillor’s preferred announcement or electoral timetable. Similarly, a supply-chain official who identifies an irregular tender must be protected when raising concerns, even where the tender is politically connected.

Coalition leaders should therefore agree on a minimum governance compact: no interference in professional appointments; no manipulation of procurement processes; no dismissal of competent officials for political reasons; and no approval of infrastructure projects without credible technical and financial assessments.

Such commitments would not eliminate political disagreement, but they would establish basic rules that protect local government from administrative collapse.

South Africa’s municipal crisis is also a skills and maintenance crisis. Much public discussion treats municipal failure mainly as a consequence of corruption. Corruption is undoubtedly a major problem, particularly where procurement is manipulated and infrastructure budgets are diverted or wasted.

However, the crisis cannot be reduced to corruption alone. Many municipalities also suffer from inadequate technical staffing, poor project preparation, weak financial controls, limited maintenance capacity, and the loss of institutional memory when experienced personnel leave.

The auditor-general has repeatedly highlighted weaknesses in local government financial management, supply chain processes, performance reporting, and accountability for poor administration.

Its local government audit reports show that many municipalities struggle to produce reliable financial statements and prevent irregular expenditure. These findings matter for infrastructure because poor financial governance limits a municipality’s ability to budget accurately, manage contractors, and protect funds intended for repairs and maintenance.

Infrastructure deterioration is often gradual rather than dramatic. A pump may continue operating despite unusual vibrations; a road may develop minor cracks before becoming a pothole-ridden corridor; and a sewer line may leak before it fails entirely.

Preventive maintenance (planned inspection and repair undertaken before an asset breaks down) is therefore cheaper and more reliable than emergency repairs. Yet, municipalities under political and financial pressure often postpone maintenance because its benefits are less visible than those of launching a new project.

A mayor can cut a ribbon for a new facility, but routine maintenance of valves, pipes, transformers, and drainage systems rarely produces headlines.

This approach is economically irrational. When maintenance is neglected, the eventual cost of rehabilitation or replacement rises sharply.

It also harms poor communities disproportionately. Wealthier households may install boreholes, solar systems, water tanks, or private security, but low-income residents are more dependent on public infrastructure. Municipal technical weakness therefore worsens inequality.

The CSIR’s Green Book emphasises the importance of evidence-based planning, spatial data and climate resilience in municipal decision-making. This is particularly important as municipalities confront droughts, floods, heatwaves and severe storms.

Stormwater systems, for instance, must account for changing rainfall patterns, while water planning must consider increasing variability in supply.

The urgent task is not simply to employ more built-environment practitioners, although that is necessary. Municipal technical capacity is collective and institutional.

It depends on teams of professionals and artisans working across the full infrastructure life cycle. A functioning water department needs civil engineers, process controllers, electricians, plumbers, laboratory staff, finance personnel, procurement specialists and maintenance teams. Similarly, a roads department needs transport planners, civil engineers, technicians, surveyors, contract managers and road maintenance crews.

We must therefore establish a coordinated municipal technical-capacity programme involving national government, provinces, municipalities, professional bodies, universities and the private sector. The programme should include at least six measures.

First, municipalities must conduct credible skills audits — systematic assessments of existing staff competencies and vacancies. Councils cannot solve capacity problems if they do not know which expertise is lacking.

Each municipality should identify shortages in engineering, planning, asset management, finance, procurement and artisan trades, then develop funded recruitment and training plans.

Second, municipal recruitment must become genuinely merit-based. Senior technical posts should have clear minimum professional requirements, including appropriate qualifications, relevant experience and, where necessary, registration with statutory professional councils.

Third, the government should strengthen graduate and apprenticeship pipelines. Universities of technology, universities, technical and vocational education and training colleges, and professional bodies should partner with municipalities to place graduates in structured workplace programmes.

Young engineers and planners often struggle to obtain supervised practical experience, while municipalities struggle to fill vacancies. A well-designed placement system could address both problems. Importantly, these programmes should include rural and small-town municipalities, not only metropolitan areas.

Fourth, experienced professionals should be retained through fair remuneration, supportive working conditions, and career progression. Municipalities frequently lose skilled staff to the private sector, national departments, and overseas employers.

Although local government may not always match private-sector salaries, it can offer meaningful professional development, stable management structures, opportunities to lead public-interest projects, and protection from political interference.

Fifth, municipalities should make greater use of shared technical services. Smaller municipalities may be unable to employ every specialist on a full-time basis. District-level engineering support units, regional project-management offices, and inter-municipal service agreements can enable scarce expertise to be deployed across several councils.

This should not become an excuse for permanent dependence on consultants, but it can provide immediate support while internal capacity is developed.

Finally, professional service providers and consultants should transfer skills rather than replace the state. External consultants are sometimes necessary for highly specialised projects, but municipalities often become dependent on them for basic functions such as preparing budgets, managing asset registers, or compiling infrastructure plans.

Contracts should therefore require measurable skills transfer, mentoring of municipal staff, and the full handover of technical documentation. Public officials must remain capable of understanding, monitoring, and challenging consultants’ work.

Technical expertise without ethics can be as damaging as political rhetoric without expertise. An engineer who approves substandard materials, a town planner who ignores land-use regulations, or a procurement official who manipulates tender specifications can cause immense harm.

Professional competence must therefore be combined with public-service ethics: integrity, accountability, transparency, and commitment to the public interest.

The National Development Plan argues for a capable and developmental state, emphasising the need for professional public administration and improved implementation capacity.

This vision remains relevant. A capable state is not one that merely produces policies; it is one that can implement them consistently, lawfully, and fairly.

Ethical administration also requires consequences. Officials and contractors involved in corruption, negligence, or deliberate misconduct should face disciplinary action, recovery of losses, and, where appropriate, criminal prosecution.

Equally, ethical officials who expose wrongdoing should receive protection. Without consequences, municipalities communicate that public resources are available for private gain and that technical standards are optional.

Communities also have a role. Residents should participate in Integrated Development Plan consultations, demand access to budgets and project information, monitor construction quality, and hold councillors accountable for implementation rather than rhetoric.

Participation is not simply attending public meetings; it involves ensuring that communities understand what has been promised, what has been budgeted, and what has actually been delivered.

The 2026 local government elections may be over, but the real test of municipal leadership has only just begun.

Coalition councils will be judged not by the elegance of their agreements or the frequency of their speeches, but by whether residents receive safe water, functioning sanitation, reliable roads, dignified settlements, and resilient public infrastructure. These outcomes require political leadership, but they depend fundamentally on technical capability.

South Africa must therefore move beyond the assumption that electoral victory automatically produces governing capacity.

It does not. Infrastructure is delivered by competent engineers, town planners, artisans, project managers, financial officials, and ethical administrators working within stable, well-governed institutions.

Councillors have a vital role in setting priorities and ensuring democratic accountability, but they cannot substitute political enthusiasm for professional expertise.

A technically equipped and ethical public service must be at the centre of local government machinery.

If coalition governments protect professional administration, recruit on merit, invest in training, maintain infrastructure proactively, and enforce consequences for misconduct, municipalities can begin to restore public trust.

If they do not, the promises made during campaigns will remain slogans while communities continue to live with the consequences of institutional failure.

• Dr Myeza is the CEO of the Council for the Built Environment. He writes in his personal capacity.

Sowetan

The ANC’s national leadership will meet this week to determine its approach to coalition negotiations after the party’s worst electoral performance yet, as political formations begin positioning themselves to govern hundreds of hung municipal councils across South Africa.

The party’s national working committee (NWC) is scheduled to meet today, followed by a national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, where its coalition task team is expected to present options for adoption ahead of formal negotiations.

Nationally, the ANC garnered 30.7% of the votes, with the DA, MK and EFF following with 24.24%, 9.76%, and 6.22% of the vote, respectively. Only Cape Town will be governed with an outright majority after the DA received 56.42% of the vote. Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Buffalo City and Ethekwini will be governed through coalitions.

Click here to read the full article.

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ANC wants recount of Emfuleni results, mulls legal steps

The ANC says its internal structures have recommended the party takes the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to the Electoral Court over the Emfuleni local government election results.

This comes as the ANC has the majority of supporting votes, sitting at 30% nationally and garnering 23.9% of support in Emfuleni in Gauteng, trailing behind the DA’s 40.9%.

The DA got 24.64% of the vote nationally.

Click here to read the full article.

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WATCH | ActionSA ends ANC’s 20-year hold on Thembisa ward

ActionSA has ended the ANC’s long-standing hold on Ekurhuleni’s ward 6 in Thembisa, securing it with 38.84% of the vote in last week’s local government elections.

The ward, which covers six sections, including Isiziba, Endulwini, Ibazelo, Isithame, Igqagqa and Lidinga, had been an ANC stronghold for the past two decades. In the 2021 local elections, the ANC won with 64.3% of the vote.

ActionSA secured 4,587 votes, finishing 6.2 percentage points ahead of the ANC, under the leadership of its Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate Xolani Khumalo.

Click here to read the full article.

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Sowetan

The months between having an offer accepted and receiving the keys can be just as important, with financial decisions made during this period potentially affecting a buyer’s ability to afford their new home.

First-time buyers, in particular, may assume that once their home loan application is submitted, the rest of the process is largely in the hands of banks and conveyancing attorneys.

But Jackie Smith, CEO of Buyers Trust, says buyers need to remain financially alert and actively involved throughout the transfer process, which typically takes three to four months.

She has identified five common mistakes that could cost homebuyers money or create unnecessary complications before they become property owners.

Spending too much before transfer

The excitement of buying a home often prompts buyers to start shopping for furniture, appliances and renovations before they have taken ownership.

However, Smith warns against spending too much of the money set aside for the purchase before accounting for all outstanding expenses.

These may include transfer-related costs, moving expenses and unexpected payments that arise before or immediately after registration.

“Keeping money in reserve provides buyers with breathing room should an unexpected cost arise. This is also why it makes sense to ensure that money already set aside for the purchase, such as your deposit, is working as hard as possible while you wait. Maximising the interest earned on that money can help contribute towards the additional costs that come with buying a home,” she explains.

Assuming transfer delays mean something is wrong

Waiting several months for a property to be transferred can be frustrating, particularly when buyers are eager to move into their new homes.

However, Smith says a longer-than-expected transfer does not necessarily mean the sale is in trouble.

The process involves several parties, including banks, conveyancers and other role-players. Delays can arise from outstanding conditions in the sale agreement, bond approval and the documentation or clearances required before registration.

She advises buyers to establish the reason for delays instead of immediately assuming that the transaction has fallen apart.

Overlooking interest earned on deposits

While buyers often spend considerable time negotiating the best possible interest rate on their home loans, they may pay little attention to what their deposits earn while awaiting transfer.

Smith says deposits represent money that buyers may have saved for years and should receive the same financial attention as their other investments.

Deposits can remain invested for three to four months, making the interest earned an opportunity to build a financial cushion against the costs of home-ownership.

However, buyers should understand where their money is held, who is entitled to the interest and what happens to the funds if the sale does not proceed.

The issue has attracted attention following a property dispute argued before the Supreme Court of Appeal involving a buyer who paid a deposit into an attorney’s trust account. The sale fell through after a suspensive condition was not fulfilled, resulting in a dispute over the deposit and accrued interest. The court has not yet ruled on the matter.

Missing important deadlines

Signing the OTP and applying for a home loan does not mean buyers can just switch off from the process.

Smith says the agreement may contain important deadlines and conditions, while banks and conveyancers may still require documents, signatures, FICA information or payments.

Failing to respond promptly can create avoidable delays and potentially complicate the transaction.

Buyers should remain contactable, read requests carefully and ask questions whenever they do not understand a document or payment requirement.

Budgeting for the purchase but not ongoing costs

“Your budget shouldn’t end on transfer day. Before you take ownership, work out what your new monthly household expenses are likely to look like and make sure you have room for the unexpected too,” she advises.

Monthly expenses may include municipal rates, levies, insurance, utilities, security and maintenance.

Smith warns that buying a property at the absolute limit of one’s affordability can make the first few months of ownership financially stressful.

She advises buyers to calculate their expected monthly household expenses before taking transfer and leave room for unexpected costs.

Her message is that financial planning should not stop when the OTP is signed or even when the keys are handed over.

Buyers should continue monitoring their money, understanding their obligations and preparing for the responsibilities that come with home-ownership.

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The ANC says the internal structures have recommended that the party take the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to the Electoral Court over the Emfuleni local municipality election results.

This comes as the ANC has the majority of supporting votes sitting at 30% nationally and managed to garner 23.9% of support in Emfuleni local municipality in Gauteng, trailing behind the DA’s 40.9%.

The DA got 24.64 of the vote nationally.

There are structures that are making recommendations, and we are considering that

ANC deputy secreatary-general Nomvula Mokonyane

This also follows the ANC briefing on Saturday where ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said they had called for a recount in Gauteng and were still waiting for that outcome.

Speaking to Sowetan, ANC deputy secreatary-general Nomvula Mokonyane said the party’s structures had made recommendations after studying a report presented to ANC officials.

“There are structures that are making recommendations, and we are considering that,” she said.

Mokonyane did not provide details on the contents of the report, the specific concerns raised in Emfuleni, or the nature of the recommendations being considered. She also did not say whether the ANC would ultimately pursue legal action or lodge a formal challenge over the results but that it remains on the table.

In the previous elections, the ANC managed to get 39.71% of the votes in Emfuleni while the DA had trailed behind at 26.91%.

DA‘s Emfuleni mayoral candidate Kingsol Chabalala has dismissed the ANC’s concerns, saying the party was struggling to accept his party’s growing support in townships.

“There is no way that those addresses can have so many people, and one of the addresses we did an objection on,” Chabalala said.

“We went to that address, we found that it was a residential place. It was a residential space, no opening and no face. We set them with their objections, and the law requires [it].”

Chabalala said the DA had submitted objections before the elections and after the counting process began.

“Those are the objections. Even before elections, after being the waiters, we submitted those objections,” he said.

He accused the ANC of being embarrassed by the election outcome.

“I think they are embarrassed, especially the ANC. They never thought they would use so many words in their township,” Chabalala said.

“I think they are trying to change things. I think another thing is they think that they have the monopoly over the township vote.”

Chabalala said the DA’s performance in townships showed that the party was gaining support beyond its traditional base.

“I think the original secretary was saying there is no way that they will get so many votes in their townships. I think there were 28,” he said.

“If you see an example of people starting to identify with the DA in their townships, there is no area where the DA cannot get votes.”

Sowetan

But here goes: Orlando Pirates FC is the “it” brand of any sporting code in SA today. On and off the field, there is this aura of excitement about the club that makes its faithful feel they are part of something bigger than just a football team – a movement.

I don’t know how many times in the last couple of months have I had to cut meetings short or move them to an earlier slot because a person I am meeting – a friend, an interview subject or a salesperson of one product or another – had plans to go to Esigodini, in Orlando, for a Pirates game. It matters not whether the game is on a weekend or midweek, during the day or in the evening.

Then there is the merchandise. Hardly a day goes by without encountering someone in the regalia of The Ghosts. As Power Talk host Mondli Makhanya remarked last week when I bumped into him at the IEC’s Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Midrand last week, “that used to be Chiefs”.

I hate to admit it, but he is right. But I am not here to lament about Chiefs’ long dry season(s). As the saying goes, aliphel’umoya!

However, I think there is an important lesson to learn from what I describe above about the Buccaneers. It was not always the case.

In fact, in my formative years I used to wonder why my older relations and some of their friends were so passionate about a soccer team that didn’t seem to win anything. Yes, they had past legends in the likes of Jomo Sono and Patson “Kamuzu” Banda. Ernest “Botsotso” Makhanya was exciting, and Albert “Bashin” Mahlangu was a lethal striker, but they lacked the “glamour” and glory of their Phefeni rivals.

Then came the 1990s and the turnaround mission initiated and directed by Irvin Khoza.

Next year the club will celebrate its 90th anniversary, making it one of the most enduring black institutions of the last century. Outside of the historic Ethiopian Movement that ushered in the establishment of independent African churches in the late 19th century and perhaps the ANC, there aren’t many black-established and controlled organisations that have lasted that long.

Which brings us back to the lesson we learn from the Orlando Pirates experience. Organisations that survive and thrive for that long do not do so because their path was always smooth sailing. They go through choppy waters where, sometimes, the very survival of the organisation comes into question.

Whether they survive or die depends on the calibre of captain, the leadership steering the ship.

The Buccaneers were fortunate to have a capable and visionary skipper in their chairman. Not only did he steer them out of trouble, he also guided them down a path where we can no longer imagine South African football without Orlando Pirates.

What has all of this got to do with what is supposed to be a political column?

Well, in the context of the recent local government elections and their outcomes, numerous obituaries are being written about the ANC. Chroniclers of this death foretold – with apologies to novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez – argue only about whether the death has already happened of if the patient is in the ICU on life support.

There are those, however, who say what we are experiencing is a long funeral procession with life having long escaped the body of the 104-year-old organisation. All that is left is the entombment, which some expect to happen at the general elections in 2029, if not earlier.

But I am a jazz enthusiast, and Reverend Jeremiah Wright - in that sermon written by Stanley Crouch and performed in Wynton Marsalis’ 1989 classic, The Majesty of Blues – did warn us of “Premature Autopsies”.

The 2026 local government elections were a severe blow to the head for the ANC, and a deserved one at that given the party’s track record over the last two decades; but whether the blow becomes terminal or not is entirely dependent on what the party does next.

It can bury its head in the sand and lurch from one coalition arrangement to the next in the hope of survival but end up in the dustbin of history like African Wanderers and the two Bush Bucks [Durban and Mthatha].

Alternatively, it can embark on a long journey to recovery – beginning with a leadership reboot and institutional reforms – which would eventually take it back to the summit of Mount Politics in the same way Pirates is now at the summit of Mount Football.

It is all up to the party.

Both keepers − Siwelele’s Jody February and Chiefs’ Brandon Petersen − made fine saves within the first five minutes.

February denied Mduduzi Shabalala in what was the game’s very first chance in the second minute, while Petersen pulled out a brilliant save to deny Sphesihle Jeza a few minutes later.

Petersen made another brilliant save, using his trailing leg to stop Vincent Pule’s effort and forcing a corner kick in the ninth minute. Siwele would punish Amakhosi from a resultant corner kick when Siyabonga Ndebele rose highest to thump home that set-piece, perfectly delivered by Manelisi Mazibuko in the 11th minute.

Mfundo Vilakazi earned Chiefs a penalty in the 36th minute after being clipped by Pule. However, Shabalala skied the spot-kick. Wandile Duba missed a chance from a tight angle a few seconds later after Chiefs missed a penalty.

Chiefs would get another penalty on the stroke of halftime when referee Masixole Bambiso adjudged Ndebele to have fouled Shabalala inside the box. Duba, who’d be substituted for Flavio Silva in the 75th minute, tucked the penalty away to make it 1-1.

