Nicole Barlow

When our “esteemed” local journalists congratulate the ANC on losing power so graciously, without resorting to military intervention to cling to office, they conveniently - and one suspects, quite deliberately - overlook the rather inconvenient fact that the Marxist-socialist corrupt ideology underpinning the ANC remains very much alive and well in South African politics. The EFF and MK are, after all, political offshoots of the ANC. Add their support to whatever remains of the ANC vote, and you still have a political bloc commanding almost 50% of the electorate. So forgive me if I don't quite share the enthusiasm. The ANC may be losing its grip on power, but its ideological offspring are very much still in the game. Hardly the democratic transformation our “esteemed” journalists would have us believe. It's a rather sad state of affairs. (With 98% of the vote counted)

But @helenzille, the ANC was rotten long before it ever came to power. Its history is not one of some noble liberation movement that somehow lost its way once it assumed the responsibilities of government. Speak to those who were never part of its inner circle. Speak to the men and women who languished in its camps in exile, to those who witnessed its internal brutality, and to those who infiltrated the organisation and saw firsthand what lay beneath the carefully cultivated liberation narrative. You campaigned for the ANC to be unbanned. You opened your home to them, sheltered them and marched in the streets demanding that they be brought into power. These were not inconsequential acts of political solidarity. They helped pave the way for the very organisation that would eventually govern this country. You cannot now conveniently divorce yourself from the consequences of the political movement you helped legitimise and usher into power. Many others who also championed the ANC, who defended it against criticism and who demanded its return to political dominance, must accept some measure of responsibility for the outcome. You cannot spend decades helping to build the political architecture of a country and then pretend to be merely an innocent bystander when that architecture begins to crumble. The warning signs were there all along. Some of us simply refused to look away.

In April and May 2022, the coastal town of Umdloti experienced one of the most devastating environmental disasters in KwaZulu-Natal's recent history. While DEVMCO's Salta Sibaya development was being constructed on the hills above Umdloti, vast areas of vegetation had been cleared and extensive earthworks undertaken. When the torrential rains arrived, enormous quantities of exposed soil, sand and mud came cascading down the hillside, overwhelming drainage infrastructure and sweeping through the town. The devastation was extraordinary. What residents described as rivers of liquid mud and sand tore through properties, destroyed homes and buildings, and left parts of the town looking like a disaster zone. At the Surfside complex alone, 26 of its 96 units were completely or partially destroyed. Across the area, 58 homes were rendered uninhabitable. Residents have long alleged that the extensive clearing of vegetation and inadequate stormwater management at Salta Sibaya contributed significantly to the catastrophe. Those allegations are now the subject of substantial litigation. DEVMCO, Sibaya Node 6 and construction giant Stefanutti Stocks are facing claims exceeding R400 million from homeowners, insurers and the eThekwini Municipality. The municipality has itself instituted a R200 million lawsuit against DEVMCO and Stefanutti Stocks, alleging that failures in the development's stormwater infrastructure contributed to the destruction. The developers deny liability. And the environmental controversies don't end there. A proposed petrol station within the Salta development raised serious questions about environmental authorisations and its proximity to a sensitive wetland at the head of the Sweetwater Stream, an important water source for Umdloti. Residents and environmental representatives challenged the project, raising concerns about pollution risks and the apparent absence of necessary approvals. The relevant fuel-site and retail applications were subsequently recorded as refused by the national department. Meanwhile, serious allegations of corruption and maladministration have also emerged within @edtea_kzn KwaZulu-Natal's Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), prompting calls for an SIU investigation. This is what happens when development, political influence, environmental oversight and accountability become entangled. And the people who ultimately pay the price are the residents, the ratepayers and the environment. Quite frankly, all the Directors and shareholders of DEVMCO and Salta Sibaya should be in jail.

Boom 💥 🎤

nicole-barlow.com/articles/r… Russell Brand: Guilty, or has the pursuit of justice become clouded by a culture in which questioning an accusation is tantamount to heresy? I examine the verdict, the #MeToo movement and the difference between regret and rape.

How did South Africa end up with a journalistic class so intellectually neutered, incurious and seemingly incapable of independent thought?

Cape Town: The DA has officially declared victory, with mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis projecting an outright majority of roughly 58% to 61.8%. Johannesburg: The DA leads significantly with 40.2% of the vote (45% of districts counted), while the ANC sits in a distant third place behind ActionSA. Pretoria & East Rand: The DA holds comfortable leads in both Gauteng metros, tracking at 33.9% and 30.3% respectively with over half of the districts counted. Durban: Former President Jacob Zuma’s MK party holds a commanding lead with 45.0% of the vote (19% of districts counted), severely displacing the ANC. Bloemfontein & Nelson Mandela Bay: The DA is leading the vote count in both regions, while the ANC maintains its only major metro stronghold in Buffalo City with 41.4% of the vote.

