South Africans voted on Wednesday in local elections that will decide who leads the country’s eight main city municipalities as well as its 44 district and 205 local councils, a contest expected to be a tough test for the African National Congress (ANC). A record 29.2 million people are registered to vote at 23,696 voting stations, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa, and more than 1.4 million special votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday. Polls showed the ANC getting less than a third of the vote, down from 45.6% at the last municipal elections, in 2021, and 40.2% in 2024’s national elections. In total, 546 political parties were vying for votes, and final results are expected on Sunday. The outcome is expected to shape the race to succeed Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC leader at the party’s conference in December 2027.
Theme: South Africa
Aliko Dangote on Wednesday broke ground for a planned fuel storage site in Namibia, which will serve as a fuel distribution hub in southern Africa, in an OilPrice report based on Bloomberg’s reporting. The project, expected to cost $2.5 billion, includes a fuel depot outside the main port of Walvis Bay and a 1,700-kilometer pipeline to bring fuels to Botswana and South Africa, and potentially to other countries. “We want to heavily invest so that most of the landlocked countries will be able to access petroleum products at a cheaper price,” Dangote said at the event. The initial public offering of a minority stake in Dangote’s refinery could raise as much as $2.1 billion if the company exercises its greenshoe option.
South Africans voted in local elections on Wednesday amid deep discontent over water outages, power cuts and crumbling infrastructure, with the African National Congress (ANC) on course for a bruising result. Polls show the ANC getting less than a third of the vote, down from 45.6% at the last municipal elections in 2021 and 40.2% in the 2024 national elections. Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 9:00 p.m. local time (0500 and 1900 GMT). Parties are battling for control of major cities in a contest expected to offer a measure of the national mood before the next national polls.
In a follow-up to the South African municipal elections, polls put the African National Congress (ANC) below one-third of the vote, down from 45.6% in 2021 and 40.2% in 2024, with fragmentation potentially costing it control of municipalities even as it remains the largest party, and in eThekwini uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) is polling above 40%. The electoral commission has one week to announce the final result, and parties will then have two weeks to form councils and elect mayors.
South Africa is holding municipal elections, and the African National Congress (ANC) is trying to prove it still has what it takes to govern after losing its parliamentary majority in the 2024 national election. Poor governance and voter apathy are eroding ANC support in townships such as Alexandra, northeast of Johannesburg. An Ipsos poll puts the Democratic Alliance party at 25 percent support in this election, up from 22 percent last time.
South Africa and Rwanda will lose their duty-free access to the US market after being excluded from the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) program, according to France 24. With the program ending, South Africa is bracing for some job losses.
The South African government confirmed the intention of the United States to withdraw the country’s benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 1, 2027, with 60 days’ advance notice, according to SAnews, the South African government’s news service. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said the decision does not define the broader relationship between the two countries and that a solution depends on the willingness of both sides. According to the government, Washington introduced new issues outside the scope of the negotiation process that began in 2025. South African exports under AGOA totaled nearly US$ 1.7 billion in 2025, down from US$ 4 billion in 2024, and accounted for roughly 1% of the country’s total exports. Bilateral trade reached US$ 28.8 billion in 2025, with more than 600 American companies operating in the country. South Africa supplies the United States with 12 of the 50 minerals Washington deems critical and 70% of the isotopes used in cancer treatments.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that Washington intends to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), with South Africa as the largest beneficiary, exporting about 1.7 billion dollars in goods in 2025, citing barriers to US trade and investment, corruption and threats to US national security and foreign policy interests, as well as South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice — the South African government said it had received 60 days’ advance notice of the withdrawal of benefits effective January 1, 2027, with Trade Minister Parks Tau saying the decision does not define the broader relationship between the two countries and that a solution will depend on both sides’ willingness to engage, and that about 10% of exports to the US entered under AGOA in 2025, down from 28% in 2024.
United States President Donald Trump notified Congress of his intention to remove Rwanda and South Africa from the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) preferential trade program from January 1, 2027, citing barriers to American trade and investment and national security and foreign policy concerns in the region. An annual review found that both governments engage in practices inconsistent with the eligibility criteria, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that Washington intends to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), according to Reuters.
Deep rifts over the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to derail unified actions and statements at the two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the world’s 20 largest economies in Atlanta, according to Reuters, in a text republished by US News. The US has not invited South Africa to the ministerial, which takes place from October 30 to 31.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China supports South Africa in continuing its participation in G20-related activities, TRT World reported. The spokesperson said South Africa is “an important member of the G20” and that Beijing “supports its continued participation in the activities carried out under the group,” according to EFE, in a text republished by swissinfo.ch.
