Polity Audio Articles

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...

ActionSA, DA demand systemic overhaul after Johnson, Khan arrests The high-profile arrests of former Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Andrea Johnson and former Crime Intelligence deputy head Major-General Feroz Khan on Friday sparked intense political reactions, with opposition parties declaring the developments a "definitive exposure of systemic vulnerabilities" in South A...

Cachalia seeks Cabinet approval to appoint Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as new Hawks head Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has initiated the formal process to appoint KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as the new National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, widely known as the Hawks. The Police Ministry confirmed on Thursday that Cac...

GOOD, RISE Mzansi carve up Gauteng, W Cape to fight fragmentation As South Africa prepares for the November Local Government Elections, Polity is engaging with political parties contesting the elections in a series of interviews to examine their manifestos, policy priorities and plans for local government. In a major strategic alignment ahead of the November 4 local government elections, GOOD part...

South Africa economy estimated to be 4.9% bigger after rebasing South Africa's economy was estimated to be 4.9% larger than previously reported after a benchmarking and rebasing exercise, the statistics agency said on Thursday. Statistics South Africa said the exercise raised the size of the economy in 2022 to R6.99-trillion from a previously published estimate of R6.67-trillion. The agency said i...

AI, ultra-cheap disinformation threatens voter trust – experts As South Africa prepares for the highly anticipated local government elections, the intersection of AI, political campaigning, and digital disinformation has triggered intense national scrutiny. At a recent high-level roundtable focused on combating fake news, public officials and independent fact-checkers converged to sound the alarm...

South Africa risks return to money-laundering grey list South Africa faces a significant risk of returning to the Financial Action Task Force's grey list barely a year after it secured removal, according to the latest quarterly assessment from business lobby group Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA). The FATF grey list names countries under increased monitoring for weaknesses in fighting money...

RISE Mzansi, GOOD to merge at 'earliest opportunity', as Zibi punts systemic change in final election push As South Africa prepares for the November Local Government Elections, Polity is engaging with political parties contesting the elections in a series of interviews to examine their manifestos, policy priorities and plans for local government. As political parties make their final pledges for c...

Ramaphosa receives final report on Iran's participation in naval exercise President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially received the final report from the independent panel appointed to investigate naval drills known as "Exercise MOSI III: Will of Peace." The Presidency confirmed that the panel, chaired by retired Justice Bernard Ngoepe, concluded its probe into how Iran's navy participated in the join...

Hill-Lewis warns against 'coalition chaos', urges Capetonians to secure DA majority Ahead of next week's highly anticipated local government elections, DA leader and Cape Town mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis has issued a strong warning to residents against splitting their votes, urging them to keep "coalition chaos" out of the city by voting for the DA. Speaking at a campaign announcement in...

Ramaphosa deploys army to KZN to curb anti-immigrant violence President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the deployment of 510 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) to assist the South African Police Service (SAPS) under Operation Prosper. The temporary deployment comes in response to recent outbreaks of public violence and planned anti-immigrant marches...

EFF, Ramaphosa congratulate Brazil's Lula on fourth term President Cyril Ramaphosa and the EFF have extended congratulations to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following his election comeback on Sunday, securing a historic fourth term. The win has been hailed by the EFF and Ramaphosa as a defining moment for democracy, the Global South, and the ongoing fight against global inequality...

Ramaphosa credits SARS recovery with boosting public finances, funding social wage President Cyril Ramaphosa has credited the post-State capture recovery of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) with driving improved tax collection rates, which in turn are funding critical social and developmental programmes across the country. Writing in his weekly newsletter to the nation, Ramaphosa emphasise...