Siwelele made three changes at halftime, withdrawing Ndebele, Matthew Marou and Relebogile Mokhuoane for Njabulo Ngcobo, Cristian Saile and Shadrack Kobedi respectively.

The second half was scrappy as both sides struggled to string passes together and failed to retain possession for longer spells.

Having been on the field for nine minutes after replacing Shabalala, Asanele Velebayi netted the winner for Amakhosi when he rolled the ball through February’s leg from a tight angle in the 84th minute. Velebayi was set up by Silva for what was his first goal since joining Chiefs in August last year.

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By Steven Scheer

Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot said on Sunday he will work to form a wide government as quickly as possible, but his path to power was uncertain after a deadlocked election that failed to dislodge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Isaac Herzog on Saturday gave Eisenkot the first opportunity to try to form a new government after the October 27 election left both Eisenkot and Netanyahu short of the majority needed to govern.

Herzog officially handed Eisenkot the task on Sunday at a meeting at the president’s residence, starting the clock on what Eisenkot said would be an “extraordinarily complex” process.

“We are in a state of emergency, approaching a point of no return for the State of Israel,” Eisenkot said. “We must form a national emergency government. This will require creative and unconventional political steps.”

Eisenkot said Israeli democracy was at a vulnerable moment at a time when it faced immense challenges, with Herzog citing a threat of attack from Iran, the need to progress towards peace in Gaza and negotiations with Lebanon and other neighbours.

“There is great urgency for new leadership, leadership that people can look in the eye and trust,” Eisenkot said.

His potential pathways to power include trying to form a minority government with Arab party support for key issues; forming a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties that he and his allies have shunned in the past or forging a unity government with Netanyahu. All three options face formidable obstacles.

Ongoing negotiations

Eisenkot said he will call on all parties to join who meet his main principles. These include recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; a duty of national service for all to strengthen the military and expand its ranks and recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organisation and a commitment to destroying its military and governing capacity.

“I am convinced that it is possible and right to form a new government quickly, one that will win a large majority in the Knesset,” Eisenkot said, referring to Israel’s parliament.

Eisenkot now has 28 days plus a possible 14-day extension. If he fails, Netanyahu will likely get his shot at forming a government. Should he also be unable, new elections could be called.

Herzog, who consulted with all parties, said Eisenkot received the “clear and unequivocal support” of a majority of legislators on who has the better chance of forming the next government that will win the confidence of the Knesset.

Netanyahu’s Likud won the most seats of any single party with 27 in the 120-seat Knesset, but Netanyahu’s wider religious-nationalist coalition garnered only 53 in total, short of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.

Eisenkot’s Yashar party emerged as the second-largest party with 21 seats, while his coalition, spanning four centre-left to right-wing Jewish-led parties, won just 48 seats. Two parties representing Israel’s Arab minority won an unprecedented 19 seats.

Netanyahu called for a unity government of all Zionist parties to preserve a Jewish state while giving no indication that he would be prepared to serve under Eisenkot’s leadership.

“This is the will of the people and the need of the hour,” he said in a statement, ruling out a coalition government with Arabs, who make up 21% of Israel’s population.

Potentially making Eisenkot’s job tougher is the position of one opposition leader, Avigdor Lieberman of the Israel Our Home party, who has ruled out a unity government with Netanyahu or a minority government that has backing from Arab parties.

But Lieberman has softened his stance on sitting with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties as long as they agree to support a law under which ultra-Orthodox men serve in the military.

“Given the current reality, in order to prevent further elections and bring an end to the Netanyahu era, there is no choice but to make difficult decisions and resolve issues where flexibility is possible and common ground can be found,” Lieberman said.

Reuters

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Two passenger trains collided about 76km south of Cairo on Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring 112, Egypt’s health ministry said.

The state railway authority said a train travelling from Giza to Fayoum hit the back of another heading from Cairo to Aswan, derailing several carriages.

Emergency crews were clearing the wreckage to restore services on the Cairo-Upper Egypt line, the railway authority said, without giving any indication of how long this would take.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered a swift investigation and said anyone found negligent should be held accountable, according to a separate statement.

Egypt’s public prosecutor’s office said investigations were under way to determine the technical reasons behind the crash.

Egypt has one of the oldest and largest railway networks in the region and accidents involving casualties are common, though the government has been investing billions of Egyptian pounds to modernise the network.

In the country’s worst-ever rail disaster, a fire tore through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger service in 2002, killing at least 360 people.

Reuters

As the vote counting and capturing process hit 99% earlier on Sunday, five metros were yet to have an outright winner in terms of seats won. Only the City of Cape Town has won a majority, with the DA retaining the city.

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It was the former ‌world number one’s first tournament since he left the breakaway circuit, and the Spaniard hit a five-under 67 in Sunday’s fourth round to finish 23-under, earning ​his 11th title on the DP World Tour.

Tyrrell Hatton took ​second place, finishing two strokes behind Rahm, while Rory ⁠McIlroy was third.

“It means a lot,” said Rahm, who had joined LIV Golf in 2023. “Still almost not letting myself ​believe it. It’s been quite a while since I’ve played good ​in a DP World Tour event.

“In my last showing, if you don’t count the withdrawals, I think ​I finished last. So, from last to first is a ​pretty good feeling.”

Rahm rose to the top of the leaderboard after the second round, ‌sharing ⁠the position with Hatton and Francesco Laporta despite hitting three bogeys on the day. He claimed a solo lead on Saturday with an eagle and five birdies, finishing a stroke ahead of Laporta.

The 31-year-old, who welcomed his fourth child with wife Kelley Cahill last month, shook off a bogey on the third hole to solidify his lead with six birdies in the final round.

“After ​everything ⁠that’s gone on and some poor play and some battles, mentally, with a lot of the noise, to come back out after a ⁠little bit ​of rest and having a new ​addition to the family, it’s quite special,” Rahm added.

“I only wish they were here ​to celebrate with me.”

Reuters

Mamelodi Sundowns were left disappointed after suffering a 3-1 defeat to USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup final here on Sunday.

Sundowns were looking to win the title to add to the MTN8 and the Fifa African Asian Pacific Cup, but it was not to be, as the Algerian side had other ideas.

Despite dominating the match, Masandawana could not repeat their heroics when they defeated Al-Ahly of Saudi Arabia at the same venue in September to win the African Asian Pacific Cup. The defeat comes just after their exit in the CAF Champions League preliminaries and as they were looking to make amends by winning this title and chasing other trophies.

Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and midfielder Teboho Mokoena made a return to the starting lineup after missing the previous matches due to their respective injuries.

It was a contest between the winner of last season’s Champions League and Confederation Cup, with both looking to win the title to add to the ones they clinched in 2016 and 2023 respectively.

The Brazilians were dealt a blow before the match got under way as midfielder Nuno Santos picked up an injury during the warm-up, with coach Miguel Cardoso opting to bring in striker Cassius Mailula.

However, Alger needed just four minutes to make their mark when Ahmed Khaldi skipped past a challenge on the right side of the box before pulling the ball back for Zakaria Draoui to fire home from close-range and give his side the lead.

Masandawana were forced to make another early change after Bryan Leon suffered what looked like a groin injury and was replaced by Iqraam Rayners in the 16th minute.

Despite being a goal down, Sundowns dominated, but the Algerian side were compact in defence.

It was not long before Masandawana were handed a lifeline on 23 minutes after being awarded a penalty for a handball after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review. Rayners stepped up and calmly dispatched the spot-kick to level matters for the home side.

As Sundowns continued to dominate, it was the visitors who restored their lead ten minutes before the interval when Saadi Radouani got ahead of his marker to head into the back of the net after the initial header crashed against the crossbar, and went into the interval with an advantage.

The restart was delayed by more than 30 minutes due to inclement weather. Sundowns continued where they left off in the first half as they searched for the equaliser, while the visitors were happy to sit back and absorb the pressure.

Alger made it 3-1 in the 55th minute against the run of play through Khaldi’s curling shot from outside the box after Sundowns’ defence was caught ball-watching.

Sowetan

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The ANC in Mpumalanga will for the first time since the dawn of democracy need a coalition to govern in 13 municipalities after winning only three outright in the province.

The party lost control of Victor Khanye local municipality to 10-month-old Service Delivery Party (SDP) led by former ANC Youth League provincial treasurer Thabo Motau and former MEC and ANC treasurer Mandla Msibi.

MK Party, meanwhile, has taken the lead in Mkhondo municipality.

The ANC also lost control of the province’s capital, Mbombela municipality. The only municipalities it won outright are Chief Albert Luthuli, Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge.

After the 2021 local government elections, the ANC attained 58% in the province and only needed coalitions in Steve Tshwete, Govan Mbeki and Lekwa local municipalities. In 2026, however, its support dropped to 43.6%, the lowest in history, and left it seeking coalition partners in 13 municipalities.

Residents of Delmas, where SDP attained 39.53% of the votes, said they only had SDP to vote for after going without water and struggling to find employment under the ANC.

A resident said Motau had initially called the party Delmas First, and they had loved it.

“So this year when he registered it as SDP contesting elections, we had no choice but to vote for his organisation, because he had employed people in his companies and sent some to school while he was not in government.

“We believe now he will fix employment and also give us reliable running water, which the municipality was failing to provide for years,” said Themba Mtsweni, a resident of Delmas.

In Mkhondo, MK Party elections manager Siphiwe Mathebula said they are not keen to work with the ANC, saying that would be a betrayal to the voters.

“We are in talks in almost all the municipalities where we can work together with parties, where if we give our seats to the ANC, they will be the majority to rule.

“But nothing comes for free; it’s a give-and-take situation now going forward as the ANC lost numbers in all the 13 municipalities.

“But in Mkhondo, there’s no way we can work with the ANC. The voters rejected them and voted them out, so aligning with the ANC would be a betrayal of the people of Mkhondo,” said Mathebula.

SDP spokesperson Fukie Mofokeng told Sowetan that though they have not started coalition talks, they are open to anyone to work with at Victor Khanye municipality as long as their agreement will be to deliver services to the people.

“Our aim is not to lead but to serve the people as the organisation. The ANC was rejected by the people of Victor Khanye municipality, but we cannot shut the door for it too,” said Mofokeng.

Mkhondo residents said all they need is water, electricity and permanent jobs regardless of the political party leading the municipality.

“What happened to the ANC was a long time coming because they were disrespectful towards us; now we want to see how the MKP is going to lead, and if they fail, we will remove them too,” said Thabo Mngomezulu.

Rasodi Manyaka from the University of Mpumalanga said the decline of ANC support was due to poor sevice delivery, corruption and the party not telling voters who their mayors would be should they win.

“The inability of the ANC to name exactly who was going to be their mayoral candidates demonstrated to the voters that the organisation was doubtful of the leaders they were putting forward.

“Mpumalanga and other provinces such as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape have traditionally been considered strongholds of the ANC.

“However, the emergence of parties like MK, ActionSA and SDP, including the EFF, has shaken that narrative. The rapid decline of the ANC is reverberating in all provinces, including those once considered to be strongholds of the ANC.”

According to ANC provincial secretary Muzi Chirwa, they will be guided by the national executive committee on how the coalition talks much go.

“We will engage with all the parties and determine the best way forward in favour of community development,” said Chirwa.

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By Dawoud Abu Alkas and Nidal al-Mughrabi

Heavy rains have flooded tens of thousands of tents housing displaced Palestinians crammed into encampments across the Gaza Strip, washing away shelters and soaking blankets and mattresses, local authorities said on Saturday.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said at least 70,000 tents had been flooded in the past 12 hours, affecting tens of thousands of displaced people and causing injuries, although no fatalities had been reported.

The territory’s civil defence service said it had received 1,500 distress calls from displaced residents. Three abandoned houses collapsed without causing injuries, it added.

At a tent encampment in Gaza City, some people tried to repair their tents, while others used sand to reinforce them and prevent water from entering. Some were busy getting their children out of flooded tents.

Olfat Magdoub, a Gaza resident, tried in vain to sweep water away from her tent.

“This is the first day of rain, and of course we are already flooded. What will happen if it rains again the next day? This is only the first day, and we’re already overwhelmed,” said the woman.

“Two weeks ago when it rained, I swear to God, I spent four days sleeping on blankets spread on the floor because the rainwater had flooded the bedding. Same now, the mattresses are wet, so we sleep on the ground.”

This is the first day of rain, and of course we are already flooded. What will happen if it rains again the next day? This is only the first day, and we’re already overwhelmed

Olfat Magdoub, a Gaza resident

Municipal and civil defence officials said they were unable to cope with the storm because of fuel shortages and damage to equipment.

They said Israel had destroyed hundreds of vehicles, including bulldozers and others used to pump water, during its war against Hamas, which had displaced most of the territory’s more than 2-million residents and left much of Gaza in ruins. Most of the population now lives in tent camps.

Hamas blamed Israel for not allowing shelters and construction materials into Gaza.

Cogat, the Israeli military agency that co-ordinates aid, did not immediately comment on the accusations by Hamas. It said in a statement on Friday that it had stepped up efforts to improve sanitary conditions across Gaza before the heavy rain, which had been expected, in co-ordination with international organisations.

Slow progress

The agency said four additional vacuum trucks entered Gaza this week through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), joining eight others brought in over the past month to support sewage pumping, weekly waste removal and repairs to water and sewage infrastructure.

A US-brokered ceasefire last year called for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza, but little progress has been made. Negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm or for Israel to withdraw its troops, which control about two-thirds of the territory and from which residents have been ordered to leave.

“We have no resources, no tarpaulins, no tents and no one is checking on us,” said displaced Gaza resident Rafiq Ghattas, standing barefoot in the middle of a large pool of rainwater.

Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the territory following the killing of about 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas-led fighters on October 7 2023.

Reuters

The executions are the latest in a series Iran has carried out in recent months over the January protests, including of people accused of links to Israel and the US. Thousands of protesters were killed by Iranian forces during a crackdown on the protests.

Hassan Dioband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh were accused of using firearms, grenades and Molotov cocktails, setting fire to public facilities and damaging an electricity substation in the city of Karaj, causing power outages in some areas, according to the judiciary.

The judiciary said Dioband was arrested on January 11 after investigations identified him as a suspect in attacks on public property and incitement to violence.

Ten others accused of participating in the unrest under his supervision were subsequently arrested.

The three were sentenced to death and ordered to have their assets confiscated. Their executions were carried out after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences, while the other defendants received prison terms of 5 to 10 years.

Reuters

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Sudan’s army has detained a former senior official from ousted strongman Omar al-Bashir’s era who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials from his party said.

Ahmed Haroun, who chairs Sudan’s former ruling National Congress Party (NCP), has been hiding for years and is wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes and genocide in the Darfur region in the early 2000s.

He has dismissed the charges as political.

In a televised podcast interview on Saturday, Haroun had said the NCP and army may not be politically aligned but were united in Sudan’s civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Two NCP officials confirmed Haroun’s arrest, but it was unclear why the army moved against an ally.

There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese army or reaction from the ICC.

Operatives from the jihadist movement say they helped the army’s advances against the RSF during more than three years of war that has caused waves of ethnic killings, famine and mass displacement.

The conflict has drawn in foreign powers and created what the UN calls the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

Reuters

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At least 21 people have died after a boat carrying migrants sank off the Senegalese coast, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

Authorities had rescued one survivor and found 21 bodies as of Saturday evening, the ministry said in a statement on X.

The accident occurred off Kebemer, a town about 180km north of Dakar. Search and rescue operations continued as authorities looked for possible additional survivors.

The boat was carrying people seeking to migrate irregularly, the statement said. It did not say how many were on board.

Thousands of people have died in recent years attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa, including 635 in the first five months of this year, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders.

Reuters

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Poland began two days of national mourning on Sunday and police bolstered security after six people were killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting in Krakow that authorities said was likely inspired by far-right ideology.

Saturday’s attack in the city’s historic main square shocked a country that has prided itself on being safer than many of its Western European neighbours, deepening public concern after a string of school stabbings in October that officials linked to extremist content online.

Seventeen people, including two police officers and the gunman, were wounded in the attack, authorities said.

The 24-year-old suspect’s parents and sister were later found dead at their home, and he remained in hospital in a critical condition, police and a local official said.

“Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski are true heroes,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday in a post on X. “They likely saved many human lives, disregarding the risk to their own.”

Streets closed as mourners leave candles

In Krakow, the old town’s main market square and the surrounding streets remained closed, with police allowing only essential workers to pass. Many nearby cafes were closed and flags at the city hall were at half-mast. Mourners placed candles in several locations in the area.

The traditional trumpet call from St Mary’s church on the square was suspended for 12 hours to commemorate the dead, the first time this has happened since 1939, state news agency PAP reported.

In the capital, Warsaw, police said on Saturday they were strengthening security measures in busy areas popular with tourists. Barriers were installed on streets leading onto the Krakowskie Przedmiescie street in the historic heart of the capital.

In the suspect’s home town, Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, about 200km north of Krakow, police said they had found the bodies of his parents and sister and that investigations were ongoing.

“Yesterday, before 10pm, we discovered the bodies of three individuals — a 53-year-old man and two women, aged 52 and 21 — in an apartment located in a residential building in the centre of Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski,” police wrote on X.

Attacks shatter sense of security

Maria, a 20-year-old Warsaw cafe employee, said she “almost burst into tears” when she heard about the attack in Krakow.

“Recent events — not just this one, but things happening lately — are really affecting our sense of security,” she said.

Leading daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita said in an editorial that the mass shooting brought a “brutal end to an era in which Poland was considered an island of safety”.

Besides expressing shock at the killings, officials and members of the public praised the actions of police officers who apprehended the gunman after a close-range shoot-out.

Two officers were wounded, and police issued an urgent appeal for blood for one of them who was “fighting for his life in hospital”.

Reuters

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A Nelson Mandela Bay UDM leader was shot dead outside a barber shop in Motherwell, Gqeberha, after stepping outside to answer a phone call, Eastern Cape police said.

Luxolo Namette, 44, was allegedly shot twice in the head by an unknown gunman at about 3.44pm on Saturday in Umnulu Street, NU 9, Motherwell.

SAPS Eastern Cape spokesperson Brig Nobuntu Gantana said police were conducting patrols in the area when they received a report of murder.

Upon arrival, officers spoke to the deceased’s sister.

“It is alleged that the deceased, Luxolo Namette, 44 years old, was at a local barber shop when he received a phone call. He stepped outside to answer the call, and an unknown suspect shot him twice in the head. He fell to his knees and succumbed to his injuries at the scene. He sustained two gunshot wounds to the head,” said Gantana.

The scene was also attended by senior police leadership led by Eastern Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Vuyisile Ncata alongside forensic and pathology officials.

Police recovered cartridges, ear pods and two cellphones at the scene.

Gantana said the suspect was still unknown, the motive for the killing had not yet been established and no arrests had yet been made.

Ncata condemned the killing. “This senseless killing has no place in our communities, and we will not rest until those responsible are brought to book. I urge every resident who saw or heard anything to come forward because community information is critical to ensuring justice for Luxolo Namette and his family.”

