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AI-driven: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani provides one of the clearest examples of how digital mobilisation and targeted online engagement can outweigh traditional displays of political strength. Photo: Supplied

AI and the battle for SA’s 2026 elections

This does not necessarily mean that physical campaigning will disappear. Politics remains fundamentally human. Voters still value personal interaction, community engagement and…

Ethekwini mayor Cyril Xaba. Photo: City of eThekwini

eThekwini corruption scrutiny could hurt ANC in November elections, analysts warn

The ANC faces mounting political pressure in eThekwini after municipal leaders were grilled by Parliament’s Scopa over R6.4 billion in irregular expenditure, governance failures…

Floyd Shivambu welcomes  Papa Penny to the Afrika Mayibuye Movement (Mayibuye). (Floyd Shivambu/X)

Penny Penny joins Mayibuye as party gears up for local polls

The Xitsonga musician resigned as an uMkhonto weSizwe Party MP on Friday, citing internal conflict before joining Afrika Mayibuye Movement

The Presidents’ men – and women: The ANC has always used its parliamentary majority to close ranks behind its president and party interest, rather than adhering to the Constitution and making decisions in the interest of South Africa. Photo: Supplied

Ramaphosa’s Constitutional Court dilemma

Ramaphosa’s decision to pursue a judicial review and the Constitutional Court’s call for Parliament to start an impeachment inquiry, will create tensions in the GNU

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi. (@mmkubayi/X)

Mmamoloko Kubayi dismisses ANC suggestion that she run for Johannesburg mayor

Sources close to Kubayi said the approach was not genuine but ‘malicious’ and meant to disrupt her

The elections announced for 4 November will have a consequential impact on our body politic as municipal polls often project how national elections will turn out.
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Remember, Remember the 4th of November

As unpredictable as elections may be, the best outcome for voters in the 4 November local government elections would be an electoral system which incentivises and rewards…

Mosotho Moepya, chairperson of IEC South Africa. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

IEC warns it will prosecute voters who use fake addresses

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya has emphasised that the commission will investigate registration irregularities

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

ANC to headhunt capable mayoral candidates in push to regain metro majorities before local elections

The ANC also warns against the ‘parachuting’ of leaders into municipal positions without proper organisational processes

On the job: Maluti-a-Phofung municipal workers attending to electricity
connections in the area. Photo: Maluti-a-Phofung Communications

Thugs cut power, demand villagers pay

Criminals are allegedly extorting residents when the FS municipality fails to cough up for work they submitted claims for but that was never done

Voter education, combined with democratic civic education, must be compulsory at all levels of education, from nursery school to higher education. Photo:Delwyn Verasamy

IEC calls for early election date announcement

The IEC has set 20 and 21 June 2026 as a national voter registration weekend and urges an early election date announcement to ensure voters can register correctly

Outgoing federal council chair Helen Zille. Photo:(@Our_DA/X)

Zille pledges 200 000 new jobs in Johannesburg

Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille said the DA-run Cape Town gained 69 000 jobs in the past three months while Johannesburg shed 49 000 jobs

Water crisis: Residents of Johannesburg protest outside a Joburg Water depot against water outages that have been taking place in the city. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

What South Africans think of municipalities

Reports have highlighted that a significant number of elected councillors struggle with basic literacy and comprehension

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba. (File photo)

Former mayor Mashaba throws his hat into Joburg’s mayoral race

ActionSA leader joins the likes of DA’s Helen Zille to claim city’s top post

Embattled Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. File photo: X

New deputy mayor post set to cost Joburg over R1.28 mln annually

Councillors approved a deputy mayor position for the first time in the city’s history, with 107 voting in favour

Uncertainty: Despite party members showing full support for EFF leader Julius Malema in public, party
leaders have said in private that his conviction has unsettled Red Beret supporters. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

EFF to weigh options amid Malema woes

The weekend plenum will tackle leadership succession and priorities, amid growing unease over the party leader’s pending sentencing and its implications for stability and elections

Moment of truth: EFF leader Julius Malema says the charges against him are politically motivated. Photo: EFF

Malema’s darkest hour looms

The possibility of its leader being jailed means the party faces an unprecedented leadership issue

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the January 8 Statement at Moruleng Stadium, North West.

Ramaphosa to ANC members: campaigning for 2026 elections is mandatory

He said the party would be run strictly, with zero tolerance for corruption, ill-discipline and factionalism

ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Ramaphosa warns that SACP decision to run solo on elections could risk ANC votes

At a Joe Slovo commemoration, Ramaphosa warned the communist party that going it alone would be a historic mistake and undermine the broader liberation alliance

President Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC’s national general council earlier this week. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

ANC renewal headache

The party is set to address factionalism, corruption and alliance fallout ahead of next year’s local government elections

Party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri raised eyebrows when she suggested that the ANC would not have its financial woes if it was corrupt. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Derision over claim that the ANC is not a corrupt party

Party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri raised eyebrows when she suggested that the ANC would not have its financial woes if it was corrupt