Polity Audio Articles

Mistra warns fragmentation will make 2026 coalition talks complex The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) released the third edition of its Coalitions Barometer, on Wednesday, revealing a surprising decoupling between local political instability and municipal audit outcomes. Despite a chaotic political landscape with routine Motions of No Confidence (MONCs) and shifting alliance...

South Africa to establish new Commission to oversee State firms South Africa intends establishing a commission chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa to coordinate the work of its State-owned firms after shelving plans to place them under the auspices of a holding company. The new panel will review a national strategy that outlines what role the firms should play and ensure the government exercises...

South Africa drops to 87 in global economic freedom ranking South Africa has ranked eighty-seventh out of 165 countries and territories in the 'Economic Freedom of the World: 2026 Annual Report' (EFW), published by the Free Market Foundation (FMF) in conjunction with Canada's Fraser Institute. The latest ranking reflects a further decline for South Africa, which previously hovered at eighty-third...

Parties, union demand fuel price relief ahead of Budget The unprecedented hikes in fuel prices have triggered widespread outrage, prompting political parties, civil society organisations, and trade unions to launch a unified call for immediate government intervention. According to official data released by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, 93 octane petrol will surge by R3.12 a li...

Voters urged to 'rescue' Joburg from 'corrupt crime-council ecosystem' Voters must use the upcoming local government elections to rescue Johannesburg from a "devastating crime-council ecosystem" that thrives on the city's decay, Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) executive director Ann Bernstein urged on Tuesday. Launching the CDE's latest report, 'Time for Action – Corruption in Joburg',...

NGO critiques local govt failures ahead of elections, launches voter tool As South Africa approaches its local government elections, non-governmental organisation My Vote Counts (MVC) has launched a scathing critique of municipal service delivery, warning that decades of documented failures have allowed "local government rot" to fester despite a robust legislative framework. In response to these p...

DA launches relentless final campaign push following surge in latest polls The DA has announced it will work relentlessly over the next month to secure outright majorities in the City of Tshwane, City of Johannesburg, and the City of Cape Town municipalities, in its aim to "rescue" these key metros from what it terms the "chaos of unstable coalitions". This aggressive campaign strategy comes in re...

Court orders oral evidence over Dlamini-Zuma's ANC vote-buying claims In a major legal development shaking the ANC, the High Court has directed that the defamation dispute between party veteran Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula must be resolved through oral evidence. Following the decision, Mbalula clarified that the judgment does not validate the allegations made...

Developing countries hit by overlapping crises, UNDP chief warns Rising energy costs, a super El Nino and soaring borrowing costs are increasing pressure on developing countries, with conditions nearing those of the pandemic when the G20 suspended debt payments for the poorest nations, the United Nations Development Programme said on Friday. Global policymakers are expected to discuss the huge cha...

Fuel subsidies may top $1tr as Iran war drags, UN says Governments around the world are running out of room to shield consumers from higher energy prices resulting from the Iran war and other crises, with fuel subsidies potentially costing more than $1 trillion this year, a United Nations study found. Global policy interventions to cushion the impact of rising food and energy prices will become mo...

Mass shootings show the face of South African murder is changing On a recent Saturday night, a minibus taxi drew up to a tavern in the gold-mining town of Carletonville west of Johannesburg. Eight men armed with AK-47 rifles alighted from the vehicle before gunning down patrons. Eighteen people died. "They entered the main entrance of the tavern and started shooting randomly," said Mfuneko Dyosini...

Franz Ruch appointed seventh MPC member Economist Franz Ruch has been appointed as an adviser to the governors of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), effective October 1. As part of the appointment, he will serve as the seventh member of the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Ruch joins the SARB from global financial institution the World Bank, where he served as a senior economist...

South African food inflation rose in August, ending six months of decline South African food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation (hereafter to be referred to simply as food inflation, for short) rose in both year-on-year and month-on-month terms in August, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has reported, in its latest Food Inflation Brief. In year-on-year terms, food inflati...

ActionSA welcomes IEC opposition to 'hypocritical' DA electoral court challenge ActionSA has welcomed the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC) answering affidavit opposing an urgent DA Electoral Court challenge, arguing that it would disrupt the entire election process. ActionSA believes the filing affirms that the DA's application is "opportunistic, hypocritical, and frivolous...

New report shows housing, energy stalled despite GNU's upward trajectory, but no promises broken As South Africa's Government of National Unity (GNU) enters its third year, its central challenge has fundamentally shifted, with the initial phase of articulating new policies over and the focus now resting entirely on executing existing promises. According to the latest South Africa Citizens Watch (S...

South Africa summons US ambassador again over 'undiplomatic conduct', official says South Africa's foreign affairs ministry called in US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III on Tuesday for a third time over what it described as "undiplomatic conduct," a senior government official told Reuters, but did not elaborate on what the conduct was. "We can confirm that we demarched Ambassador Bozell. The third...

Parties criticise Ramaphosa's 'delayed response' to Ekurhuleni femicide crisis Opposition parties and civil rights organisations have criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa's recent national address on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), calling his proposed measures "belated, repetitive, and detached" from the realities faced by women. The backlash follows intense public outrage surrounding...

South Africa's foreign direct investment inflows pick up in the second quarter South Africa recorded foreign direct investment inflows of R49.8-billion in the second quarter, up from R20.3-billion in the previous quarter, the central bank said on Tuesday. The South African Reserve Bank said in its Quarterly Bulletin that the higher inflows were due to a local telecommunications company receiving d...

Ramaphosa to address nation on Ekurhuleni murders, GBVF President Cyril Ramaphosa will this evening address the country on steps being taken by government to confront the country's gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) crisis. The President's 19:00 address follows a horrifying wave of violence in and around the City of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, where the bodies of 11 women were discove...

US Ambassador declares diplomacy 'useless' as relations with S Africa on edge Relations between the US and South Africa have reached a critical low point following a scathing assessment by US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III, who accused the South African government of actively rejecting a constructive relationship with Washington. The diplomatic fallout follows the September 15 announcement by US...

Parties call for urgent action after weekend's mass shootings South Africa is reeling from an unprecedented weekend of trauma as horrific mass shootings across the country have left at least 27 people dead and dozens more injured in targeted tavern attacks. The staggering carnage has sparked fierce national social and political outrage, putting intense pressure on government and the South African...

White Cross Project turns to Union Buildings after Washington vigil Following what it describes a success of its White Cross Project in the US, Afrikaner group Lex Libertas announced it aims to bring the same demonstration to South Africa in a set it up on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The organisation is scheduled to meet with White House representatives on Monday to discuss the n...

Ramaphosa challenges S Africans to defend national identity amid violence, division President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a reminder to the nation on Monday that heritage is not only a cause for celebration but a critical battleground that citizens must actively defend, as he stressed that South Africans cannot allow gender-based violence, xenophobia and racial division to define the country's characte...

South Africa's Transnet begins process to expand manganese export capacity South Africa's State-owned logistics operator Transnet said on Friday it has started the process of picking a private sector partner to develop and operate a new manganese export terminal for 25 years, as it seeks to expand the mineral's export capacity by 20%. South Africa is the world's top manganese exporter, having ship...

GOOD challenges Zille's Joburg Mayoral bid and DA's electoral court action Ahead of the November 4 local government election, and after filing an answering affidavit opposing the DA's application in the Electoral Court to declare its candidate list unlawful, the GOOD party is also questioning Helen Zille's residency in Johannesburg as she plans to contest the mayoralship for the DA in the city. Th...