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Likhang Thethe, 24, who holds a mathematics degree and a Bachelor of Science Honours in Applied Mathematics from the National University of Lesotho, is investigating how cancer cells respond to oncolytic viruses — viruses used to target and kill cancer cells.

The mathematics demonstrator in the university’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science said his interest stemmed from wanting to understand why some cancer cells survive treatment.

Thethe’s research examines viral treatment, cancer-cell resistance and the Allee effect, a biological concept describing how a population may struggle to survive or grow when its numbers become too low.

Using equations and computer simulations, he examines how cancer cells and viruses interact and how different treatment conditions could affect tumour growth and resistance.

His simulations suggest that stronger viral infection could reduce the number of cancer cells susceptible to treatment but may also allow resistant cells to grow.

However, a sufficiently strong Allee effect could cause resistant cancer cells to die out if their population falls below a critical threshold.

Thethe stressed that these findings are mathematical predictions rather than proven clinical results.

His work remains at the modelling and computer simulation stage, and further laboratory research and biological data would be needed to establish whether the predictions reflect what happens in actual cancer treatment.

“One major challenge is representing the complexity of cancer using mathematical equations, especially when biological data are limited,” he said.

He said collaboration with cancer researchers, access to reliable data, and research funding would help advance the work.

Thethe hopes his research could eventually contribute to a better understanding of oncolytic virus therapy and help researchers explore treatment strategies, although the model is not yet suitable for guiding patient care.

He believes the work also demonstrates how researchers in Lesotho and across Africa can contribute to global health challenges through mathematics and computational science.

His next steps include refining the model, testing how changes in its parameters affect the results, and comparing its predictions with experimental data.

“My long-term goal is to work with biological and medical researchers to explore whether the findings can support future cancer-treatment research,” he said.

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A 36-year-old Free State man accused of terrorising women in QwaQwa for 16 years has finally been linked to 16 rape cases through DNA evidence, bringing a breakthrough in investigations dating back to 2008.

James Juta Molakeng, from Mangaung, was arrested after forensic evidence connected him to a rape case before further DNA analysis allegedly linked him to 15 other attacks committed over the years.

The cases, which span from 2008 to 2024, involved women who were allegedly attacked at different locations, including open spaces near graveyards and inside their homes.

According to police spokesperson W/O Mmako Mophiring, Molakeng allegedly targeted women who were walking alone, with some victims attacked while making their way home from local taverns.

“In two of the 15 earlier cases, the suspect allegedly committed house robberies before raping the victims inside their homes.”

One of the cases that led to his arrest was reported in Makwane village, where a woman was allegedly raped while returning home from a tavern.

Mophiring said the breakthrough came after investigators from the Phuthaditjhaba Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit pursued DNA evidence obtained during the investigation of the latest case.

He said forensic results positively identified Molakeng as the alleged perpetrator, prompting further analysis that connected him to 15 additional rape cases.

He said the earlier attacks were reported in different locations, including Thaba-Bosiu and Namahadi villages, where women were allegedly raped in open spaces near graveyards.

Police said the similarities in the cases helped investigators establish a pattern, with the suspect allegedly preying on women who were alone.

Molakeng was arrested on August 27 and has remained behind bars since then.

He appeared in the Phuthaditjhaba magistrate’s court on Friday where his case was postponed to January 9 2027 for a high court date.

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The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has approached the Western Cape High Court in an attempt to stop the City of Cape Town from transferring 49 municipal properties to private buyers.

The commission is asking the court to interdict the city, its mayor and city manager from taking any further steps to implement the disposal of the properties.

This includes concluding or enforcing sale agreements, approving transfers or registering transfers in the deeds registry.

The commission argued that the properties are public land resources that could be used to advance access to adequate housing, social inclusion and spatial justice.

“Municipally owned land is not merely a financial asset to be lightly disposed of,” the affidavit states.

“It is a crucial public resource through which a municipality may give effect to its constitutional and statutory obligations.”

The SAHRC contends that the city failed to properly consider its constitutional and statutory obligations relating to housing.

“The city treated the properties primarily as disposable commercial assets without proper regard to their potential role in meeting pressing housing need,” the affidavit states.

The commission says it became aware in January 2026 that the city planned to auction 49 municipal properties.

It subsequently wrote to the city requesting information on the land parcels, the legal basis for the auction, housing impact assessments and public participation processes.

According to the affidavit, the city’s response did not adequately address the commission’s concerns about housing rights, spatial justice and the absence of enforceable housing conditions.

“The city’s response did not adequately address the commission’s concerns regarding housing rights, spatial justice, the adequacy of public participation, or the absence of enforceable housing conditions attached to the proposed sales,” the affidavit states.

The commission says it met the executive mayor on February 20 2026, during which the city indicated that the land could ultimately be used for housing development.

However, the commission says the mayor confirmed that no formal conditions of sale would be attached to the auction requiring buyers to develop affordable or social housing.

“The city does not have the money to deliver affordable housing, but the private sector has the financial means to do so,” the affidavit records the mayor as saying.

“Without such conditions, there is no contractual or property-specific means of requiring purchasers to develop or retain affordable housing.

“The rationality concern therefore lies in the disconnect between the city’s stated objective and the legal means adopted to achieve it.”

The commission is seeking an interim interdict to preserve the status quo while it pursues a review of the city’s decisions.

In Part B of its application, the SAHRC wants the court to declare the city’s decisions unconstitutional, unlawful, irrational or invalid, and to set them aside.

It also wants the matter referred back to the city for reconsideration in line with the constitution, the Municipal Finance Management Act, the Housing Act, the Social Housing Act and spatial planning legislation.

The application is set down for hearing on December 15 2026, unless the respondents indicate that they intend to oppose it.

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A doctor who has allegedly been treating patients despite being suspended 14 years ago is among six people arrested in a nationwide crackdown on illegal medical practitioners.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says the arrests, made between October 27 and November 5, exposed a disturbing pattern of unregistered individuals providing healthcare services to unsuspecting members of the public.

The enforcement operations were conducted across the Western Cape, Limpopo, Gauteng and the Free State, with five people arrested for allegedly practising without registration and one suspended doctor arrested for continuing to see patients.

Dr Daniel Andrew Echun has allegedly continued practising despite being suspended by the HPCSA in 2012. According to the council, previous attempts to stop him practising included a police report filed in August 2022 and a formal warning issued in 2023.

However, he allegedly continued seeing patients, prompting another intervention by the Inspectorate Division.

Echun was arrested in Randburg on November 5 and detained at Randburg police station for allegedly contravening the Health Professions Act.

The HPCSA said his case would be referred to the relevant professional board for further investigation. Details of his first court appearance were still being established.

The crackdown began in Cape Town on October 27 when inspectors visited Trust Women Clinic after a complaint about unlawful abortion services.

A Ugandan national running the facility allegedly admitted that she was not registered with the HPCSA.

She was arrested by police and detained at Cape Town police station for allegedly practising a regulated health profession without registration.

The next day, inspectors descended on Dunoon Primary Healthcare Centre, where they allegedly discovered an unregistered Congolese national working as a locum medical practitioner.

The man claimed he had been working for registered doctor Dr Mwana Lukuitshi since January 2025.

He was arrested and detained at Milnerton police station.

The HPCSA said Lukuitshi’s conduct would be referred to the Professional Board for Medical and Dental for investigation into the employment of an unregistered person at his practice.

On October 29, inspectors moved to Polokwane, where a woman was allegedly found practising as a dentist despite not being registered with the council. She was arrested and detained at Polokwane police station.

The operations continued in Randburg on November 5, where a Congolese woman was allegedly found working as a locum doctor at Medicomfort 24-Hour Clinic on Bram Fischer Drive.

She told inspectors that she had been practising at the facility since September 1, but verification established that she was not registered.

She was arrested and detained at Randburg police station.

The HPCSA said the conduct of the facility’s registered practitioner, Dr Ntombikayise Ngonyama, would also be referred to the relevant professional board for investigation.

The final arrest took place in Sasolburg, in the Free State, where inspectors found a Congolese national working as a locum doctor at the practice of registered practitioner Dr Olivier Bonga Nsasi at Fichardt Square.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had allegedly been employed since September 2025 despite not being registered.

He was arrested and detained at Sasolburg police station pending his court appearance.

The HPCSA said the operations were part of efforts to protect the public and enforce the Health Professions Act of 1974.

It warned that no individual may practise a regulated health profession without the necessary registration or while suspended.

Members of the public were urged to verify the registration status of healthcare practitioners before receiving treatment and report suspected illegal practices to the council or the police.

Pirates beat Sekhukhune United 1-0 in the Carling Knockout quarterfinals at Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday. Ouaddou felt they should have won 5-0. Mpho Padime netted the game’s only goal to ensure that the defending champions advance to the semifinals.

“We could have scored three or four goals in the second half if we are honest, but we didn’t manage. Overall, well done to the boys... I think the most important thing is to go through to the next stage. Well done for scoring the goal and keeping another clean sheet,” Ouaddou said.

“But again, hey, I have a lot of work to do, huh? You know why strikers are the most expensive players in the world, it’s because of efficiency.”

The Bucs coach quipped that the reason he was “cheap” during his heyday as a defender was because he wasn’t scoring goals, encouraging his offensive players to be merciless in the final leg as the CAF Champions League group stages looms large.

“I was very cheap as a defender because I wasn’t scoring goals,” Ouaddou jokingly said.

“I am looking for the Champions League, so I am saying we should be more efficient because we create these big chances. I don’t want to be hard on the boys, but it [finishing] is definitely an area we need to continue working on, hoping we are going to score more goals. Today was a 5-0 game.”

The move marks a shift for Cairo, which has been one of the most prominent backers of eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar, a rival of the Tripoli-based government.

Egypt closed its Tripoli embassy in 2014, when many foreign missions there closed amid an escalating conflict that saw rival governments set themselves up in the capital and in the east of the huge North African country.

Egypt’s foreign affairs minister Badr Abdelatty was quoted as saying at the reopening ceremony that the historical significance of the embassy building “aligns with the deep-rooted human and cultural ties that characterise Egyptian-Libyan relations”.

Oil producer Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a Nato-backed uprising in 2011.

In Benghazi in eastern Libya there is the Libyan National Army under military commander Khalifa Haftar and the House of Representatives, and a government led by Osama Hammad. In the west there is the internationally recognised government of national unity headed by PM Abdulhamid Dbeibah and the High Council of State in Tripoli.

Reuters

Catch up with the latest on the elections

• Ramaphosa considers quitting as ANC reels: The ANC’s devastating showing in Wednesday’s local government elections has led President Cyril Ramaphosa and other senior leaders to discuss the possibility of falling on their swords and resigning from top party posts.
• ActionSA moves to block Zille in Joburg: ActionSA, buoyed by its strong showing in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, will push the DA to drop Helen Zille as its mayoral candidate for Joburg and give the post to its leader, Herman Mashaba, instead.
• MAKHUDU SEFARA | The ANC saw the iceberg, but it couldn’t even rearrange the deck chairs in time: Internal polling warned party leaders of the looming disaster, but it seems they were powerless to stave it off
• MKP files dispute, claims it’s being shut out of governing eThekwini: The MK Party is challenging the vote count in Durban, as preliminary results show it falling short of an outright majority, giving its rivals the opportunity to shut it out of government for the second time in two years.

November 7 2026, 17:03

IEC orders recounts in five wards as it deals with 197 election objections

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has ordered recounts in five wards as it continues to process objections lodged by political parties and candidates after the 2026 local government elections.

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya said the commission had received 197 objections by 3pm on Saturday.

Of these, 54 had been dismissed, while others had been withdrawn.

After 99% of the votes counted, the ANC has the most votes nationally at 30.8%, with the DA lying second on 24%.

“Two [objections] have been upheld. In other words, these two have been found to have an impact or to be material to the outcome of the result,” Moepya said.

IEC orders recounts in five wards as it deals with 197 election objections

November 7 2026, 17:02

Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape is the 4th hung council in the country. The results for three other metros are still outstanding. The ANC is the leading party with 41.93%, followed by UDM at 18.39% and the DA got 16.85% of the votes. Report: Sibongile Mashaba
Download our App,… pic.twitter.com/ZD66iWRzwQ

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 16:42

WATCH | ‘We will not beg for mayorship’: Mbalula says ANC performance in polls ‘catastrophic’

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has described the party’s performance in the 2026 local government elections as a “catastrophic outcome”, despite the ANC still leading nationally with just over 30% support.

Mbalula said the ANC was aware that the election results would be difficult, with internal polling having suggested the party could receive at least 34% support.

“We knew this outcome was coming,” he said.

WATCH | Mbalula said at his point collation talks are not their priority and they don’t even mind staying back an opposition. This is as he adds that the results of the votes in the election have been catastrophic. pic.twitter.com/oxRmABRcnr

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

He added that the party would not rush into coalition negotiations as it assessed the results across municipalities.

WATCH | ‘We will not beg for mayorship’: Mbalula says ANC performance in polls ‘catastrophic’

November 7 2026, 16:26

Cape Town has become the first metro in the country with a majority. The DA received 56.42%, followed by the ANC with 13.95%. Report: Sibongile Mashaba
Download our App, stay tuned to our WhatsApp channel for the latest news. pic.twitter.com/M1FUwJ0tRB

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 16:10

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena looks at the results as they sit at 99%

Arena Holdings’ journalists are coming to you live from the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s results centre at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Johannesburg, to unpack the election results as they come in and discuss what they mean for municipalities.

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena looks at the results as they sit at 99%

November 7 2026, 15:56

😲😤 99% of the voting results are in. The ANC is still the leading party with 30.91% support nationally, followed by the DA at 24.59%. MKP has 9.6% of the votes. The leaderboard shows that the EFF has no control of any councils in the country. However, the party has secured 495… pic.twitter.com/IXbtxZHc5X

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026

WATCH | ANC SG Fikile Mbalula says coalition negotiations are not a priority for the party at the moment, adding that the organisation doesn’t mind being in opposition. Mbalula also admitted that the 2026 LGE results have been catastrophic for the ANC.

WATCH | ANC SG Fikile Mbalula says coalition negotiations are not a priority for the party at the moment, adding that the organisation doesn’t mind being in opposition. Mbalula also admitted that the 2026 LGE results have been catastrophic for the ANC. pic.twitter.com/uOfgYi3RTS

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 15:30

Mbalula says the 2026 LGE results reveal a larger political message

WATCH | ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula says the ANC is still in the lead with more than 30% of support, but that they are aware of what these elections reveal. pic.twitter.com/4yVSazHEt4

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 14:14

WATCH LIVE | IEC updates the media on progress of vote counting

November 7 2026, 12:55

Malema says EFF’s 2026 LGE performance a setback, not a defeat

The EFF leader Julius Malema has described his party’s performance in the 2026 local government elections as a “setback” but not a “defeat”.

This, he said, is something the party will have to take stock of and use the lessons to prepare for the upcoming national and provincial elections in 2029.

The EFF support dropped from 10.3% in the 2021 local polls to 6.2% in 2026.

“We knew from the onset that these elections would not be a walk in the park,” said Malema.

“We knew we were going into a battle, and with that comes scars, but scars do not represent defeat; they represent the survival and bravery of revolutionaries who had the courage to fight and were ready to die with their boots on.”

Malema said that the EFF has lost 612 326 votes nationally and lost its 3rd place position, which is now occupied by the Jacob Zuma-led MK Party.

He, however, remained adamant that the EFF remains a “people’s movement despite this setback”.

“We will take stock as an organisation of our performances ward by ward, municipality by municipality and province by province. We will reflect on where we improved, where we maintained our votes and where we experienced setbacks and take the necessary steps for correction,” said Malema.

“A setback is not a defeat; it is an opportunity which gives us a moment to reflect on how to better present ourselves and our message of service delivery to the people.”

Malema said that the results of these local polls will result in a delay in the path of ensuring there’s reliable service delivery and dignity for poor people.

“We are more resolute than ever, and we’ll use these elections and their outcome to prepare for the upcoming national and provincial elections to be held in 2029. The EFF will not hide from the national picture, and we will not make excuses,” said Malema.

‘We’re down but not out,’ says Malema

November 7 2026, 12:47

Tshwane has no outright winner. Results for other metros still outstanding. Download our App, stay tuned to our WhatsApp channel and join the conversation. pic.twitter.com/OvGd3lr9Hq

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 12:45

WATCH | UDM national chairperson Yongama Zigebe says the party focused 80% of its resources on the Eastern Cape in these elections, prioritising communities he says were neglected by the ANC. He says the goal was to build people-centred pic.twitter.com/H6vVExjtZz

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 12:34

BREAKING | The City of Tshwane is also hung. It has become the third metro in the country to be hung. More to follow. Report: Sibongile Mashaba Download our App, stay tuned to our WhatsApp channel for the latest news.

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026 12:10

WATCH | ATM leader and Johannesburg mayoral candidate Vuyo Zungula highlights the party’s growth, pointing to ward wins in Nyandeni in the Eastern Cape and parts of KwaZulu-Natal. He thanks members and voters for their support, saying the party is pleased with its progress. pic.twitter.com/42CESxhAtI

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 12:00

WATCH | ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba spoke to the media about his party's plans after the elections. pic.twitter.com/nKaMPObKqW

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 11:28

VOTE COUNTING ENTERS FINAL STAGES | 98% of the voting results have come in at the NROC in Midrand, Joburg. Arena Holdings’ Sinazo Kos gives an update.
Video: Paul Mashia pic.twitter.com/ukJu7DuhK6

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 10:40

WATCH | Arena Holdings caught up with ActionSA mayoral candidate for Tshwane, Nasiphi Moya, and asked her about the lighter side of being a political figure. pic.twitter.com/dN9wk4HMEs

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 7, 2026

November 7 2026, 09:50

MK Party wants eThekwini election results frozen over alleged IEC system failures

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has demanded that the IEC immediately freeze the capturing of election results in disputed voting districts and wards in eThekwini, alleging systemic failures, discrepancies in results and irregularities in the counting and verification process.

In a formal objection submitted to the commission on Friday, November 6, the party accused the IEC of presiding over serious failures at its eThekwini Results Operations Centre (ROC), claiming that a system breakdown during the live results-capturing and data-transmission process had disrupted data streams and altered visible audit trails.

MK Party wants eThekwini election results frozen over alleged IEC system failures

November 7 2026, 08:20

VOTE COUNTING ENTERS FINAL STAGES - 7.47AM | 97% of the votes have been counted. The leaderboard shows that 122 councils are hung. This includes two metros - Mangaung and Nelson Mandela Bay. The IEC will officially announce the results on Sunday. Report: @smashaba
For live… pic.twitter.com/5aKdeccyBO

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 7, 2026

November 6 2026, 19:43

Zille favours ActionSA or ANC coalition in Joburg

Democratic Alliance Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille says her preferred coalition options in the city are ActionSA or the ANC, arguing that a two-party government would be easier to manage than a broad coalition involving several smaller parties.

