For South Africans who groaned when Stage Two load shedding was implemented on Friday morning, things got a little worse this afternoon as Eskom implemented Stage Four power cuts from 2pm. The loadshedding has been caused by “numerous issues” and further shutdowns at power stations. Total breakdowns have cost the grid at least 17 000MW […]

IEC South Africa has released the final results of the Local General Elections in SA. At the podium, IEC Chairperson Glen Mashinini says the #LGE2021 has tested the nation in many ways. Among the challenges faced by voters, included #COVID19, the short time frame to conduct the elections, bad weather, power outages, and logistics. The […]

A video going viral on Twitter this week is winning hearts and votes for uMngeni’s new Mayor-Elect, Chris Pappas. “I love him, such passion, this is what we need” said one local. Many added: “What a great speaker”, while one tweeted: “Holy cr*p. Who is this guy, tjoooo, ANC is in trouble in KZN.” The […]

South Africans are facing another round of power cuts despite promises from South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, that it would keep the lights on. Unexpected breakdowns and scheduled maintenance at various generation plants have been blamed for reduced generation capacity. These have compromised the stability of the national power grid. Since this affects everyone in […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa will later today attend the announcement of the final results of the 2021 Municipal Elections, which are likely to show the ANC with less than 50% of the vote for the first time since 1994. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will make the announcement after South Africans headed to the […]

With the first day of vote counting still underway in the 2021 Local Government Elections, more than 50% percent of the votes have been counted. According to the Electoral Commission (IEC) dashboard at 19:19 on Tuesday, 51% of the national vote count had been completed, with the African National Congress (ANC) leading with 46.4% support, […]

The African National Congress (ANC) has emerged as the early frontrunner in the wake of Monday’s 2021 Local Government Elections, with results confirming the party had secured three local municipalities. The Local Government Election results started trickling in on Monday night at the Results Operation Centre in Pretoria, as soon as voting stations closed at […]

As of 18h00 on Monday, 1 November 2021, voter turnout in South Africa at the local government elections was unfortunately at an all-time low of just above 23%, according to SABC researcher Ronesh Dhawraj. Ronesh tweeted: “Only 6.8 million of the 26.2 million registered voters have turned up to cast their ballot for the #2021MunicipalElections. […]

More than 250 local elections will be held in each one of South Africa’s municipalities on 1 November. More than 10,000 councillors have to be elected. For this reason, more than 95,000 candidates have been nominated, including more than 1,500 independent candidates. How they have communicated it to the public during their campaigns has been […]

The number of political parties in South Africa has increased significantly from the 19 that participated in the first democratic election in 1994. Both 2011 and 2016 saw the number of political parties grow. But this year the number has increased exponentially. Over 500 are currently registered with the Independent Electoral Commission. Over 300 will […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) alleges that small parties are conspiring with the ANC to bring a “coalition of corruption” to Cape Town, as they’ve done elsewhere in parts of the Western Cape. Jaco Londt – DA WC Provincial Chairperson – said in a statement on Thursday afternoon: “Recent revelations that the ANC in the Western […]

The City of Cape Town has thanked its residents for confirming that Cape Town is the “most trusted metro in South Africa”, as reported in the 2021 Consulta Citizen Satisfaction Index (SA-csi). According to a City of Cape Town statement, Cape Town is the only metro to significantly lead in the citizen satisfaction index with […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African judge on Tuesday dismissed an application by former president Jacob Zuma to have the prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial removed. Zuma, ousted by the governing African National Congress in 2018, had argued that the prosecutor was biased against him and submitted a “special plea” to the Pietermaritzburg […]

Nando’s has responded to the Gareth Cliff / Burning Platform viral video that has caused outrage across South Africa, posting a statement on social media about an hour before midnight on Friday evening. (UPDATE: Nando’s terminates sponsorship of Gareth Cliff’s The Burning Platform) The offending video includes just over two minutes of footage from an […]

Fikile Ntshangase was at home with her grandson Buyile in Ophondweni, Kwazulu-Natal province, South Africa, when three unknown men walked in and shot her dead in her living room. Fikile was a mother and grandmother, a campaigner, and a leader, who had been opposing the extension of Tendele Coal mine in Northern KZN. Friday the […]

Former South African President Jacob Zuma today reiterated that there had been attempts to remove him from power within the ANC party since the mid-1990s. He claims that his imprisonment was the final move by those who fear him. Zuma was speaking remotely to supporters gathered at the ‘National Welcome Prayer’ event at Moses Mabhida […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared November 1 as a public holiday to give all those going to cast their ballots an opportunity to do so. The date is the day of Local Government Elections, where eligible voters will cast their vote for councillors who will represent them at local level. “The President calls on all […]

A protest is planned in Tshwane this morning to demand that Afrikaans be declared an indigenous language of South Africa. A petition will be handed over to the Department of Higher Education. DA Leader John Steenhuisen and DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration, Leon Schreiber, are leading the protest action outside the offices […]

South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI/Hawks) has launched an investigation into the construction of the so-called R15 million Lesseyton sports facility in the Enoch Mgijima Municipality in the Eastern Cape… which was exposed this week by former DA Leader Mmusi Maimane. Maimane declared on Monday, when the stadium was launched: “The #TsotsiGame must […]

Following a furore over DA posters in KwaZulu-Natal which declared “The ANC called you racists. The DA calls you heroes”, the DA has announced today that it is in the process of removing all the posters that have “inadvertently caused offence”. Dean Macpherson – DA KZN Chairperson – said in a press statement on Thursday: […]

South Africa’s foreign affairs department – DIRCO – has terminated the employment of its Chief Financial Officer, Caiphys Ramashau, who was embroiled in the controversial (and hugely wasteful) R118-million New York Pilot project. The axing comes at the end of a disciplinary case which had been instituted against Ramashau. The ex-CFO faced charges related to […]

Desperation to win the election hit a low on Friday, 1 October 2021, when a DA councillor in Nelson Mandela Bay was held up at gunpoint while erecting DA posters in New Brighton. The criminals were allegedly linked to the ANC, according to the DA’s Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson, Andrew Whitfield. The incident was witnessed […]

Why would more than 600 journalists from 117 countries collaborate on a global investigation of jaw-dropping scope? Find out tonight as Carte Blanche previews what is set to be the largest journalistic collaboration in the world to date – the Pandora Papers! With millions of leaked documents, Carte Blanche joins a global investigation into the […]

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has extended the validity period of legally issued visas or asylum permits, which expired during the lockdown period, to 31 December 2021. In a statement on Thursday, Home Affairs announced that the Minister has also approved the resumption of Identity Document (ID) and passport applications. Directions communicating these amendments, […]

There were scenes of jubilation at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport as the first official flight from South African Airways (SA) took off on Thursday morning. SAA employees sang and danced after the months of uncertainty. WATCH SAA flight take off for first time in over a year The first #SAA flight has officially taken […]