South Africa halted a new directive for processing asylum applications after violent protests broke out in Johannesburg and Durban, according to DW. The suspension of asylum applications followed recent unrest, France 24 reported.
The Democratic Alliance’s candidate for mayor of Durban, Haniff Hoosen, said he would welcome Benjamin Netanyahu despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Asked whether he would receive him should the Israeli prime minister travel to the city, he answered: “Why shouldn’t I if he comes to visit the city?”, in a mayoral debate earlier this week, according to Middle East Eye.
A mob of about 50 people beat a foreign national to death on Thursday in central Durban, a South African port city that is a flashpoint for anti-migrant sentiment, police said.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, according to Al Jazeera. The committee said it was honoring her “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”, and Pillay is a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and former UN human rights chief, according to CBS News.
Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, 85, a former UN human rights chief and a judge on the International Court of Justice, won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, according to The Guardian. The Norwegian committee recognised her for efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the committee. This year's prize drew 287 nominations and pays 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.
South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs withdrew the September 28 directive on the intake of asylum applications following violent anti-immigration protests in Durban and Soweto, a directive that implemented the July Constitutional Court ruling in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town case, according to AllAfrica.
Anti-migrant protests turned violent in Soweto, Johannesburg, and Durban on Thursday, with dozens of cars set ablaze and foreign-run businesses forced to close, according to police. Acting national police commissioner Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban, where three people were arrested. The protesters oppose a July Constitutional Court decision that removes procedural barriers to seeking asylum, including for people who entered South Africa irregularly. Government spokesperson William Baloyi attributed the violence to deliberately false information about the ruling and said it does not automatically grant refuge, permanent residence or rights to undocumented migrants.
Gunmen killed at least 27 people in two mass shootings in Johannesburg and Cape Town on Sunday, September 27, 2026, police said. Eight gunmen armed with assault rifles and pistols stormed a bar southwest of Johannesburg on Saturday night, killing 17 people and wounding 15. In a separate shooting at a barbecue venue in a township outside Cape Town, gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 11 early on Sunday. Police said no suspect has been arrested in either case.
South Africa’s new ambassador to Washington told the BBC that the alleged white genocide does not exist. In New York, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said the story of white genocide does not exist and has no evidence to back it.
Armed men stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township, about 30 kilometers south of Durban, on the night of Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and killed at least 11 people attending a party, including a woman believed to be pregnant; three others were wounded, according to South African police cited by The Hindu and Al Jazeera. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli said the assailants entered shortly before 11 p.m. (UTC-4) and that the motive is not known; local broadcaster eNCA reported that the victims were forced into a single room before the shooting. Police said some of the dead were already on the crime intelligence radar over suspected illegal activities and that a feud between rival groupings cannot be ruled out. South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with an average of about 60 killings a day in a population of roughly 62 million, according to Al Jazeera.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has launched a petition calling for the suspension of Israel’s membership in the United Nations, addressed to the president of the 81st General Assembly, Khalilur Rahman, Bangladesh’s foreign minister, and arguing that Israel should be treated as South Africa was during the apartheid era. Released on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, during the Assembly’s general debate, the petition says Israel has violated international law, failed to comply with resolutions and decisions by UN bodies and the International Court of Justice and targeted UN facilities and personnel, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Eleven people were killed and three wounded in a mass shooting late on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in the Ziko area of KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, South Africa. Gunmen stormed a house where 14 people were gathered and opened fire shortly before 11 p.m. local time (5 p.m. (UTC-4)), according to South African broadcaster eNCA and Eyewitness News. A pregnant woman is among the dead: 10 people died at the scene and one on the way to hospital. The attackers also set fire to a car belonging to one of the victims, eNCA reported. KwaMakhutha police and the eThekwini district tracing team are at the scene and have not yet given a motive, according to The Citizen.
Colombia’s government withdrew the declaration of intervention it had filed on 5 April 2024 in the case over genocide in the Gaza Strip brought by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The court made public on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, the decision Colombia notified on 18 September, according to the court’s official case page and Anadolu Agency. The intervention rested on Article 63 of the court’s statute, which allows a state that is not party to a dispute to make submissions when the case concerns the interpretation of a convention it has also signed. Colombia was never a party to the main proceedings, and the withdrawal does not affect them. The decision reverses the policy of Gustavo Petro, who severed relations with Israel in May 2024 and halted Colombian coal exports to the country. Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on 7 August 2026, restored diplomatic and economic ties, according to Middle East Eye and Anadolu Agency: the government plans to reopen its embassy in Jerusalem, set up a bilateral economic commission and send a delegation to Israel in October. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar thanked Colombia for the withdrawal, according to ColombiaOne.