In an interview with TimesLIVE, Zille said preliminary election results suggested the DA could form a two-party coalition with either ActionSA or the ANC, although she cautioned that the final outcome would depend on the results and negotiations.

“I have been looking at the numbers. Before the final results are in, we could do a coalition with two parties in a two-party coalition with ActionSA or ANC,” she said.

Zille favours ActionSA or ANC coalition in Joburg

November 6 2026, 18:35

I despise the DA, but will work with them, says PA’s McKenzie after defeat

The Patriotic Alliance has signalled that it is willing to work with the Democratic Alliance in coalition governments despite party leader Gayton McKenzie’s repeated criticism of the blue party.

The submission came on Friday after the party lost its founding Eldorado Park Ward 18, in Johannesburg, to the DA.

WATCH | Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie says that despite his dislike of the DA, he is willing to work with the party in a coalition government to deliver on the promises made to voters. pic.twitter.com/zZpuhw2lF1

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 6, 2026

Just after 5pm on Friday, the PA showed 2% of voter support nationwide and 1% of support in Gauteng.

McKenzie said the PA’s approach to coalitions would be guided by the needs of communities rather than personal animosity. “We don’t like the DA, let me be frank. I actually despise them, but we will work with them because it’s not about me.

I despise the DA, but will work with them, says PA’s McKenzie after defeat

November 6 2026, 18:02

Five things to know: What voters had to say about their voting experience

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) asked voters, in a survey, for their opinion on how well the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) managed the election.

The results of the Election Satisfaction Survey found high confidence in the voting process, but a gradual decline in trust in the IEC.

South Africans who voted in the 2026 local government elections largely rated the electoral process as free, fair and professionally run.

The survey interviewed 13,198 voters at 300 voting stations across all nine provinces.

Five things to know: What voters had to say about their voting experience

November 6 2026, 17:20

IEC worker describes ‘inhumane’ conditions endured to count your vote

As the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) reports that the 2026 local government election results are being captured and processed significantly faster than in 2021, the election staff working behind closed doors are revealing the human cost of ensuring that every vote is counted.

Luzuko Simani, who served as a deputy presiding officer (DPO) at the Jan van Riebeeck Primary School voting centre in Cape Town, unpacked the gruelling, long hours required during the counting process, conditions he described as “inhumane”.

IEC worker describes ‘inhumane’ conditions endured to count your vote

November 6 2026, 17:00

WATCH | The Political Arena team talks to political leaders about LGE results

November 6 2026, 16:13

WATCH | With around 75% of the votes counted, all eyes are on the major metros as the election picture begins to take shape. Senior industrial engineer at the CSIR, Carike Karsen, unpacks some of the key predictions for these metros and what the emerging results could mean for… pic.twitter.com/GPKRB4y6bW

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 6, 2026

November 6 2026, 16:05

UDM shakes up Eastern Cape politics in historic vote as ANC loses majority

For the first time since 1995, the ANC has lost majority power in the second-largest metro in the Eastern Cape, Buffalo City municipality, after the UDM made inroads in a historic local municipality election result.

The local government results from the metro show a threat to the ANC’s long-standing dominance in the province ahead of the 2029 national and provincial elections.

The ANC, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, held its last election campaign rally in the metro at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane, two days before this week’s elections. As the party would have it — the rally was the last it had as the majority party in KuGompo City (formerly East London).

UDM shakes up Eastern Cape politics in historic vote as ANC loses majority

November 6 2026, 15:55

‘Fearmongering is not democracy,’ says FF Plus national chairperson Wouter Wessels

Freedom Front Plus national chairperson Wouter Wessels has criticised the level of fear mongering displayed in this current election campaign, saying it is a practice far removed from democracy.

Instead, he believes voters should be allowed to associate with and campaign for whomever, without being threatened to do so.

“It also comes back to the politics of fear, with some parties saying it is a two-party race and that the vote shouldn’t be divided, so people are confused. Then other parties say if you don’t vote for us, if you vote for someone different then you are going to lose your grant, you will lose your RDP house and all those things are fear mongering and it is not good for democracy.”

Stop the fearmongering, it’s not democracy: FF Plus chair

November 6 2026, 15:45

WATCH | ActionSA’s Tshwane Mayoral Candidate Nasiphi Moya says she is grateful to the residents of Tshwane for supporting her during her tenure as mayor pic.twitter.com/ih0lLerB6p

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 6, 2026

November 6 2026, 14:56

WATCH | ActionSA wants to end ‘revolving door’ of Tshwane mayors

ActionSA says it will push for Dr Nasiphi Moya to remain executive mayor of Tshwane for another five years as the party prepares for coalition negotiations after the local government elections.

The party’s secretary-general, Michael Beaumont, said ActionSA would negotiate with parties willing to commit to a shared programme of government focused on service delivery, stability and accountability.

ActionSA’s national chair Michael Beaumont lists the wards they’ve won in the City of Tshwane and explains what it means for the party.
Video: Koena Mashale pic.twitter.com/JAYCvWlmVS

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 6, 2026

Beaumont said the party wanted to end the revolving door of mayors in the capital and would not support candidates with a track record of corruption or failure.

WATCH | ActionSA wants to end ‘revolving door’ of Tshwane mayors

November 6 2026, 14:30

Ex-MP Ndlozi explains why he didn’t vote in local government elections

Former EFF member of parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has revealed that he did not vote in the recent 2026 local government elections, citing his dissatisfaction with the state of black political parties in South Africa.

South Africans headed to the polls this week to cast their ballots in the municipal elections. Out of 29.2-million registered voters across 23,696 voting stations nationwide, about 14.5-million citizens cast their votes.

Ex-MP Ndlozi explains why he didn’t vote in local government elections

November 6 2026, 14:28

ActionSA’s national chair Michael Beaumont lists the wards they’ve won in the City of Tshwane and explains what it means for the party.
Video: Koena Mashale pic.twitter.com/JAYCvWlmVS

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 6, 2026

WATCH | SACP and Afrika Mayibuye make inroads in municipal elections

The SACP and Afrika Mayibuye Movement (AMM) are emerging as new contenders in the local government elections, recording pockets of support in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

The two parties have attracted attention with their electoral performance, particularly the SACP, which broke away from its longstanding electoral alliance with the ANC to contest the elections independently.

WATCH | SACP national spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana reflects on the party’s performance and what led to them entering the electoral space to represent the working class. The party so far has 78 seats, 9wards and 69PR totaling to 2,53%.

Video: @MimieShana pic.twitter.com/vYHxw6D1is

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 6, 2026

Speaking to Sowetan on the sidelines of vote counting at the National Results Operation Centre in Midrand on Friday, SACP national spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana said the party was pleased with its performance.

WATCH | SACP and Afrika Mayibuye make inroads in municipal elections

November 6 2026, 13:14

DA Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille tells the Political Arena team that the ANC's failure to deliver services helped her party in the municipal elections. Watch the interview live: https://t.co/wBWk8cfSe3
Click here to join our WhatsApp channel: https://t.co/qyEp3yeHxK pic.twitter.com/paXPkB9Fkh

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 6, 2026

November 6 2026, 12:45

WATCH | DA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille has weighed in on concerns about property affordability in Johannesburg, saying falling property prices would be a sign of a failing city. pic.twitter.com/ML8Qe4A6Sv

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 6, 2026

November 6 2026, 12:33

WATCH | Jacob Zuma says MK Party open to coalition talks

Former president Jacob Zuma says the MK Party is open to coalition talks.

Speaking at the Durban high court on Friday — where he came to support his daughter, former MK Party MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla — Zuma gave his trademark laugh as he answered questions about the party’s performance in Wednesday’s elections.

WATCH | Former president Jacob Zuma says the MK Party is open to coalitions and was happy to be proven right about the party’s performance in KwaZulu-Natal. pic.twitter.com/sNdgSdG2Gd

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 6, 2026

WATCH | Jacob Zuma says MK Party open to coalition talks

November 6 2026, 11:53

WATCH | On the sidelines at the National Results Operations Centre, where LGE vote-counting is taking place, Arena Holdings multimedia journalist Sinazo Kos caught up with DA leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, on what impact the elections have had on his sleeping patterns and eating… pic.twitter.com/VPvmTmS85K

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 6, 2026

November 6 2026, 12:00

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena speaks to Helen Zille and what the early results mean

November 6 2026, 11:11

WATCH | Arena Holdings multimedia journalist Sinazo Kos reporting at the Results Operations Centre, in Midrand, on day 2 of vote counting, giving a brief overview of how the numbers stand so far pic.twitter.com/4lDsbrvHHY

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 6, 2026

November 6 2026, 09:44

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena team unpacks trends on the election results

November 6 2026, 09:40

DA gains in five metros — Hill-Lewis says talks must put residents first

DA federal leader Geordin Hill-Lewis has called on political parties to put aside their election differences and prioritise stable local government, as coalition negotiations loom across the country following Wednesday’s municipal elections.

Addressing the media at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC’s) national results centre in Midrand on Friday, Hill-Lewis said political leaders had a responsibility to rise above the divisions of the election campaign and form governments capable of turning around struggling municipalities.

He said the emerging results suggested that about 150-160 councils, representing roughly two-thirds of the country’s local municipalities, would require coalition governments.

DA gains in five metros — Hill-Lewis says talks must put residents first

November 6 2026, 08:55

WATCH LIVE | DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis briefs media

November 6 2026, 08:50

20 suspects nabbed for election related offences in Limpopo

Limpopo police have arrested 20 suspects for election related offences since the commencement of the 2026 Local Government Elections.

According to police, a total of about 33 cases relating to election-related incidents have been registered across Limpopo.

The offences include contravention of the Electoral Act 73 of 1998, fraud, common assault, malicious damage to property and pointing of a firearm.

20 suspects nabbed for election related offences in Limpopo

November 6 2026, 08:43

Frustration and action shift power in KZN

KwaZulu-Natal has shifted.

In its first local government election, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) has emerged as the province’s leading party in early counting.

The African National Congress (ANC) has fallen to second place in a province it once dominated.

By Thursday, with 30% counted, the IEC put the MK Party on 33%-34%, the ANC on 25%, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on 22% and the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 10%-12%.

Frustration and action shift power in KZN

November 6 2026, 08:30

Gauteng urban voters break with historical political loyalties as hung councils loom

With Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities appearing unlikely to produce outright winners, an analyst has described voters in the country’s economic hub as increasingly different from those elsewhere.

With about half of the votes counted and declared by Thursday night, Johannesburg and Tshwane had three parties each polling more than 20% of the vote — a rarity in many municipalities across the country.

Wade Manning, executive director of Defend Our Democracy, said voters in Johannesburg were increasingly prioritising local issues over traditional political loyalties.

Gauteng urban voters break with historical political loyalties as hung councils loom

November 6 2026, 08:15

Ntuli casts doubt on ANC-DA deal for Johannesburg mayoralty, takes swipe at Zille

ANC head of elections Mdumiseni Ntuli has cast doubt on a possible deal between the ANC and the DA that could see Helen Zille elected as Johannesburg mayor, suggesting her campaign rhetoric had left a sour taste among ANC leaders.

In an interview with The Political Arena at the IEC Results Centre on Thursday, Ntuli, who is also the ANC’s chief whip in parliament, said some within the party would be uncomfortable working with the DA following what he described as Zille’s arrogance during the campaign.

“A number of us will be very uncomfortable with the display of arrogance of Helen Zille. I’m talking about Johannesburg. This thing that she is the messiah, she is going to travel all the way from Cape Town to fix Johannesburg.

Ntuli casts doubt on ANC-DA deal for Johannesburg mayoralty, takes swipe at Zille

November 5 2026, 21:54

WATCH | ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba outlines the conditions his party wants met before entering into a coalition with another party.

WATCH | ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba outlines the conditions his party wants met before entering into a coalition with another party. He was speaking on the sidelines of the national results centre in Johannesburg. https://t.co/6kSCAPEMYC

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 21:39

WATCH | ANC’s Nomvula Mokonyane says the results show the party is being renewed and that voters still have confidence in the ANC.

WATCH | ANC’s Nomvula Mokonyane says the results show the party is being renewed and that voters still have confidence in the ANC. https://t.co/6svA0qvl0c

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 20:45

Northern Cape leads election results capture as IEC says more than 60% processed

The Northern Cape is leading the capturing of results in the 2026 local government elections with 87% of results captured as the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) continues its counting, verification and auditing processes countrywide.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission was pleased with the steady progress being made with more than 60% of the results captured by 5pm.

Northern Cape leads election results capture as IEC says more than 60% processed

November 5 2026, 21:00

WATCH | ATM national chairperson Mandisa Mashiya says the party will not consider entering into coalitions with parties it considers corrupt or those whose principles do not align with its own.

WATCH | ATM national chairperson Mandisa Mashiya says the party will not consider entering into coalitions with parties it considers corrupt or those whose principles do not align with its own. https://t.co/jyVXiRXXBp

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 20:42

DA leads Western Cape as coalitions loom in councils

The DA is maintaining its dominance across much of the Western Cape, but early results from the 2026 local government elections point to a number of closely contested municipal councils where no party has secured an outright majority.

With 50% of the province’s 1,623 voting districts counted, the DA had secured 53.4% of the provincial vote, followed by the ANC on 14%, the PA on 11.1% and the Freedom Front Plus on 5.4%.

DA leads Western Cape as coalitions loom in councils

WATCH | IEC anticipates results collation process will be completed by the weekend. https://t.co/kHjpX1mN8l

— Business Day (@BDliveSA) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 19.01

DA takes majority control of at least four councils in Western Cape, 13 hung still and counting

The DA has secured majority control of at least four out of 24 local municipalities in the Western Cape after the counting and declaration of votes was concluded in at least 17 local councils across the province by 6pm on Thursday.

Western Cape IEC Chief Micheal Hendrickse said that at that time, there were at least 13 hung councils in the province, which means they would have to be governed by coalition arrangements.

DA takes majority control of at least four councils in Western Cape, 13 hung still and counting

View Live Election Results 🗳️

November 5 2026, 17:40

WATCH | ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont joined the Political Arena applauding the party on the number of wards it has “captured” from the ANC. pic.twitter.com/lxTGwjBnjl

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 17:24

WATCH LIVE| The Political Arena team breaks down the LGE results as they trickle in

November 5 2026, 17:20

WATCH | MK Party deputy president Duduzane Zuma says potential coalition partners should not be concerned about the party’s frequent reshuffling of positions, arguing that they should be prepared to do the same for “people who are not performing”.
Asked whether President Cyril… pic.twitter.com/uyPuKngM0P

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 17:11

DA’s victory projection sparks backlash as rival parties urge patience

The Democratic Alliance’s projection of securing about 59% of the vote in the City of Cape Town has drawn mixed reactions from rival political parties, with some accusing the party of prematurely declaring victory before the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had completed its counting process.

On Thursday the DA held a mini celebration outside the IEC results centre in Century City, where Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that the party was claiming victory in the metro based on its election projections.

DA’s victory projection sparks backlash as rival parties urge patience

November 5 2026, 17:08

‘We won’t be in bed with corrupt people’: ATM draws hard line on coalition deals

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has set strict boundaries regarding potential coalition governments, stating it will not get into bed with corrupt individuals or parties.

This comes as the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) continues counting and verifying votes after Wednesday’s local government elections. Final results are expected to be announced in the coming days.

With 43.3% of voting districts currently processed, the ATM sits outside the top 10 parties nationally, holding roughly 0.9% of the vote. The ANC and DA continue to lead the national tally.

‘We won’t be in bed with corrupt people’: ATM draws hard line on coalition deals

November 5 2026, 16:52

WATCH | Despite the Electoral Court dismissing the MK Party’s 2024 vote-rigging claims, deputy president Duduzane Zuma says the party remains suspicious of the electoral process. pic.twitter.com/qefdH3x3qB

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

NOVEMBER 5 2026, 14:55

WATCH | The DA celebrates a major milestone, claiming one million black votes as it overtakes the EFF. Ashor Saraupen weighs in on the party’s growing support, election gains, and coalition prospects.

WATCH | The DA celebrates a major milestone, claiming one million black votes as it overtakes the EFF. Ashra Sarapan weighs in on the party's growing support, election gains, and coalition prospects. pic.twitter.com/MEWN40xnnj

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 14:46

WATCH | ActionSA is gaining ground across Gauteng, with growing electoral wins putting the party in a potentially influential position in coalition negotiations. Michael Beaumont reflects on the party's performance and political ambitions. pic.twitter.com/5x3YjUf6eN

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026 14:02

ActionSA eyes coalition roles as early Tshwane results show gains

ActionSA says it is encouraged by early local government election results in Gauteng, as it appears to be on course to strengthen its position in the City of Tshwane and increase its influence ahead of the 2029 national and provincial elections.

By lunchtime on Thursday, the DA led in Tshwane with 30.6% of the vote, while ActionSA was second at 22.8%.

ActionSA national spokesperson Michael Beaumont said the party was gaining momentum in several wards and had made significant inroads in areas previously dominated by the ANC, which is currently sitting at 21.9%.

ActionSA eyes coalition roles as early Tshwane results show gains

November 5 2026, 13:20

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena team breaks down the early election results

November 5 2026, 13:05

WATCH | The DA has moved swiftly to claim victory in the City of Cape Town. Party leader Geordin Hill-Lewis addressed supporters outside the IEC results centre in Century City. pic.twitter.com/li81bdC2d6

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026 12:40

WATCH | Arena Holdings reporter Koena Mashale gives an update on progress made in early vote-counting at the National Operations Centre in Midrand. pic.twitter.com/I5pbQLkQ0G

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 12:16

WATCH | Political Arena’s Thando Maeko and Sisanda Mbolekwa sat down with the DA’s Karabo Khakhau to discuss the DA’s campaign for the 2026 local government elections. Watch the full interaction here: https://t.co/4CaZ3l36JI pic.twitter.com/BMM4bNu20q

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 12:05

WATCH | Vote counting is underway, and DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille says she is feeling positive about the results so far.
The DA is currently leading in Johannesburg. pic.twitter.com/tdQSZ5NH4C

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026 11:47

VOTE COUNTING | ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe arrives at the results center in Midrand, Joburg, and says he’s glad the ANC is leading in [some] wards.
Video: @Koena_xM pic.twitter.com/tV4vcjwBXR

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026 11:40

IEC reports faster results processing as Zille happy with DA performance

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says the 2026 local government election results are being processed at a faster pace than during the previous municipal elections, with 18 municipalities having completed the results process by 9am on Thursday.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission had received 23,444 results slips, representing 35.5% of the 66,073 expected results from local municipalities, metros and district councils across the country’s 23,000 voting stations.

“Of these, 22,983 results slips, representing 34.8%, had been captured into the results system, while 16,791, or 25%, had undergone independent auditing.”

