local government electionslatest news & developments
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

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. Photo by 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

DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille. (@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

The next local government election is going to be held between 2 November 2026 and 30 January 2027. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Electoral Commission of South Africa sets out 2026/27 local election schedule

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo urged Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to announce the election date ahead of proclamation

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

Show of support for Ramaphosa at ANC conference, amid talk of plans to recall him

On the first day of the party’s national general council, chairperson Gwede Mantashe slammed Ramaphosa’s detractors and urged them to ‘say whatever you want to say here and not outside these walls’

The ANC’s regional conference was a clean sweep for Loyiso Masuku’s faction. (Lunga Mzangwe)

Loyiso Masuku elected new ANC Johannesburg regional chairperson, ousting Dada Morero

The party’s regional conference was a clean sweep for Masuku’s faction

Presenting the organisational report during the party’s 16th regional conference on Thursday, outgoing secretary Sasabone Manganye warned that the decline of the ANC in the Greater Johannesburg region was not just a temporary setback but a deep, structural, and multidimensional crisis. (Facebook)

ANC admits to feeling heat from MK, EFF, ActionSA, PA and DA

The party says its decline has been worsened by communication failures, while opponents dominate social media with sharp messaging and emotional appeal

HANDS-ON: Johanneburg Mayor Dada Morero has been spearheading countless cleaning-up operations
around the City lately. Photo: Supplied

You don’t need a summit to clean a city; you need consistency

The people of Johannesburg have cried many tears over the past decade and become accustomed to temporary service delivery ‘solutions’

DA leader in Gauteng Solly Msimanga. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Msimanga: Moya a ribbon cutter who takes glory for DA’s work

The Democratic Alliance leader in Gauteng said most of the work the ActionSA mayor for Tshwane has been taking credit for was done by her predecessor, Cilliers Brink

34 new political parties have been registered since the 2024 national and provincial elections.
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Sharp rise in new political parties ahead of 2026 elections

The electoral commission said 34 new political parties have joined the register since last year’s national elections, with more expected before next year’s local government vote

The PA is demanding that its newly appointed councillor, Liam Jacobs, take over the position of transport MMC in Johannesburg.(@LiamJacobsZA/X)

DA defector Liam Jacobs replaces Patriotic Alliance’s Kenny Kunene in Johannesburg council

Kunene, the PA’s deputy president, resigned as a councillor after links to murder suspect Katiso Molefe