What do the big metros look like : Johannesburg (27% of voting districts counted): DA leading at ~38% ANC ~17% ActionSA ~16 to 17% Pretoria: DA and ActionSA both strong (ActionSA performing well) ANC trailing in third in many early figures. Cape Town: DA well ahead (~60%). East Rand: DA leading. Durban: MK Party leading in early/partial counts (counting slower here).

With roughly 50 to 54% of voting districts having been counted. The results so far : ANC: ~31.7 - 32.0% DA: ~26.2 - 26.3% MK Party: ~7.6 - 8.0% EFF: ~5.8% Smaller parties (PA, IFP, FF+, ActionSA and others) make up the rest.

• Johannesburg (192 of 862 districts counted): DA leads with 38.7% of the early tally. • Pretoria (239 of 796 districts counted): DA leads with 33.4% of the early tally. • East Rand (190 of 653 districts counted): DA leads with 36.4% of the early tally. • Midvaal (30 of 39 districts counted): DA holds a strong lead at 66.0%. • Merafong (25 of 77 districts counted): ANC leads with 31.5%. • West Rand West (66 of 86 districts counted): ANC leads with 30.0%.

With 35% of the count completed

Early results from South Africa’s 2026 local government elections, held on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, show a sharp decline in support for the African National Congress (ANC), threatening what analysts describe as a "nightmare scenario" for the long-dominant party. As votes trickle into the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) results operation centre in Midrand, the ANC's national provisional share has plummeted compared to previous years, driven by widespread voter anger over failing electricity, water supply issues, and local infrastructure.

@CyrilRamaphosa, you have some nerve making pronouncements about elections in America when you ought to be answering for the corruption allegations surrounding your own presidency. At least the international press continues to hold you to account and report on the scandals that have dogged your administration. Something our seemingly supine local journalists appear increasingly reluctant to do. Perhaps you should spend less time commenting on American politics and more time accounting for your own. @Telegraph

America struggles with the limitations of a two-party system. South Africa, meanwhile, has the opposite problem: an excess of political parties, with 546 contesting today's 2026 municipal elections. But the problem isn't simply the number of parties. It's the concentration of political power in the hands of a few dominant players, principally the ANC and the DA. And when political competition becomes a choice between two entrenched establishments, genuine accountability inevitably suffers. I have always acknowledged that the DA is considerably better at managing towns, cities and provinces than the ANC. But my once ardent and unwavering support for the party ended when I began to recognise that its commitment to accountability and the rule of law was not nearly as uncompromising as I had believed. Apparently, corruption and illegality could be viewed through different lenses, depending on who stood to benefit. Take the illegal petrol station built on a protected wetland in Boksburg. When it was owned by Andre du Plessis, the opposition was vociferous. But when ownership passed to Hilary and Jonathan Bentel, the resistance seemingly evaporated. Suddenly, there were ribbon-cuttings and champagne glasses clinking on the forecourt. Then there was the campaign against Waterfall Estate, which threatened one of the last remaining precious, contiguous tracts of Egoli granite grassland. A fight that was once vigorously pursued somehow became a battle no longer worth fighting. And Helderfontein Residential Estate, another development mired in serious questions of legality, against the backdrop of a GDARD administration I have long argued was riddled with corruption. Now we have Willie Aucamp, Minister of Agriculture, refusing point-blank to advance the animal welfare legislation that has become the focus of our Sky's Law campaign. So, once again, we are left with little choice but to turn to the courts to demand accountability. This is precisely why political allegiance should never be unconditional. Parties are not institutions deserving of blind loyalty. They are supposed to be accountable to the people who elect them. South Africa deserves better than the ANC. It also deserves better than a political landscape in which the DA is increasingly treated as the only credible alternative, regardless of its own failures. We don't need America's dysfunctional two-party duopoly, nor do we need hundreds of parties incapable of offering meaningful alternatives. We need genuine political competition, principled leadership and, above all, accountability. Because democracy is not about choosing which political establishment gets to disappoint you. It's about having the power to hold all of them to account. No party should ever be bigger than the principles it claims to represent.

We cannot tolerate such savagery any longer. It has to end, now!

Yip, that throws the whole "illegal foreign immigrant/ cheap labour" narrative, right out of the window....

Please don't vote for the ANC on Wednesday...

Isn't @RediTlhabi the same person who constantly champions the right of Palestinians to have their own state and exercise their right to self-determination, yet vehemently opposes the idea of Zulus or other ethnic communities in South Africa pursuing that very same right? Ethnic self-determination is as fundamental to the human condition as the need to breathe. The notion that we must all be assimilated into some artificial, homogeneous melting pot is frankly absurd. There should be room in any genuine constitutional democracy for people to preserve and realise their own cultural and ethnic identities, to determine their own futures, and to freely associate with whom they choose. Self-determination cannot be a principle that you champion for one group while denying it to another simply because their aspirations don't align with your political worldview. Ultimately, those most hostile to the idea of national sovereignty and self-determination are often the very same people who champion globalism. And we are witnessing the devastating consequences of that ideology unfolding across the world.

Another development, pricing ordinary Capetonians out of their city. @geordinhl