IEC reports faster results processing as Zille happy with DA performance

November 5 2026, 10:43

WATCH | The IEC has outlined the safeguards in place to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the election results, including double-blind capturing of results slips, scanning, and independent auditing of the entire population of results slips. pic.twitter.com/z0qFWmGtGN

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 10:00

WATCH LIVE | IEC updates media on early vote-counting

November 5 2026, 09:44

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena team looks at the numbers trickling in

November 5 2026, 09:20

KZN voter turnout tops national average at 48.7 percent

KwaZulu-Natal’s preliminary voter turnout stood at 48.7%, above the national figure of 45.8% on Thursday morning.

Provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said the figures remained provisional, with only 18% of the province’s results captured and 12% audited.

The turnout figures put KZN 2.9 percentage points ahead of the national average, but Masinga said that outstanding results could change the picture.

KZN voter turnout tops national average at 48.7 percent

November 5 2026 09:14

21% of the votes have now been counted. The ANC is currently leading, having received 1.34 million votes, followed by the DA with 1.27 million and the MKP currently has 240,000 votes.

November 5 2026 09:00

10% of votes captured in Gauteng and the DA is leading with 39.26% followed by ANC with 18.55% and ActionSA at 15.17%.

November 5 2026 08:52

A lot of pink spots on the KZN map this morning, with Jacob Zuma’s MKP taking an early lead of 32.6%, followed by ANC with 23.99%. The IFP is closely behind with 21.95%. Only 11% of votes have been captured.

November 5 2026, 08:48

Woman arrested at Mugoboya voting station for disrupting voting

A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly disrupting the voting process at Mugoboya voting station in the Mopani district on Wednesday.

The woman is expected to appear before the Lenyenye magistrate’s court on Friday.

She was arrested following an incident in which she allegedly attempted to take photographs and record a video while casting her vote. The presiding officer informed her that such conduct was prohibited by law and would not be permitted.

Woman arrested at Mugoboya voting station for disrupting voting

November 5 2026 08:42

In Ekurhuleni, with 9% of the votes counted, the DA is currently leading the race, followed by the ANC.

Counting continues….@Sowetan1981 pic.twitter.com/2uVZHJwbSd

— The Journalist (@Moloi_Herman1) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026 08:32

VOTE COUNTING - 08:28am | Here's a look at the metros across the country. The ANC has secured one of 51 seats in Mangaung, Free State. The results for other metros have not come in yet.
Report: @smashaba
Download our App, stay tuned to our WhatsApp channel and get the latest… pic.twitter.com/E2rpijoznv

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026 08:29

With only 2% of the votes counted and captured in Emfuleni, the DA is leading the race, followed by the VF Plus.

Counting continues…@Sowetan1981 pic.twitter.com/XrkrKdaX5J

— The Journalist (@Moloi_Herman1) November 5, 2026

November 5 2026, 07:21

Party	% Support	Seats	Votes
ANC	31.76%	120	862,877
DA	31.23%	81	848,677
MKP	5.13%	4	139,382

• Counting is at 15% complete
• For all your live results visit the IEC.

November 5 2026, 07:00

Youth unemployment tops concerns as Atteridgeville, Saulsville residents vote

The communities of Atteridgeville and Saulsville cast their votes in the local government elections on Wednesday, hoping their preferred candidates will address unemployment and create more job opportunities for young people.

When TimesLIVE visited several voting stations in the area, residents expressed concern about the high levels of youth unemployment, saying many young people remain without opportunities, with some turning to drugs as a coping mechanism.

Youth unemployment tops concerns as Atteridgeville, Saulsville residents vote

November 5 2026, 05:00

Youth stay away from polls as townships turn quiet while suburbs queue to vote

Thousands of young people appeared to have turned their back on the local government elections in townships such as Nyanga, Langa and Khayelitsha, with some opting to treat election day as a public holiday rather than exercise their right to vote.

While some voting stations in these communities were relatively quiet, with mostly elderly residents turning out, long queues could be seen at several polling stations in the suburbs, highlighting a stark contrast in voter participation across the city.

Youth stay away from polls as townships turn quiet while suburbs queue to vote

November 5 2026, 05:00

SOWETAN | Big day for democracy as millions cast votes

Yesterday, millions of South Africans descended on polling stations to vote for change in the local government elections, much as they did in the first democratic elections in 1994.

Although much of the public debate in the coming days will focus on voter turnout and the outcome, the significance of the voters who showed up at voting stations should not be minimised. Like those who turned up in 1994 to usher in the first democratic government, this year’s local government election is about more than platitudes and numbers.

Given the growing dissatisfaction with the state of municipalities and the delivery of basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation, yesterday’s voting was also about the maturity of our democracy. Voter registration has trended upward, even when turnout in some elections has been inconsistent.

SOWETAN | Big day for democracy as millions cast votes

November 5 2026, 05:00

Young and old come out for change

From first-time voters hoping to secure jobs and safer communities, to pensioners determined to see long-promised basic services delivered, young and old voters went to the polls on Wednesday with one common demand: change.

In Hammanskraal, Midrand, Johannesburg and the Vaal, voters said their ballots represented an opportunity to influence the future of communities struggling with unemployment, crime, poor roads, water shortages and failing municipal services.

For 24-year-old Puseletso Mafuma, voting for the first time in Temba, Hammanskraal, was an emotional milestone that made her feel her voice finally mattered. “I feel relieved that finally, I get to choose which party rules. It feels like I have a say, you know. It feels like my voice is finally getting heard,” she said.

Young and old come out for change

November 5 2026, 04:45

EDITORIAL | Thank you, your vote made a difference

As South Africans flocked to churches, schools and community centres yesterday to make their mark in a quest for improved service delivery and a better life, another election played out on the other side of the world that has the potential to move the needle down at the bottom of Africa.

Despite being in another country thousands of kilometres away, the US midterm elections have had repercussions across the world. The landslide Democrat victory has shifted the balance of power and effectively made President Donald Trump a lame duck for his remaining two years in office.

EDITORIAL | Thank you, your vote made a difference

November 5 2026, 04:45

Change in the air as election fever sweeps eThekwini

ANC exile-era struggle songs replaced protest chants in Durban’s CBD on Wednesday where ironically a flash mob of singing MK Party supporters shimmied down Diakonia Avenue, in almost anticipatory celebration.

Minutes later, not to be outdone or written off, a group of ANC-clad supporters waved the party’s flag, singing and ululating to drum up support along the street where voting stations were set up at the Durban Music Centre and YMCA Park.

There snaking queues of voters waited patiently, determined to put an end to the rot, crime and water crisis in the volatile economic hub, which has courted xenophobic civil unrest in the past two month.

Change in the air as election fever sweeps eThekwini

November 5 2026, 04:30

EXPLAINER | How the IEC’s dispute resolution system works

South Africa’s electoral dispute resolution system gives political parties several avenues to challenge alleged irregularities, report administrative failures and seek action against breaches of election rules. But the processes are not interchangeable and parties must use the correct legal channel and meet the applicable deadlines if they want their complaints to be considered.

As South Africans voted in Wednesday’s local government elections, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) must ensure that complaints are dealt with in accordance with the law.

EXPLAINER | How the IEC’s dispute resolution system works

November 5 2026, 04:30

WATCH | ‘What’s the point of voting?’ ask people who boycotted elections

While millions of South Africans made their way to voting stations to cast their votes on Wednesday, residents of Ga-Chokoe outside Mokopane in Limpopo boycotted the elections over a dispute concerning municipal ward demarcation.

Mahlora Primary School, which was designated as a voting station, was empty for most of the day as residents refused to cast their ballots.

Only the police and IEC officials could be seen inside the school. There weren’t even party agents outside. The roads were empty as residents decided to stay home. This followed a community meeting where it was decided that no-one would vote.

WATCH | ‘What’s the point of voting?’ ask people who boycotted elections

November 5 2026, 04:30

SA voter turnout threatens to redraw political map

More than 40% of South Africa’s registered voters had cast ballots by 5pm in municipal elections on Wednesday, with three hours of voting remaining, as the contest threatens to further weaken the ANC and reshape coalitions governing the country’s biggest cities.

About 12-million people had voted by that point, up from 3.5-million at 10am, according to preliminary figures released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in a briefing on Wednesday night. Gauteng recorded the highest number of votes at about 3-million, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 2.5-million and the Western Cape at 1.5-million.

SA voter turnout threatens to redraw political map

November 4 2026, 21:58

ANC says two members attacked in KZN while on way to vote

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says two of its members were injured and taken to hospital after an alleged attack in Abaqulusi, while police say the incident was not politically motivated.

The party alleged on Wednesday that IFP supporters assaulted its voters on their way to vote in Siyaphambili voting district in ward 4 of Abaqulusi local municipality.

ANC says two members attacked in KZN while on way to vote

November 4 2026, 20:47

When voting closes: IEC explains next steps and results declaration

With voting in Wednesday’s election drawing to a close, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has outlined the processes that follows, from the counting of ballots at voting stations to the verification and eventual announcement of the results.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said all ballot papers would be counted at the voting stations.

When voting closes: IEC explains next steps and results declaration

November 4 2026, 20:20

SA voter turnout threatens to redraw political map

More than 40% of South Africa’s registered voters had cast ballots by 5pm in municipal elections on Wednesday, with three hours of voting remaining, as the contest threatens to further weaken the ANC and reshape coalitions governing the country’s biggest cities.

About 12-million people had voted by that point, up from 3.5-million at 10am, according to preliminary figures released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in a briefing on Wednesday night. Gauteng recorded the highest number of votes at about 3-million, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 2.5-million and the Western Cape at 1.5-million.

SA voter turnout threatens to redraw political map

November 4 2026, 19:51

WATCH | ‘No water, no vote’: East Rand residents skip polls over three-day outage

Several residents in eSindane, Tsakane, on the East Rand, stayed away from voting stations on Wednesday, saying they had gone three days without water and felt neglected by those seeking their votes.

Residents said the water outage, which began on Monday morning, had left them struggling with basic household needs, including cooking, bathing and doing laundry, while intermittent electricity supply added to their frustrations.

WATCH | ‘No water, no vote’: East Rand residents skip polls over three-day outage

November 4 2026, 19:16

MK supporters celebrate early in eThekwini

ANC exile-era struggle songs replaced protest chants in Durban’s CBD on Wednesday, where a flash mob of singing MK party supporters shimmied down Diakonia Avenue in almost anticipatory celebration.

MK supporters celebrate early in eThekwini

November 4 2026, 19:11

Water crisis takes centre stage in municipal election battle

Political leaders cast their votes countrywide on Wednesday as the battle for control of South Africa’s 257 municipalities intensified, with service delivery failures, particularly persistent water shortages, emerging as a big election battleground.

Water crisis takes centre stage in municipal election battle

November 4 2026, 18:59

WATCH | Old people standing in queues say they didn’t know about special votes

Some elderly voters who were approved for special votes turned up at polling stations in Kathorus (Katlehong, Thokoza, Vosloorus), Ekurhuleni, with election observers reporting confusion over the process and concerns about people trying to use their age to skip queues.

An observer said several senior citizens who were expected to vote on Monday or Tuesday had instead arrived on election day.

WATCH | Old people standing in queues say they didn’t know about special votes

November 4 2026, 18:52

IEC assures voters they will not be turned away if they arrive before 9pm

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has assured voters that they will be allowed to cast their ballots even if voting is extended beyond the official 9pm closing time, provided they arrive at their registered voting stations before the deadline.

This comes as voting enters its final hours in the 2026 local government elections, with preliminary figures showing that 12-million voters had cast their ballots across the country by 5pm on Wednesday.

IEC assures voters they will not be turned away if they arrive before 9pm

November 4 2026, 18:51

WATCH | The NPA head, Andy Mothibi, says they are prioritising cases relating to elections to ensure speedy prosecution in order to protect the integrity of the polls. Some of the cases being investigated and prioritised include that of a celebrity posting their ballot paper on… pic.twitter.com/ikfviR4981

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 18:39

WATCH | Siboniso Bhengu, a resident of Nomzamo informal settlement in Soweto, said he arrived at the voting station at 7am but found that IEC officials had not opened. After returning from work at 3pm, he went back to cast his vote but was still waiting in a long queue,… pic.twitter.com/2IJgX76tgK

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 18:23

‘Vote for dignity,’ urges EFF Joburg mayoral candidate Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng

EFF mayoral candidate for Johannesburg Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng has urged voters to exercise their democratic right despite the despondency.

“Voting is the single most fundamental civic duty and we are only asking for people to do it every four years,” she said before entering her allocated voting station in Parkmore, north of Johannesburg.

‘Vote for dignity,’ urges EFF Joburg mayoral candidate Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng

November 4 2026, 18:21

Tumisho Masha under fire for posting marked ballot paper

Tumisho Masha has found himself in legal hot water.

As celebrities flooded the timeline to share images of their inked thumbs to show their participation in the 2026 local government election on Wednesday, Tumisho took to his social media, not only posting his thumb but also the alleged ballot paper revealing he voted for ActionSA.

Tumisho Masha under fire for posting marked ballot paper

November 4 2026, 18:12

Zuma casts vote, satisfied with voting process

MK Party president Jacob Zuma is confident his party will win the local government elections, saying he believes South Africans have recognised it as a party capable of taking over the country and governing it well.

Zuma was speaking after casting his vote on Wednesday at Ntolwane Primary School in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, where he arrived wearing an MK Party T-shirt bearing his image and sporting his trademark smile.

Zuma casts vote, satisfied with voting process

November 4 2026, 18:10

RECORDED| IEC briefs media on progress of local government elections

November 4 2026, 18:08

WATCH | DA Emfuleni mayoral candidate Kingsol Chabalala says coalitions are not part of the party’s plans, insisting it is campaigning for an outright majority. He says the ANC should start clearing its offices, as the DA is confident of taking over the municipality. pic.twitter.com/6U3Q2NOU2G

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 17:40

Bontle Mavuka, 22, cast her vote at The New Brethren Apostolic Church in Thokoza, Ekurhuleni. She spoke to our reporter Michelle Banda about why she made her voice heard. pic.twitter.com/cUuokPdT3s

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 17:38

WATCH | On coalitions, the IFP’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate Mlungisi Mabaso addressing the media at Dube hostel said the party is sober and outcome-driven, able to work with everyone. He said the IFP is expanding beyond KwaZulu-Natal and is contesting to win Johannesburg, not… pic.twitter.com/BmkwB5CrXq

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 17:23

Kingsol Chabalala confident DA will unseat ANC in Emfuleni

The DA’s mayoral candidate in Emfuleni municipality, Kingsol Chabalala, said his vote signals the beginning of the end of what he describes as years of chaos, poor governance and failing service delivery in Emfuleni.

Speaking after casting his vote on Wednesday, Chabalala said residents deserved a municipality that worked for all communities.

Kingsol Chabalala confident DA will unseat ANC in Emfuleni

November 4 2026, 17:23

KwaLanga residents want action on toilets, housing and unemployment

Unemployment, stalled housing projects and poor basic services remain among the concerns residents hope will be addressed by those elected to power.

Young people in KwaLanga in the Western Cape have raised concerns about voter apathy among their peers, saying many are failing to recognise the power of their vote despite living with unemployment and poor service delivery.

KwaLanga residents want action on toilets, housing and unemployment

November 4 2026, 17:17

WATCH | Tensions flared between DA and ANC supporters outside Orange Grove Primary School, north of Johannesburg, where ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula voted. pic.twitter.com/BopEs3Q6Dz

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 17:17

Some elderly voters in Ekurhuleni say they were unaware of the special voting process as they join other residents to cast their ballots on Wednesday.
Video: @MimieShana pic.twitter.com/vdvm13xOMv

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 17:05

Nompumelelo Mosibudi had spent three hours waiting for her turn to vote when it was time for her to do so, she was told she has to go cast it at a polling station 15kms away. She spoke to our reporter Koena Mashale about her frustration. pic.twitter.com/iTw73vTzJv

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 17:04

No water, no vote: some Bronkhorstspruit residents skip election

A 32-year-old man from Zithobeni, in Bronkhorstspruit, chose to collect water from a borehole at Dan Kutumela Secondary School rather than cast his vote on Wednesday.

Bronkhorstspruit recently made headlines after more than 800 people fell ill following water contamination linked to the lack of chlorine at a water treatment plant.

No water, no vote: some Bronkhorstspruit residents skip election

November 4 2026, 16:57

WATCH | What voters want from their local leaders

Service delivery, reliable infrastructure and accountable local government are among the issues facing South African voters.

Sunday Times journalist Yoliswa Sobuwa joins Business Day TV to discuss voter sentiment, the issues emerging from the ground and what communities want from their municipalities.

WATCH | What voters want from their local leaders

November 4 2026, 16:55

WATCH | What coalition talks could mean for South Africa’s metros

With several of South Africa’s major municipalities facing the prospect of hung councils, the local elections could usher in another round of coalition governments.

Jonathan Moakes, director at the SABI Strategy Group, joins Business Day TV to examine the political dynamics shaping these potential alliances and the challenges parties may face in reaching agreement.

WATCH | What coalition talks could mean for South Africa’s metros

November 4 2026, 16:49

Electoral Court dismisses Bongani Cibi’s bid to contest municipal elections

The Electoral Court has dismissed Bongani Wellington Cibi’s application challenging his exclusion from the local government elections, finding that he missed mandatory deadlines and failed to identify a reviewable decision by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

In a judgment handed down on Tuesday, judge Lebogang Modiba ruled that Cibi’s inability to contest the elections resulted from the operation of the law rather than unlawful conduct by the commission.

Electoral Court dismisses Bongani Cibi’s bid to contest municipal elections

November 4 2026, 16:48

WATCH | Emfuleni residents from Bophelong, Sebokeng, Hostel and Everton have called for better service delivery as they voted in the local government elections. They want the incoming leadership to address sewage problems, potholed roads, unemployment and growing youth… pic.twitter.com/AAlda3G4Iu

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 16:34

WATCH | Limpopo voters boycott elections

While millions of South Africans made their way to different voting stations to cast their votes on Wednesday, residents of Ga-Chokoe outside Mokopane in Limpopo boycotted the elections over a dispute concerning municipal ward demarcation.

Mahlora Primary School, which was designated as a voting station, was empty for most of the day as residents refused to cast their ballots.

WATCH | Limpopo voters boycott elections

November 4 2026, 16:30

WATCH | Young people sit outside a spaza shop in Evaton, Emfuleni, highlighting the unemployment crisis facing residents. Despite having gone to school, they say they remain without jobs and are forced to ask passers-by for as little as R2. pic.twitter.com/jsLzTVSUQz

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 16:29

Residents of Ga-Chokoe near Lephalale in Limpopo boycotted voting, apparently over a demarcation issue and complaints over candidates. They claim the candidates won't have their best interest at heart. Matlhora Primary School was empty as no one showed up to vote.
Video: Sontaga… pic.twitter.com/e1AIDW2EoY

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 16:26

‘Councillors must prioritise voters,’ says Mashatile

ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile has called on councillors who are victorious in the election to put voters first.

Speaking on the sidelines of his voting station in Kelvin, Johannesburg, he said the pleas of residents must be heard and acted upon after the election.

