News 11:00

BULLETIN 8 November 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The observer mission commends South Africans for peaceful local government elections
# The DA is beginning coalition talks following its strong performance in the elections
# And Poland is in shock as six die in a Krakow mass shooting

# The South African Council of Churches, the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative and the Women’s Election Mechanism for Peace have commended South Africans for upholding democracy and ensuring peaceful and orderly 2026 local government elections. The organisations deployed 619 trained and accredited election observers across all nine provinces to monitor the opening, voting, closing and counting processes. The observer mission also welcomed an improvement in voter participation, which increased from 12.3-million in the 2021 local government elections to 15.9-million in 2026.

Meanwhile, the DA says it will begin engaging political parties in coalition discussions to govern municipalities where no party has secured an outright majority in the elections. The party’s federal executive has resolved to initiate talks following what it describes as a strong electoral performance. The DA’s Ashor Sarupen says the party has emerged as the largest political force in several hung municipalities, often with a significant lead over its nearest competitor:

# The Agricultural organisation TLU SA President Henry Geldenhuys has laid a criminal complaint against MK Party Member of Parliament Andile Mngxitama in Sheepmoor, Mpumalanga. The complaint follows remarks allegedly made by Mngxitama in support of the attack on farmer Donovan Marx, during which the victim’s ears were reportedly cut off. TLU SA, Bennie van Zyl says Mngxitama allegedly described the cutting off of farmers’ ears as symbolic of what he called white people’s refusal to listen and also referred to farmers as land thieves:

# Eskom says it continues to sustain the gains achieved through its Generation Recovery Plan, with its financial year-to-date Energy Availability Factor reaching 68.16-percent. The power utility spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the improved generation performance has strengthened the country’s electricity system, allowing it to shift its focus from recovery to long-term reliability and sustainability:

# A gunman believed to have been inspired by far-right ideology has killed six people and injured more than a dozen others in an attack in the busy centre of Poland’s second-largest city. Police said the attacker drove on to Main Market Square in Krakow, a popular tourist attraction, yesterday afternoon and fired randomly at people. Four women and two men were killed. Three were Polish, one was British, and two have not been identified. Among the 16 injured are five foreign nationals from Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia and Britain.

# And motorsport: Lando Norris will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from pole position after a rain-soaked qualifying session at Interlagos. The McLaren driver sits at the front of a heavily rearranged grid following a flurry of engine penalties. Alongside him on the front row is Mercedes’ newly crowned world champion, Kimi Antonelli. Liam Lawson capitalises on the chaos to start from a career-best third for Racing Bulls. Meanwhile, heavy grid penalties have dropped title contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton all the way to the back of the grid.

Stay tuned for more news………….