Polity Audio Articles

IEC moves to finalise candidate lists, district councils after local elections The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced on Thursday that the constitution of district councils is the main pending process to formally conclude the 2026 local government elections. Following the announcement of the election results on Sunday, the Commission initiated the final statutory steps required befor...

SAHRC lauds 'maturing democracy', higher turnout in 2026 local government elections The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has welcomed the largely incident-free 2026 local government elections, praising citizens who braved last week's heatwave to exercise their constitutional right to vote. In a statement reflecting on the polls, the Commission confirmed that it deployed more than 36 e...

ANC spokesperson: Ramaphosa is not under pressure to resign The leader of the ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa, is not under pressure to resign, the ANC's spokesperson said on Thursday, after the party's share of the vote plummeted in last week's municipal elections. "The president is going nowhere," ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu told reporters before a meeting of the party's National Executive C...

IEC, MKP reach 'amicable resolution' over Umlazi rally remarks The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and the MKP have amicably resolved a legal dispute stemming from comments made during a public gathering in Umlazi last month, agreeing to withdraw their respective filings in the Durban High Court. The dispute originated from an official MKP event in Umlazi on October 25. According to the...

JHB civic movement warns against 'kingmaker' deals as city coalition negotiations begin Civic movement the Joburg Crisis Alliance (JCA) has issued an urgent call for political parties to abandon "transactional politics" and prioritise the interests of residents as coalition negotiations get underway for the City of Johannesburg. In a statement released on Wednesday, the movement warned that the ci...

Cogta issues new coalition guidelines to safeguard service delivery after local elections In a decisive move to prevent political instability from derailing municipal services, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has issued guidelines for stable coalitions in local government. The release follows the local government elections held last Thursday, which solid...

Ramaphosa approves salary increases for public office bearers President Cyril Ramaphosa has approved salary increases for public office bearers for the 2026/2027 financial year, a move that the Presidency said balanced official recommendations with the nation's economic constraints. The decision, announced on Tuesday by presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, implements a 3.5% pay raise for po...

EFF demands retraction, apology from Zille over Malema corruption allegations The EFF has issued a formal legal demand to DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille, following apparent controversial remarks she made during a recent television interview, calling on her to issue a full retraction, a public apology, a formal press statement, and a written undertaking that she will not repeat the a...

Third-quarter unemployment rate increases to 33.7%, youth figure decreases South Africa's official unemployment rate increased to 33.7% in the third quarter, from 33.6% in the second quarter, data published by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) shows. The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that the number of employed persons had increased by 101 000 to 16.8-million in the third quarter, wh...

Metro stability, skills visas, trade opportunities in focus in this week's BLSA newsletter Industry organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) has affirmed that business stands ready to support capable municipal leaders with skills and resources provided they ensure stable metro governments. CEO Busisiwe Mavuso also highlights that the Department of Home Affairs' (DHA's) approval of 71 c...

ActionSA, EFF kick off post-election coalition talks with 'positive' first meeting Following the conclusion of the 2026 local government elections last week, political parties have swiftly moved into intense negotiations to form municipal councils. On Monday, ActionSA met with the EFF negotiations team to discuss potential coalition frameworks, describing the initial engagement as "positive, mutua...

Ramaphosa urges newly elected leaders to prioritise service delivery after local elections President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for its professionalism following the release of the 2026 local government election results, urging newly elected leaders to set aside political differences and "get to work". In his weekly letter to the nation on Monday, Ramapho...

SACP demands trade review after US drops SA from Agoa The SACP has condemned the US government's decision to terminate South Africa's eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) and, in response, is calling for a review of all Agoa-related concessions and arrangements previously granted to the US. The US administration said the exclusion will take effect on January 1, 2027. Accor...

Hill-Lewis expresses 'deep hope' after election surge, vows to build stable coalitions DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis declared on Friday that the party will emerge as the largest political force in major metropolitan areas, such as Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Nelson Mandela Bay; as he turned his sights on the need to build stable coalitions. With over 70% of ballots counted by 09:00 on Fr...

ANC set for major vote loss, city coalition battles loom The ANC was heading for major losses in municipal elections, results showed on Friday, setting the stage for multi-party coalition battles to control Johannesburg and other major conurbations. With 81% of votes counted by 1130 GMT, the ANC had 32% against 25% for its main rival, the DA. If that holds, the party that has dominated South Afric...

Treasury expects debt-to-GDP ratio to fall below 70% by 2032/33 National Treasury says South Africa's debt-to-GDP ratio peaked at 74.6% in 2025/26, and that it now projects that the debt-to-GDP ratio will fall below 70% by 2032/33, which is one year earlier than forecast in the October 21 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). Treasury recalculated South Africa's fiscal metrics after Statist...

IEC reports 34.8% of election results captured following overnight counting The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has reported significant progress in the counting and capturing of votes, with Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo confirming that 34.8% of result slips had already been captured by 09:00 AM on Thursday. Speaking at a media briefing following the closure of voting stations at...

Hill-Lewis projects DA majority win in Cape Town as election results roll in The DA's Cape Town mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis has projected that the party will secure roughly 58% of the vote in the City of Cape Town, positioning it to be potentially the only metropolitan municipality in South Africa to govern with an outright majority. Speaking to activists and supporters following an inten...

Political outrage, anxiety as US terminates SA's Agoa benefits The announcement by the Office of the US Trade Representative of the termination of South Africa's duty-free trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) has triggered a wave of condemnation and concern across South Africa's political and civic landscapes. Opposition parties, agricultural unions, and civil society...

1.3m special votes cast as IEC navigates disinformation, some disruptions IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo announced on Tuesday that the final day of special voting for the local government elections is progressing smoothly across all nine provinces, with a conservative estimate of 1.3-million special votes cast by midday. Speaking at a media briefing, Mamabolo confirmed that all voting sta...

Absa PMI improves for a second consecutive month in October The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) increased by 0.9 points to 49.6 in October, from a revised 48.7 in September, marking a second consecutive monthly improvement, with all five components of the headline index increasing. However, while activity and new sales orders have recovered some ground from their August l...

SAHRC releases inquiry report into the state of the water sector in Gauteng The South African Human Rights Commission's (SAHRC's) Gauteng provincial office on Monday released its 'Inquiry Report into the State of Water and Sanitation Service Delivery in Gauteng', outlining its findings into the province's water challenges. The commission held the investigative inquiry from May 19 to 21 to probe th...

Ramaphosa says SAPS ready ahead of 'biggest' local election as he urges voting for progress As South Africans prepare to head to the polls on Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa is calling for a peaceful vote "for progress and development". Amid fears of election violence, Ramaphosa revealed that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has undertaken risk assessments and simulation exercises over...

DA demands accountability as Information Regulator launches probe into Land Bank The DA has demanded that the Land Bank fully cooperate with the Information Regulator and provide a "lawful response" to an outstanding Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request. This call comes after the Information Regulator confirmed it will launch a pre-investigation into a complaint lodged by DA Membe...

Electoral Court delivers rulings on party funding appeals, municipal list disputes The Electoral Court has handed down two significant decisions shaping South African political and electoral jurisprudence, granting the GOOD Party leave to appeal a major party funding ruling, while dismissing a DA bid to block ActionSA from supplementing its proportional representation (PR) councillor lists. The GO...