‘Councillors must prioritise voters,’ says Mashatile

November 4 2026, 16:25

WATCH | South Africans head to the polls

South Africans are making their voices heard in a pivotal municipal election. Business Day’s Luyolo Mkentane joins Business Day TV with the latest developments, the mood on the ground and the key stories emerging from voting stations.

WATCH | South Africans head to the polls

November 4 2026, 16:24

WATCH | What South Africa’s local elections mean for the political landscape

South Africa’s local elections could have implications well beyond municipal government, with the results set to shape the balance of power between political parties and the prospects for coalition governments.

Political analyst Sipho Seepe joins Business Day TV to unpack the political dynamics and what the results could signal for the country’s future.

WATCH | What South Africa’s local elections mean for the political landscape

November 4 2026, 16:21

WATCH | The big issues shaping South Africa’s municipal elections

From service delivery and unemployment to political accountability and local economic development, South Africans are voting against a backdrop of deep public frustration and rising expectations.

Sowetan’s deputy editor Thabiso Thakali joins Business Day TV to discuss the issues shaping the elections and what voters are demanding from their local leaders.

WATCH | The big issues shaping South Africa’s municipal elections

November 4 2026, 16:17

WATCH | What’s at stake in South Africa’s municipal elections?

South Africa’s municipal elections are a critical test for the country’s political parties.

Political analyst Daniel Silke unpacks the key issues driving the vote, the changing political landscape and what the outcome could mean for local government.

WATCH | What’s at stake in South Africa’s municipal elections?

November 4 2026, 15:55

WATCH LIVE | The Political Arena team is at the IEC results centre

Polling stations open, opinions open wider.

The Political Arena is live as SA heads to the ballot box for the 2026 Local Government Elections.

Expect real-time conversations, sharp analysis and the latest scoops from our political journalists.

November 4 2026, 15:26

Taxi drivers divided as some skip voting to make money on the road

For some taxi drivers, election day was another working day, with earning money to support their families taking priority over standing in queues to vote.

Mandla Madonsela, 41, said he had decided not to vote because he could not afford to spend time in queues when he could be making money on the road.

Taxi drivers divided as some skip voting to make money on the road

November 4 2026, 15:24

WATCH | "We have done what we were supposed to do; now we wait for the results", MK Party leader Jacob Zuma tells journalists after casting his vote. pic.twitter.com/L2LqWPYokk

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 15:14

WATCH | Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane is urging communities to vote in large numbers. Speaking after casting his ballot at Deberha Multipurpose Centre, he emphasised that every vote has the power to shape the future of local communities. pic.twitter.com/Mwtn3d0IH5

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 14:50

Thumbs up! Langa Mavuso, Lady Du and other celebs cast their votes

From chart-topping singers to media personalities and comedians, Mzansi’s stars hit the polling stations on Wednesday to cast their votes in the 2026 local government elections.

Thumbs up! Langa Mavuso, Lady Du and other celebs cast their votes

November 4 2026, 14:48

Young and elderly voters queue at Wits amid water, electricity challenges

Young voters at a sports hall at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on Wednesday raised concerns about the irregular supply of water and electricity.

Siam Tanda Mashekila, 25, said she was proud to see young people coming out in numbers to vote, but remained unsure whether political parties would deliver on their promises.

Young and elderly voters queue at Wits amid water, electricity challenges

November 4 2026, 14:46

Songezo Zibi frustrated by voting station distance

Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi has raised concerns about his designated voting station and that of his son being located up to 5km away, despite a voting station situated right outside his home.

Millions of South Africans are heading to the polls on Wednesday for the 2026 local government elections. Voting stations opened at 7am and are set to close at 9pm.

Songezo Zibi frustrated by voting station distance

November 4 2026, 14:40

Universal ballot templates aid braille voters in 2026 election

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has reiterated measures to ensure visually impaired voters can cast their ballots independently and privately during the 2026 local government elections.

IEC deputy chief electoral officer Masego Sheburi said the commission uses universal ballot templates (UBTs) to assist braille-literate voters in marking their ballots.

Universal ballot templates aid braille voters in 2026 election

November 4 2026, 14:26

WATCH | ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the party will announce its mayoral candidates in two weeks after analysing the results. He added that any coalition negotiations will be led by the national officials, not regional structures. He was speaking after voting in… pic.twitter.com/NcEYPKkQyE

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 14:23

WATCH | ANC Secretary general Fikile Mbalula has cast his vote at the Orange Grove Primary School in the north of Johannesburg.

Video: Kgothatso Madisa pic.twitter.com/BazIL50aU6

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 14:14

IEC investigates theft of unused ballot papers at eThekwini voting station

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has opened a case of theft after unmarked and unused ballot papers were stolen from a voting station in KZN.

Speaking during a media briefing on Wednesday, IEC deputy chief electoral officer Masego Sheburi said the ballots were stolen from the Mnyameni Secondary School in Kwanyuswa, Botha’s Hill, outside Durban, where they were being kept for validation.

The commission said the station had sufficient materials to continue operating, apart from the voters’ roll.

IEC investigates theft of unused ballot papers at eThekwini voting station

November 4 2026, 14:13

Short queues, big demands: Kagiso voters want water, jobs and decent streets

Voters in Kagiso, ward 7, were in and out quickly today as voting started on time at the Mandisa Shiceka School of Specialisation.

For 18-year-old Keorapetse Thobani, it was his first time voting and he was nervous.

“But they helped me,” he said.

Short queues, big demands: Kagiso voters want water, jobs and decent streets

November 4 2026, 14:12

WATCH | Former President and MK Party leader Jacob Zuma casting his vote at Ntolwane Primary School in Nkandla during the 2026 local government elections. pic.twitter.com/FIj7OVhGMG

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 14:02

Thokoza voters doubt election will bring change

High crime levels, substance abuse and youth unemployment are among the many concerns weighing on Thokoza residents as they cast their votes.

Speaking to Sowetan, many said they hoped the next local government would deliver meaningful change rather than more promises.

Thokoza voters doubt election will bring change

November 4 2026, 13:54

3.5-million South Africans voted in first three hours, says IEC

More than 3.5-million South Africans had cast their ballots by 10am on Wednesday as voting got under way across the country for the 2026 local government elections.

Voting opened at 7am and is expected to close at 9pm with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reporting that 98% of the country’s 23,996 voting stations had opened by the regulated time.

3.5-million South Africans voted in first three hours, says IEC

November 4 2026, 13:50

WATCH | Correctional services minister and FF Plus co-founder Pieter Groenewald says the party is creating new hope for the future as South Africans vote on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/n934YgxctE

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 13:48

Older voters in Ekurhuleni urge youth to make their mark for SA’s future

Elderly voters making their way to the polls at Etshanini Public Space in ward 112, Ekurhuleni, urged the younger generation to take an active role in shaping the country’s future.

Older voters in Ekurhuleni urge youth to make their mark for SA’s future

November 4 2026, 13:36

Don’t let service delivery issues stop you from voting: Limpopo premier Ramathuba

Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba says the government does not have to wait for elections to be over before addressing challenges affecting communities, pointing to interventions in several municipalities across the province.

Speaking to Sowetan after casting her ballot on Wednesday morning at Mokopane Primary School in the Mogalakwena local municipality, Ramathuba acknowledged that residents continued to face challenges, including unemployment, water shortages and poor roads.

Don’t let service delivery issues stop you from voting: Limpopo premier Ramathuba

November 4 2026, 13:35

No water, no voter: taps as dry as early turnout in Orlando East, Soweto

No water. Almost no voters. A double crisis defined the early part of election day in Orlando East as residents went to the polls with dry taps and empty voting stations.

At voting stations in Orlando East on Wednesday morning, the halls were almost empty. For many, the message in the dry water pipes matched the mood at the ballot box.

No water, no voter: taps as dry as early turnout in Orlando East, Soweto

November 4 2026, 13:17

Khayelitsha voters voice dismay over crime and poor service

For a month, Pamela Bheshula, 64, says she has been without water because of a leak in her yard.

She arrived at Sivuyiseni Primary School, a voting station in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, accompanied by two friends.

Khayelitsha voters voice dismay over crime and poor service

November 4 2026, 13:16

Election day glitches: a cop with political posters, a drunken voter and a collision with a cow

A police officer was removed from a KwaZulu-Natal voting station on Wednesday morning after she arrived in a vehicle branded with posters from a political party, according to police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda.

The sergeant was removed from her Mphithini-area voting station post, in Donnybrook, with the possibility of internal disciplinary processes being instituted following her alleged unprofessional conduct.

Election day glitches: a cop with political posters, a drunken voter and a collision with a cow

November 4 2026, 13:01

WATCH LIVE | IEC briefs media on progress of local government elections

November 4 2026, 12:52

‘Voting changes situations’: Ekurhuleni voters seek jobs and better services

Unemployment was a key concern raised by Ekurhuleni residents as they cast their votes in Wednesday’s local government elections.

At Endulwini voting station in Thembisa, residents said they hoped their votes would bring better services, more job opportunities and improvements in their communities.

‘Voting changes situations’: Ekurhuleni voters seek jobs and better services

November 4 2026, 12:51

President Cyril Ramaphosa says more money will be allocated to deal with gender-based violence. He was speaking in Hyde Park, Joburg, after casting his vote. pic.twitter.com/ELdgENEc6M

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 12:45

WATCH | Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi voted at Maokeng voting station in Tembisa, saying he still votes in the community that raised him. He is confident in the ANC’s performance in the province. pic.twitter.com/8tSPlyN0KE

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 12:38

‘My voice is finally getting heard’: First-time voters share hopes

Young voters have called for more job opportunities and safer communities, saying casting their ballots gave them a sense of hope and a chance to shape the future of their city.

A relieved 24-year-old Puseletso Mafuma said voting for the first time made her feel that her voice mattered.

‘My voice is finally getting heard’: First-time voters share hopes

November 4 2026, 12:32

WATCH | MK Party member Dali Mpofu says the aim should be to take government away from the "ANC of Ramaphosa". pic.twitter.com/7a7txm0ENV

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 12:26

Ramaphosa votes in DA stronghold of Hyde Park

President Cyril Ramaphosa voted in Hyde Park on Wednesday, casting his ballot in the Johannesburg suburb where he lives rather than in Soweto, where he grew up and usually voted.

Electoral Commission (IEC) rules require people to vote at the station where they are registered.

Ramaphosa votes in DA stronghold of Hyde Park

November 4 2026, 12:25

IN PICS | Political leaders cast their votes

Leaders from across the political spectrum joined millions of South Africans at polling stations on Wednesday as the country headed to the polls for the local government elections.

IN PICS | Political leaders cast their votes

November 4 2026, 12:23

WATCH | Ntyatyambo Zwelimangele Volsaka, deputy chairperson of the South African Students Congress (Sasco) in Johannesburg, said it was important for young people to exercise their democratic right to vote and choose leaders they believed could best represent them.

He said those… pic.twitter.com/xKzmREX7TD

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 12:11

Zille vows swift action on Joburg water crisis

Helen Zille said should she be elected mayor of Johannesburg, her immediate priority would be addressing the water challenges confronting South Africa’s economic and financial heartland.

Zille vows swift action on Joburg water crisis

November 4 2026, 12:08

WATCH | BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane speaking after voting in Dobsonville. pic.twitter.com/1LItCdtS5L

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 12:05

Buffalo City mayor joins queue after residents refuse to let her skip voting line

Buffalo City metropolitan municipality mayor Princess Faku was forced to join the queue like other voters after residents at a voting station in Gonubie refused to allow her to skip the line.

Buffalo City mayor joins queue after residents refuse to let her skip voting line

November 4 2026, 12:05

WATCH | Freedom Front plus leader Dr Corne Mulder speaking following his vote. pic.twitter.com/fr1voRn5eZ

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 12:00

Young and elderly voters are making their way to the polls at the Old Mutual Sports Hall at Wits University amid water and electricity challenges on campus. pic.twitter.com/eW7N7PmSMI

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:56

WATCH | ANC deputy President Paul Mashatile greets party volunteers at the gazebo outside the St Johannes Lutheran church in Kelvin and signs their register. pic.twitter.com/X0IFCrw53i

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:55

WATCH | Young people sit outside a spaza shop in Evaton, Emfuleni, highlighting the unemployment crisis facing residents. Despite having gone to school, they say they remain without jobs and are forced to ask passers-by for as little as R2. pic.twitter.com/cyW93mCR6X

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:53

ANC T-shirt, broken ID keep these Nyanga voters from casting ballots

“I would rather go home and drink because now I am being sent from pillar to post.”

These were the words of Zuko Jada, 42, who was turned away from Mvula Primary School, a voting station in Nyanga, after arriving to cast his ballot wearing an ANC T-shirt.

ANC T-shirt, broken ID keep these Nyanga voters from casting ballots

November 4 2026, 11:53

WATCH | City of Johannesburg resident Mr Masango from Emmarentia hopes his vote will bring morality but wonders what will be left for the next generation. pic.twitter.com/S4daeCNKq3

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:28

WATCH | Former president Kgalema Motlanthe says he understands South Africans’ frustrations with local government, adding that this is where the state ought to be most efficient. He was speaking after casting his vote at Killarney Country Club. pic.twitter.com/8BgsePXQy3

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:21

WATCH | ‘Fake’ ID disrupts voting at Rabie Ridge

Police had to be called at a Midrand voting station after a squabble broke out when a voter produced an alleged fake ID.

According to an eyewitness, the man walked in and produce the suspected ID. The security was called to ensure the voters are safe at Kanana Primary School in Midrand.

WATCH | ‘Fake’ ID disrupts voting at Rabie Ridge

November 4 2026, 11:21

Piet Kekana, 63, from Hammanskraal, Tshwane, says he voted for a party that will bring change and fight crime in the area.
Video: @Moloi_Herman1 pic.twitter.com/zAbDL6yxSd

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:14

Emfuleni residents jump over running sewage on way to polling station

Some residents of Emfuleni local municipality in the Vaal had to jump over sewage running down their streets as they made their way to polling stations on Wednesday.

The municipality has been plagued by service delivery challenges such as open sewage, pothole-riddled roads and uncollected rubbish.

Emfuleni residents jump over running sewage on way to polling station

November 4 2026, 11:11

WATCH | Former president Kgalema Motlanthe casts his ballot at Killarney Country Club pic.twitter.com/IIAhy2493n

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 11:02

WATCH | Limpopo premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba arrives at Mokopane Primary School in Mogalakwena Local Municipality, where she is expected to cast her vote. pic.twitter.com/HhQUcS9Dlc

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 206, 10:51

WATCH | DA mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, arrives at Emmarentia Primary School. She says the DA hopes for an outright majority, but if they don’t achieve it, then they’ll look at the different coalition options and take the least bad option. pic.twitter.com/CjbhrG6bmK

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 10:44

WATCH | President Cyril Ramaphosa has cast his vote in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. pic.twitter.com/j6LpHZj5cH

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 10:42

WATCH | ActionSA mayoral candidate Xolani Khumalo, who voted in Thembisa on Wednesday, urges young people in Ekurhuleni to vote. pic.twitter.com/wdjZOtvFJ2

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 10:35

Pensioners turn out in numbers at Hammanskraal voting stations

Pensioners outnumbered younger voters at several polling stations in Hammanskraal, Tshwane, on Wednesday morning.

Many elderly residents went to voting stations very early to cast their ballots in the hope the next local government administration would address the area’s longstanding service delivery challenges.

Pensioners turn out in numbers at Hammanskraal voting stations

November 4 2026, 10:32

WATCH | IEC chair Mosotho Moepya has urged South Africans to be vigilant against misinformation and disinformation on voting day. pic.twitter.com/eAniDdA3Vi

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 10:29

WATCH | DA leader and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis cast his ballot at his alma mater, Edgemead Primary School, in Milnerton. He’s called on DA supporters in Cape Town to come out and vote in large numbers. He says a high voter turnout among blue party supporters is the only… pic.twitter.com/yjiUVuikvs

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 10:17

WATCH | Action SA leader Herman Mashaba encourages South African’s to vote in their numbers. He was speaking at the Sandton Fire Station voting station pic.twitter.com/pNFh1HPvwa

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 10:05

IN PICS | South Africans head to the polls

Voters headed to the polls on Wednesday to elect municipal councillors across the country in a major test for the governing ANC after losing its national majority in 2024.

Water shortages, electricity failures, crime, unemployment and poor municipal services are central election issues.

The election could reshape local political alliances and influence the country’s political direction ahead of the 2029 national elections.

IN PICS | South Africans head to the polls

November 4 2026, 10:04

IEC outlines election day dos and don’ts

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has reminded political parties and municipal councillors of the legal regulations surrounding campaigning as the country heads to the polls today.

Voting stations opened nationwide at 7am and are scheduled to close at 9pm.

According to the IEC, voting has commenced smoothly across the country, with all stations successfully opening and no major glitches reported.

IEC outlines election day dos and don’ts

November 4 2026, 10:00

WATCH | EFF’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng reflects on her campaign journey just moments before she voted in Parkmore, Johannesburg. She urged young voters to show up at the polls and make their mark in order to decide their own future. pic.twitter.com/5WyiIyWQtr

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 09:52

WATCH | Eighty-four-year-old Linah Kwinika from Hammanskraal, who voted for a government that will provide clean tap water. pic.twitter.com/xNKX5vSByS

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 09:50

ANC wants clear majority in Joburg, says mayoral candidate Loyiso Masuku

The ANC in Johannesburg has set terms for its coalition negotiations, saying that as much as they want an outright majority, should the council be split, they would want to work with political parties that are obsessed with service delivery.

This is according to ANC regional chair and mayoral candidate Loyiso Masuku, who said that her political party wanted Johannesburg residents to give them a clear majority.

ANC wants clear majority in Joburg, says mayoral candidate Loyiso Masuku

November 4 2026, 09:06

City of Johannesburg deputy mayor and ANC regional chair Loyiso Masuku says she’s casting her vote for the ANC in order to defend the gains of democracy. Masuku, who is also the ANC’s mayoral candidate in Johannesburg, was casting her vote in Mulbarton Primary School.… pic.twitter.com/F7QqVKNE45

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026, 09:00

WATCH | Voting is underway at Mandisa Shiceka School of Specialisation in Kagiso, Ward 7, with voters arriving in numbers. First voter Benard Kunene says he doesn’t want to complain about service delivery without playing his part. He wants the streets repaired and the electricity… pic.twitter.com/rdU657lvit

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 8:42

JUST IN | The voting station at Kanana primary school in Midrand opened more than an hour late. Some residents said they had been queueing since 5am. Our reporter Koena Mashale has more details for you.
Download our App, follow our WhatsApp channel for the latest news. pic.twitter.com/G0zEn2qaXQ

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 08:11

Votes in local polls expected to further weaken ANC grip

South Africans vote in municipal elections on Wednesday, with anger over corruption, crime and failing public services threatening to deal another blow to the ANC.

The party dropped below 50% support for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections, and could plunge below 40% this time, according to polls.

With no other party large enough to take its place, many cities in South Africa are heading for unsteady coalition governments that have been partly blamed for failing to deliver basic services, including water and electricity.

Votes in local polls expected to further weaken ANC grip

November 4 2026 08:04

The DA and the ANC supporters have already set up heir stations at the Mulbarton Primary School voting centre in Johannesburg South. The City of Johannesburg deputy mayor Loyiso Masuku is expected to cast her vote at this station. #Elections2026 pic.twitter.com/ranmDJRoAu

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 08:02

Voters have already started queuing at Mulbarton Primary School in Johannesburg South. pic.twitter.com/dCaz8Cs3hS

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 07:58

Hostel voter calls for action against gun crimes

The Saulsville hostel voting station near Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, is a few metres away from the hostel block where there was a mass shooting in an illegal tavern late in 2025 in which 12 people were killed.

Long-time resident Pheyi Ngobese pleaded for action against crime in the area.

Hostel voter calls for action against gun crimes

November 4 2026 07:58

Cost of living is top concern for Saulsville voters

As local government elections kick off this morning, at the Motsweding combined school voting station in Saulsville, west of Pretoria, voters had begun lining up at 5am.

Madumetja Mothabele was eager to cast his vote.

“I woke up at 4am and arrived at 5am. I wanted to be here early and I became number one in line. We want service delivery and lights, and our rent is very expensive,” he said.

Cost of living is top concern for Saulsville voters

November 4 2026 07:51

Your X has a reason. Is it the pothole that rattled your car, the tap that ran dry, the uncollected waste, or the lights that went out? Let us know which municipal service guarantee or concern will carry the most weight when you cast your vote. The comment section belongs to you. pic.twitter.com/MUQEiTw7KV

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 07:08

ELECTION DAY: Sowetan wants to hear from you!

Send us a voice note, videos and images on 071-556-4784.

ELECTION DAY | Make your vote count. You could be voting because you want to reward council officials who have done a great job in your area or maybe you want change. Sowetan would like to hear from you. Cast your vote and send Sowetan a voice note, video or images sharing your… pic.twitter.com/1JUlzuqTYf

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 7:00

KZN parents urge voters to ‘behave’ at school stations

Vee Gani, head of the Parents Association of KwaZulu-Natal, has urged voters to “behave” peacefully at school voting stations and protect facilities children depend on.

Gani said voters should take disputes to Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) officials respectfully, warning violence could leave schools damaged and disrupt learning during matric exams.

KZN parents urge voters to ‘behave’ at school stations

November 4 2026 6:50

Today, the ballot box takes centre stage. Cast your vote, then join The Political Arena for live conversations, exclusive interviews and real-time answers on what this election means for you. Every cross counts, and we’re watching every count. Live on the Sunday Times, TimesLIVE,… pic.twitter.com/OHbHNh9Shp

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 4, 2026

November 4 2026 6:46

‘Your vote, your voice’: South Africans urged to turn out for local government elections

The government has encouraged South Africans to exercise their right to vote in the local government elections on November 4.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) concluded its two-day special voting process on Tuesday, with a total of 1,425,942 special votes cast across Monday and Tuesday ahead of the main election day.

‘Your vote, your voice’: South Africans urged to turn out for local government elections

November 4 2026 6:00

Low turnout, coalition chaos looms as voters lose faith

The battle for control of SA’s municipalities is expected to end in another round of coalition horse-trading, with more hung councils projected and growing numbers of disillusioned voters potentially staying away from the polls.

There is a lot at stake as millions head to cast their ballots on Wednesday, experts say.

Political analyst Tessa Dooms warned that the elections were likely to produce more coalition governments than ever before, with smaller parties and independent candidates potentially holding the balance of power in municipalities across the country.

“In 2021, we ended up with about 70 hung municipalities where coalitions needed to be formed,” she said. “In 2026, it’s estimated that we will have many more hung municipalities that will have coalitions.”

Low turnout, coalition chaos looms as voters lose faith

November 4 2026 5:30

GHALEB CACHALIA | DA’s diversity faces test beyond the candidate bus

The DA has an appealing proposition for South Africa. It is the country’s most diverse political party with a substantial black following, united not by race but by shared values. The rainbow, it seems, has acquired a corporate colour scheme.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with political diversity. Nor is there anything inherently suspicious about a party organising transport to rallies, feeding its activists or training aspiring public representatives. Politics requires organisation and sandwiches do not, in themselves, constitute a constitutional crisis.

But there is a more interesting question than how many black faces a party can assemble for a photograph. That question is: does racial diversity in the ranks translate to diversity of thought, genuine participation in decision-making and an equitable distribution of political power?

GHALEB CACHALIA | DA’s diversity faces test beyond the candidate bus

November 4 2026 5:00

Agoa fallout exposes ANC-DA foreign policy rift

The US’s decision to withdraw South Africa’s Agoa benefits has exposed divisions between the ANC and DA over the country’s foreign policy, with the governing party alleging an attempt to influence voters as the ANC faces mounting electoral pressure.

The ANC, on the one hand, has questioned the timing of Washington’s decision to withdraw South Africa’s preferential trade benefits from January 2027, suggesting it could be an attempt to intimidate voters and pressure the government to abandon its transformation agenda.

Agoa fallout exposes ANC-DA foreign policy rift

November 3 2026 21:11

Tshwane residents hope their vote will bring clean water, electricity and roads

On Tuesday, it had been two weeks since Gritah Ntuli, 62, had seen a water tanker in the Maheights informal settlement in Bronkhorstspruit, Tshwane, where she lives.

Whenever she needed water to bath or do laundry, she would take her family’s clothes to the stream and wash them there, while also collecting bath water for the whole family.

For drinking and cooking water, she has to reach into her pocket and buy it.

Tshwane residents hope their vote will bring clean water, electricity and roads

November 3 2026 20:14

Political intolerance and protests among threats facing Western Cape elections

Political intolerance, intra- and inter-party conflict, criminal activity and protests have been identified as some of the threats facing voting stations in the Western Cape ahead of Wednesday’s local government elections.

Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Sizakhele Dyantyi said 33 of the province’s 1,633 voting stations had been classified as high-risk, while the remainder were categorised as medium- and low-risk.

Political intolerance and protests among threats facing Western Cape elections

November 3 2026 20:06

IEC warns political parties to stop campaigning at midnight ahead of polling day

Political parties, independent candidates and their supporters have until midnight on Tuesday to campaign ahead of the 2026 local government elections, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) warning that all campaigning must stop before voters head to the polls on Wednesday.

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya reminded political parties and candidates that the electoral timetable prohibits campaigning after midnight, including door-to-door canvassing, demonstrations and rallies.

IEC warns political parties to stop campaigning at midnight ahead of polling day

November 3 2026 20:04

IN PICS | Special voting continues for millions in local elections

More than 2.5-million voters were approved to cast special votes ahead of the local government elections, with the two-day voting process taking place on Monday and Tuesday.

The second day of special voting got off to a slow start at some voting centres in Johannesburg, where elderly voters were among those expected to cast their ballots.

IN PICS | Special voting continues for millions in local elections

November 3 2026 19:07

IEC concludes special voting as 1.4-million South Africans cast ballots ahead of election day

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has concluded its two-day special voting process with more than 1.4-million voters having cast their ballots ahead of the 2026 local government elections.

The special voting process, which took place on November 2 and 3, provided an opportunity for approved voters who would otherwise be unable to visit voting stations on election day to cast their ballots in advance.

IEC concludes special voting as 1.4-million South Africans cast ballots ahead of election day

November 3 2026 18:55

IEC assures South Africans of credible elections amid attempts to ‘impugn’ the polls

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has assured South Africans that it has done everything possible within its powers to deliver credible local government elections.

This comes as the electoral body says it has picked up attempts from some quarters to malign the integrity of the elections a day before millions of South Africans head to the polls.

November 3 2026 18:13

Five things you need to know from IEC’s election briefing

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has warned against the spread of unsubstantiated election-fraud claims, saying they are fuelling misinformation on social media.

It also reported incidents of intimidation, disruptions and attempted tampering with election materials.

Five things you need to know from IEC’s election briefing

November 3 2026, 18:07

IEC assures South Africans of credible elections amid attempts to ‘impugn’ the polls

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it can assure South Africans that it has done everything possible within its powers to deliver credible local government elections.

This comes as the electoral body says it has picked up attempts from some quarters to malign the integrity of the elections a day before millions of South Africans head to the polls.

More than 29-million potential voters will have an opportunity to make their preferred choice among the 136,790 candidates, representing a total of 546 political parties across the country.

November 3 2026, 16:30

“Sibagadile, we are watching them closely,” says MKP’s Bongani Baloyi on IEC

Umkhonto weSizwe’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate Bongani Baloyi has issued a stern warning, saying that his party is closely guarding the local elections.

“Sibagadile (We are watching them closely). Our position is to operate from a level of distrust and that’s why we’ve deployed all sorts of mechanisms to protect interest and to protect our vote.”

Baloyi’s party was among those that questioned the integrity of the electoral commission in the previous election, where MKP claimed to have been robbed of votes and their intended two thirds majority.

‘Sibagadile, we are watching them closely,’ says MKP’s Bongani Baloyi on IEC

November 3 2026, 16:25

KZN election officer fired for using party-branded car to carry ‘sensitive’ election material

A KwaZulu-Natal presiding officer was dismissed on Tuesday for transporting sensitive election material in a party political branded vehicle.

In an update on special votes on Tuesday, Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) provincial electoral officer Ntombfuthi Masinga said the presiding officer from Hammarsdale was seen boarding an e-hailing taxi branded in party colours.

“On investigation, it was established that the e-hailing taxi did belong to the presiding officer concerned and was driven by her son,” she said.

KZN election officer fired for using party-branded car to carry ‘sensitive’ election material

November 3 2026, 16:15

IEC cannot confirm reports of dress-code restrictions at KZN voting station

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it has no information to report on allegations of a strict dress code being enforced at the Dlamini Tribal Court voting station in eDumbe, northern KwaZulu-Natal, where women were reportedly turned away for wearing trousers.

The allegations emerged during the second day of special voting for the 2026 local government elections after reports by the SABC that women, including an SABC journalist, had been prevented from entering the voting station because they were wearing pants.

IEC cannot confirm reports of dress-code restrictions at KZN voting station

November 3 2026, 16:10

Mokonyane rejects ANC blame for Gauteng water crisis

ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane has rejected attempts to blame the party for the water crisis gripping parts of Gauteng, arguing that the problem lies with an unreliable water supply system and the various entities responsible for its management.

Mokonyane said the crisis should not be placed at the ANC’s doorstep as residents head to the polls in the local government elections, insisting it was a national problem requiring interventions beyond individual municipalities.

Mokonyane rejects ANC blame for Gauteng water crisis

November 3 2026, 16:05

34 election misinformation complaints as candidates, supporters face arrests: IEC

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has warned political parties and their supporters against spreading unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, saying misleading social media posts are threatening the integrity of the local government elections.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission’s information integrity hub had identified increasing attempts to undermine confidence in the electoral process, particularly through social media platforms.

November 3 2026 16:03

EXPLAINER | What voters can expect at polling stations

As South Africans head to the polls on Wednesday for the 2026 local government elections, voters can expect a series of steps before casting their ballots.

From presenting the correct identification document to ensuring ballot papers are valid, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has outlined a process aimed at making voting easier while safeguarding the integrity and secrecy of the ballot.

IEC assistant manager Mmakgabo Ramatlhodi said voters will first encounter a queue walker who helps manage queues and direct voters at polling stations.

EXPLAINER | What voters can expect at polling stations

November 3 2026, 16:00

WATCH | MK Party’s Bongani Baloyi casting his vote in Sandton on Tuesday. https://t.co/C0rQjkUsGV

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 3, 2026

November 3 2026 15:25

Why Rustenburg is one of the most hotly contested municipalities

Rustenburg’s economic significance makes it one of the most important municipalities to watch in Wednesday’s local government elections, but attention is focused on major metros, says political analyst Prof André Duvenhage.

Duvenhage, from North-West University, warned that sluggish economic growth, poor service delivery and deteriorating infrastructure continue to undermine municipalities such as Rustenburg in the North West.

“We have major challenges. One of the biggest is the failure to create sustained economic growth and development. Statistics show that over the past decade growth has remained below 1%,” he said.

Why Rustenburg is one of the most hotly contested municipalities

November 3 2026 14:30

WATCH | Shortly after casting her vote in Mogale City, ANC’s Nomvula Mokonyane addressed key issues, including the water crisis in Johannesburg and across the country, as well as the decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to remove South Africa from AGOA beneficiary status.

WATCH | Shortly after casting her vote in Mogale City, ANC’s Nomvula Mokonyane addressed key issues, including the water crisis in Johannesburg and across the country, as well as the decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to remove South Africa from AGOA beneficiary status.

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 3, 2026

November 3 2026, 13:25

Police arrest Limpopo voter for taking photo of marked ballot

A 32-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly photographing his marked ballot paper at a voting station in Limpopo, with police searching for a second suspect accused of the same offence.

Limpopo police spokesperson Brig Hlulani Mashaba said the incidents occurred at Chuchekani Primary School voting station in the Humulani settlement in Lulekani on Monday.

Mashaba said the first incident was reported at about 10am when a 32-year-old voter allegedly photographed his ballot paper after voting. The presiding officer confronted him and informed him that photographing a marked ballot paper was against electoral rules.

Police arrest Limpopo voter for taking photo of marked ballot

November 3 2026, 12:30

‘People must vote or nothing will be done’

For some elderly voters at the Joubert Park Lapeng Child and Family Resource Centre in Johannesburg, voting is more than a right; it is a tradition and an opportunity to help secure a better future for the next generation.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Sowetan’s sister publication, John Masuku, who lives in Hillbrow, said he was voting because he wanted to see improvements in his community, particularly the condition of the roads.

He said the roads and robots where he stays don’t work, and he finds it hard to cross a busy road. “I’m voting because I need the roads to be fixed. I’m old now, and sometimes I can’t cross the road alone because they are always busy, so I ask my grandchildren to help me cross,” he said.

‘People must vote or nothing will be done’

November 3 2026 12:11

MALAIKA MAHLATSI | Years of Joburg rot is now rubbish on our pavements

On Tuesday morning, one day before millions of South Africans head to the polls to cast their votes in the 2026 local government elections, I walked through the streets of my neighbourhood in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.

Every street was lined with overflowing bins and half-open refuse bags. Flies and insects have congregated on driveways and entrances to complexes, estates and business premises.

The stench, including from the uncollected waste of numerous restaurants located in the neighbourhood, is paralysing. One day before elections, in the middle of a debilitating heatwave, the northern suburbs of Johannesburg resemble dystopian slums.

MALAIKA MAHLATSI | Years of Joburg rot is now rubbish on our pavements

November 3, 2026, 12:O8

Two arrested in Limpopo for allegedly removing election posters, burning political party T-shirt

Limpopo police have arrested two suspects in two separate cases involving election-related offences, including the alleged unlawful removal of election posters and intimidation.

Two arrested in Limpopo for allegedly removing election posters, burning political party T-shirt

November 3, 2026, 11:40

WATCH LIVE | IEC briefs media on first day of special voting

The Electoral Commission of South Africa is briefing the media on Tuesday about day two of special voting.

WATCH LIVE | IEC briefs media on first day of special voting

November 3 2026, 11:10

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS | It is a quiet morning at Lapeng child and family resource centre, a voting station in Joubert Park, Joburg. The voting centre is relatively empty, with very little activity as the special voting process gets under way for the second day. Download our App,… pic.twitter.com/JqGEzEBo0e

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) November 3, 2026

November 3 2026, 10:35

WATCH | The morning has been quiet at the Joubert Park, Lapeng child and family resource centre, where elderly voters are expected to cast their special votes, with no long queues.

View this post on Instagram

November 3 2026 08:00

GCINA MTENGWANE | When democracy multiplies parties but not purpose

On Wednesday South Africans will face the most crowded local election ballots in the country’s democratic history.

About 546 political parties are contesting. That is about 60% higher than the 325 parties that took part in 2021. Nearly 137,000 candidates are competing for just over 10,500 council seats. These numbers express a constitutional right to form and join political parties.

They also reflect a citizenry that has grown restless with the established order.

GCINA MTENGWANE | When democracy multiplies parties but not purpose

November 2 2026 16:10

THE POLITICAL ARENA | Voter anger or apathy: Will South Africans turn out to demand change?

With South Africa’s November 4 local government elections just days away, voters face a critical choice: how to hold political parties accountable for failing services, and whether changing their vote can reshape the country’s metros.

In this episode of The Political Arena, Business Day political editor Hajra Omarjee is joined by Sowetan editor Sibongakonke Shoba, TimesLIVE and Sunday Times digital politics editor Lizeka Tandwa, and Sunday Times senior political reporter Kgothatso Madisa to examine voter apathy, shifting political loyalties and the battle for control of local government.

November 2 2026 15:40

IEC has over 700 cases of election-related disinformation

The spread of misinformation and disinformation has emerged as a growing concern ahead of South Africa’s local government elections, The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has received more than 700 complaints about election-related disinformation as voters prepare to go to the polls on Wednesday.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said some complaints involved content circulating on social media platform X, including photographs manipulated using AI. However, he said the incidents had not significantly disrupted the electoral environment.

IEC has over 700 cases of election-related disinformation

November 2 2026 15:19

Ballot boxes stolen as special voting begins in KZN

Ballot boxes and a training module were reported stolen from Amahlongwa Community Hall in Zambeni, the IEC said in its KwaZulu-Natal special voting update on Monday.

The IEC said replacement election material was delivered and the voting station was operational.

Ballot boxes stolen as special voting begins in KZN

November 2 2026 13:10

RECORDED | IEC briefs media on first day of special voting

The Electoral Commission of South Africa is briefing the media on Monday about day one of special voting.

November 1 2026, 18:02

Surprise! You’re an EFF candidate

The EFF has been dealt an embarrassing court blow after the Electoral Court found that the party nominated a man as its ward councillor candidate without his consent.

The court ruled that Sivuyile Jacquin Tshikila was not an EFF candidate in Ward 03 in the Raymond Mhlaba local municipality in the Eastern Cape. It ordered the IEC to ensure voters could not cast their ballots for him during the local government elections on Wednesday.

The judgment comes a few weeks after the ANC won a court fight for the inclusion of its 181 candidates whose names were not submitted by the party to the IEC for elections.

Surprise! You’re an EFF candidate

November 1 2026 17:50

‘The ANC is still mighty’ | Ramaphosa vows party will defy critics at polls

President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed suggestions that the ANC is on a downward spiral, telling supporters in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape that the party is gaining momentum ahead of Wednesday’s local government elections.

Addressing supporters at the party’s final push to win over voters at the Siyanqoba rally at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium on Sunday, Ramaphosa said the ANC would use the November 4 elections to prove its critics wrong.

“We are three days away from a very important election. Many people are saying the ANC is on its downward spiral. What I am seeing here is that the ANC is going higher and higher, and on November 4 we are going to show those that say ANC is going to lose,” he said.

‘The ANC is still mighty’ | Ramaphosa vows party will defy critics at polls

November 1 2026, 17:45

‘We will take them out’ | Ramaphosa threatens to remove underperforming councillors and mayors

President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that ANC councillors and mayors who fail to serve communities or misuse public funds will be removed from their positions, saying the party wants ethical, capable and accountable leaders in local government.

Addressing supporters at the ANC’s final rally ahead of elections at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, Ramaphosa said the party expects its elected representatives to prioritise service delivery, responsible spending, and economic development rather than treating political office as a personal entitlement.

“We want to place emphasis on making sure that we get accountable and capable and ethical people who are going to be elected because we want municipalities that are properly run municipalities that use public money responsibly and municipalities that will also maintain infrastructure and support economic development,” he said.

‘We will take them out’ | Ramaphosa threatens to remove underperforming councillors and mayors

November 1 2026, 17:40

Zuma returns to stage, promises MK Party will ‘take back our country’

MK Party president Jacob Zuma told thousands of supporters who braved extreme heat at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu on Sunday that the MK Party will soon take over the land and lead many municipalities.

“In a few days we will be taking back our country,” Zuma said.

“In a few days we will be taking over our land. We will be in charge of many municipalities. No matter what other people can say and do, we are ready.”

Zuma, 84, was addressing the MK Party’s final Sithatha Omasipala rally ahead of Wednesday’s local government elections.

Zuma returns to stage, promises MK Party will ‘take back our country’

FBI director Kash Patel said the 82-year-old father-in-law of Prince Harry was taken into custody by federal agents in Florida, where, according to the Daily Mail, the elder Markle, who uses a wheelchair, was a nursing home patient.

“Mr Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions,” Patel said.

In a criminal complaint filed on Thursday in the US District Court in Los Angeles, Markle was charged with one count of “possession of child pornography”.

If convicted, Markle could face up to 20 years in prison, the justice department said.

Markle, a resident of Lakeland, Florida, made his initial court appearance before a US magistrate judge in nearby Tampa. The judge ordered him released to await trial on condition that he submit to home detention and electronic monitoring, the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles said.

No plea was entered, and an arraignment is not expected for several weeks.

Markle’s defence counsel was not immediately known, and it was not clear when he might be transferred to California to face the charge against him.

According to an FBI affidavit filed as part of the criminal complaint, Markle kept the sexually explicit material in question in two Los Angeles-area storage units he has rented since 2008, which agents searched last week after obtaining a warrant.

Agents seized about 78 items, including slides, 35mm film negatives, and books containing child sexual abuse images, according to the affidavit. The 13-page document stated that at least two of the frames on film negatives showed a man identified by a witness as Markle with a “nude pre-pubescent girl” in poses “designed to elicit a sexual response in the viewer”. In one image, the man appeared to be fondling the girl’s genitalia.

Buckingham Palace and a spokesperson for Meghan Markle did not respond to requests for comment.

Authorities in the Philippines, where Thomas Markle had previously lived for some time, began investigating him last month over allegations he possessed child sexual abuse images. British police last month said they would refer allegations about him to overseas law enforcement agencies after finding that claims had not been passed to other authorities when they were first received.

The FBI began its investigation of Markle in October, according to its affidavit, after hearing from a witness who said they had discovered suspected child abuse material among Markle’s possessions in the Philippines. The FBI also spoke last month with a second witness, also unidentified in the affidavit, who said Markle rented at least one storage unit in California.

At least one of the photographs reviewed by the FBI shows Markle was staying at a hotel or motel in the Philippines, based on the logo seen on the pillows on the bed.

Markle denied the accusations of possessing child sexual abuse material when they initially came to light, telling the Daily Mail they were untrue and “sick lies”.

Meghan Markle, an American actor who married King Charles’ younger son in 2018, has said she was “deeply distressed” over the allegations.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

At first glance, Killarney Road in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs appears to be just another exclusive, leafy street that is home to some of the city’s wealthiest people. The high walls, guardhouses and surveillance cameras tell a story.

But a closer peek reveals a community bristling with some of the country’s most powerful players.

At just 155m long, Killarney Road borders Hyde Park and Sandhurst and is home to President Cyril Ramaphosa. He rubs shoulders with an assortment of neighbours, including EFF leader Julius Malema; Bellarmine Mugabe, the son of Zimbabwe’s late president Robert Mugabe; and cigarette tycoon and self-confessed tax cheat Adriano Mazzotti.

But perhaps the most notorious person associated with the road is businessman Hangwani Maumela, whose alleged involvement in the R2bn Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal has thrust his property empire into the spotlight.

• Click here to read the full article.

Story audio is generated using AI

By Philip van Ryneveld and Jugal Mahabir

Most large municipalities buy electricity in bulk from Eskom and sell it to consumers with a markup that must pay for the municipality’s own electricity distribution networks, including operations and maintenance plus equipment such as transformers and municipal power lines.

Historically, municipalities have generated a surplus doing this, using it to cross-subsidise other services. Electricity has been the largest single activity on municipal budgets — and the biggest item on a household’s municipal account.

The recently launched local government white paper identifies many critical internal local government problems, including poor administration and corruption, and sets out measures to tackle them.

It also identifies key external challenges faced by municipal governments.

Click here to read the full article.

• Van Ryneveld and Mahabir were involved in the drafting of the recent local government white paper. Van Ryneveld is a former CFO of Cape Town, and Mahabir works at the Public Affairs Research Institute.

Story audio is generated using AI

After its surprising performance in the local government elections, the SACP says it will impose tough conditions before lending support to the ANC in hung municipal councils that need coalition governments.

The SACP clinched an unexpected 230 municipal seats in councils around the country after its decision to go it alone due to differences with its ANC ally.

The ANC needs all the help it can get to form coalition governments in more than 100 municipalities where there was no outright majority winner in the watershed elections on Wednesday.

SACP central committee member Alex Mashilo said the party’s campaign in this election was not about advancing the interests of any other party.

• Click here to read the full article.

Story audio is generated using AI

Former South African Football Association (Safa) vice-president Ria Ledwaba faces the prospect of having her assets attached and sold to recover more than R8.3m in outstanding tax debt owed to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

In a final demand issued to Ledwaba, the revenue collector warns that failure to settle the outstanding amount could result in a civil judgment against her, paving the way for a warrant of execution to be issued and the sheriff attaching and selling her assets to recover the money.

The demand, dated October 7 and filed in court on November 2, gives Ledwaba 10 business days to make full payment or approach Sars with alternative arrangements.

• Click here to read the full article.

Story audio is generated using AI

Across SA, individuals and community movements that organise, advocate and demand accountability are confronted by efforts to delegitimise their work.

Through polarising political rhetoric, misinformation and attempts to cast civic action as a threat rather than a democratic necessity, activists are often portrayed as obstacles to development rather than defenders of constitutional rights.

This narrowing of public discourse poses a profound challenge not only to environmental and social justice movements but also to democracy itself.

For when those who speak out in defence of their communities are silenced, undermined or demonised, it is not only their rights that are under threat but also the very principles of participation, transparency and accountability on which our constitutional order depends.

The state of shrinking civic space and the impact this has on communities’ ability to build movements, organise and mobilise for sociopolitical and economic change, protecting democratic values, should be embedded within how movements envision their evolution.

In the face of this reality, civil society needs to chart an alternative by employing a much more solid collective organising based on meaningful solidarity and push back against the weaponisation of the state for ulterior motives.

We are witnessing this within the rise of authoritarian elements within our “democratic” government, where powerful actors, often driven by corporate and capitalistic intentions of governments aiming to maximise profit at the expense of citizens’ rights, take centre stage in defining what ought to be viewed as a narrative seeking to establish a situation de facto that perpetuates societal discord against civil society.

A clear collusion between the state and private corporations’ interests at times manifests in a much more sophisticated use of lawfare.

In SA, the manifestations of these are led by the political and ruling elite punting narratives that project civil society as “antidevelopment” and “regime change agents”.

In worst cases, as witnessed in some countries, the manifestation of this modus operandi takes the form of legal and administrative strategies. With governments actively and administratively imposing restrictions on the ability for communities, the broader citizenry and civil society’s ability to organise, protest and dissent.

These can be viewed as an existential threat to human rights and the communities’ ability to actively participate in decision-making processes that have a direct impact on their lives.

We see the key drivers and tactics that are often used, including targeting the foundation of public participation through:

• Introduction of restrictive legislation (General Intelligence Amendment Bill)
• Philanthropic protectionism that actively seeks to restrict foreign funding used as a pretext for the demonisation of civics.
• Stigmatisation and smear campaigns, where politicians and policy makers polarise public opinion through labels referencing civil society as a threat to national security.
• The use of lawfare through strategic litigation against public participation to silence critics through expensive long-term litigation as a deterrent and avoidance for demanding transparency and accountability.
• Direct violence seen through arbitrary arrests, harassment and killing of human rights defenders and activists.
• Uncritical fourth estate and the complicity of media for not holding public representatives and private voices accountable for the inaccurate public utterances they make, seeking to negate and absolve themselves from taking responsibility for the decisions that they make that foster the status quo of inequality.
• Active digital monitoring of activists.
• Deliberate state infiltration of civil society organisations and social movements in general, with the sole intention of sowing divisions and weakening the ability to self-organise of these movements.
• Militarisation of law enforcement, state resources often being weaponised against communities that openly show dissent through numerous mass actions like protest.

We can’t afford to submit our will to private and political interests to supersede the ability for communities to protect and enforce their rights.

The only way, even in the face of repression, is for communities to continue to organise, mobilise and agitate for social change!

• Nkosi is an activist support & training programme co-ordinator at the Centre for Environmental Rights

Sowetan

Neuer became Bayern’s oldest player at 40 years, 225 days, overtaking Bernd Dreher, but was forced off with a recurrence of a foot injury that had kept him out of recent matches, replaced before halftime by Jonas Urbig, 23.

Neuer was left flailing at a cross that resulted in Mainz’s Lee Jae-Sung putting the ball in the back of the net with Bayern leading 1-0, though the effort was ruled out for offside.

Neuer’s mistake against Augsburg last month which resulted in the fastest-ever Bundesliga goal after eight seconds by Robin Fellhauer was the latest in a growing number for the keeper once regarded among the best in the world.

According to Sofascore using Opta data, that error was his fifth that led to a goal in his previous 17 Bundesliga games, or one every 3.4 matches. In 248 appearances before that, he made just 10 such errors, or one every 24.8 games.

Foot injury

Neuer played twice since that Augsburg fixture, which ended 2-2, missing four games with the foot injury. He returned for this week’s 2-0 Champions League win at Atletico Madrid.

Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane could not find the net against Mainz but did provide two assists for Joshua Kimmich and 18-year-old Lennart Karl as Bayern extended their unbeaten away run in the league to 31 games.

They maintained their lead at the top of the Bundesliga from Borussia Dortmund with both clubs on 21 points from nine games. Bayern have a superior goal difference.

Dortmund were given a scare by promoted Elversberg but won 2-1 thanks to two goals from Felix Nmecha.

Third-placed RB Leipzig, who are three points behind the leaders, won 5-2 at home to Augsburg, while Jonathan Burkardt scored a 93rd-minute equaliser for Eintracht Frankfurt as they drew 2-2 at Paderborn in a battle between two midtable sides.

Reuters

It was not fluent or convincing but Martin Odegaard’s poacher’s goal in the 72nd-minute earned Mikel Arteta’s side a sixth league win by a single-goal margin this season.

Arsenal moved to 27 points from 10 games, six clear of second-placed Manchester City who will try to bounce back from consecutive defeats at Nottingham Forest later on Saturday.

Tottenham Hotspur’s recent revival came to a halt as they went down 1-0 at Leeds United for whom Noah Okafor struck the winner 97 seconds after coming off the bench at Elland Road.

There was controversy, though, with Leeds fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men in the first half when Jayden Bogle escaped a red card for a dangerous tackle on Mathys Tel.

Fulham and Newcastle United shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage — Jacob Murphy giving the hosts a late lead only for Rodrigo Muniz to equalise.

Arsenal showed last season a champions knack for picking up wins even without hitting top gear and it was very much in evidence against a Hull side who provided a stern test.

Captain Odegaard had not scored since September but was on hand to snaffle a rebound after Noni Madueke’s shot had been saved by Hull keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis.

Tottenham were seeking a fourth successive win but faded against Leeds and Okafor drove home a low shot from the edge of the area in the 79th minute.

That proved enough for Leeds to end a five-match winless league run and move above Tottenham into eighth place with 14 points. Tottenham have 12 points.

Tottenham fans were furious that Bogle was spared any punishment for his rash lunge on Tel which resulted in the Tottenham winger being forced off with an ankle injury — the VAR check on the challenge taking four minutes.

Visiting manager Roberto de Zerbi played down the controversy, however.

“I’m sorry for the result, but first of all I’m sorry for the performance in the second half,” the Italian said. “We didn’t play like a top team, we played without the right spirit, the right character, the right physicality in the duels.”

Reuters

There were 10 tries as both sides showed elements of their running game but errors and yellow cards also impacted on the outcome, with Scotland looking rusty and the All Blacks finishing strongly.

Veteran back Beauden Barrett scored two tries to bring his Test tally to 50 with Wallace Sititi, Ethan de Groot, Peter Lakai, Josh Moorby and Asafo Aumua also crossing the line for the Kiwis and Damian McKenzie kicking four conversions

Hooker Ewan Ashman notched a hat-trick of tries for Scotland in the first half, all converted by Finn Russell.

The win keeps New Zealand alongside South Africa, who thumped Italy earlier on Saturday, on 20 points at the top of the Southern Hemisphere standings but defeat for Scotland comes as a heavy blow to their hopes of topping the Northern Hemisphere section.

“We played our rugby in the first half but we probably left points out there. We were nowhere near accurate enough second-half, and we couldn’t stick with them, it’s really disappointing,” said Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu.

The first of seven first-half tries came in the fourth minute as the All Blacks’ attacking intent was signalled straight away with a penalty opportunity spurned and a clever decoy from the resultant lineout allowing Sititi to burst over.

But there was an immediate response from the hosts after Kyle Rowe’s long kick earned them a 50-22 and, from the resultant lineout, Ashman scored.

Two tries in four minutes put the All Blacks 10 points clear in the 20th minute with De Groot bursting over after scrumhalf Cam Roigaard took a quick tap penalty and Lakai scored from a lineout maul to make it 17-7.

Yellow cards for Lakai and Sititi meant New Zealand were effectively down to 14 men for the rest of the half with Ashman scoring twice more to complete his treble but in between Barrett crossed for his first try.

There was a three-point difference at the break with Scotland still holding out hopes of ending their 121-year winless streak against New Zealand, who have now won 32 of 34 meetings between the sides with two draws.

But the All Blacks stepped up a gear to score three more tries in a second half littered with stoppages as Scotland made many errors and had their captain sent to the sin bin.

Josh Moorby’s 48th-minute try in the corner was followed two minutes later by Barrett’s second score and substitute Aumua burst through to claim the last of the All Blacks’ 19 unanswered second-half points in the 67th minute.

The gulf in class was all too evident after the break with New Zealand looking much more cohesive, having had an eight-match tour of South Africa and two Bledisloe Cup matches against Australia since July when Scotland last played.

“It’s pleasing, we had a tough tour in Africa, came back and played some pretty impressive rugby against Australia. We love playing this style of rugby, keeping the ball on the park,” said All Blacks’ man of the match Quinn Tupaea.

Reuters

The injured included two police officers who were hurt in a shoot-out with the attacker, who police said wore “military-style” clothes. Police said they started to receive reports at around 3pm that an assailant had opened fire from a car and shot randomly at people in the square.

Unverified footage shared on social media showed people fleeing the scene as shots and police sirens rang out. Other video showed people lying on blood-spattered paving stones and bystanders trying to resuscitate them.

“I saw shots being fired from the driver’s side window, and smoke was coming out. I ran to the police station in the main market square; when I burst inside, it was full of people hiding on the floor,” a man who gave his name only as Konrad, and witnessed the shooting, told news website Interia.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X he was being kept informed about the incident in the historic centre of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction.

“The man was wearing military-style attire,” a police spokesperson told reporters, adding: “During the arrest, officers used their weapons, but the man returned fire; as a result, two police officers are among the injured.”

“The perpetrator was shot by police officers and is currently being transported to a hospital,” police said on X.

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki said his thoughts were with the victims, those affected, and their families.

Reuters

The four-time champion clocked one minute 11.622 seconds, 0.025 faster than the 20-year-old Mercedes driver who had topped the second practice at Interlagos circuit on Friday.

Verstappen is set to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after collecting a penalty for an engine change, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc also face grid drops for taking new internal combustion engines.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, fastest in FP1, was third quickest on Saturday, 0.131 off the pace, with Mercedes’ George Russell fourth. Russell will take a five-place grid penalty, also for an engine change.

Leclerc was fifth fastest, while teammate Hamilton finished 12th after an apparent engine issue. The 41-year-old Briton reported “strange” engine vibrations and smoke in the cockpit over the radio before stopping.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed only seven laps due to a suspected energy recovery system issue, finishing last.

Brazilian Rafael Camara, making his season debut after replacing Esteban Ocon at Haas, finished the session 15th, ahead of his teammate Oliver Bearman. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, the other local driver, was 10th fastest.

Qualifying takes place later on Saturday, with rain expected but yet to arrive at the atmospheric Brazilian circuit.

Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur fans raged after Leeds United’s Jayden Bogle escaped a red card for a careless challenge on Mathys Tel that injured the French forward on Saturday, but boss Roberto De Zerbi refused to blame his side’s 1-0 Premier League defeat on the decision.

Bogle’s clumsy challenge just after the half-hour mark prompted a long VAR review. Referee John Brooks ultimately chose not to book the Leeds player but Tel was forced off shortly afterwards by an ankle injury suffered in the clash, and replaced by Dominic Solanke.

“I have a big confidence in the referee, nothing changes if he (Brooks) goes to watch the clip or not, I think. There was the VAR and if they didn’t take the right decision, I don’t know, but we have confidence. We have to keep the eyes on the performance (and) where we can improve,” De Zerbi told broadcaster TNT Sports.

“We didn’t play like we can. It’s a journey for us because we can learn from this game... there was the solution, there was the space, there was the way to attack and to play better and to defend better.”

The departure of Tel seemed to rob Spurs of some of their momentum and De Zerbi said his players were off the pace for the remainder of the game.

“I’m sorry for the result but first of all, I’m sorry for the performance in the second half — we didn’t play like a top team, we played without the right spirit, the right character, the right physicality in the duels.”

Leeds manager Daniel Farke was delighted with his side’s first league win since September, and said that Bogle’s clash with Tel was not intentional.

“It’s a very unlucky outcome that Mathys is injured and we wish him all the best and he can recover quickly,” Farke said.

“The last thing Jayden Bogle is is a nasty player. He’s possibly the softest player in the whole league. I always call him my butterfly, and I can guarantee it was never out of bad intention.”

Reuters