ANC turns to courts after candidate portal mishap
The ANC has filed papers with the Electoral Court seeking to overturn the IEC’s refusal to accept councillor nominations the party says were captured but not formally submitted before the 28 August deadline, after a similar bid by the smaller UDF was struck down. The IEC insists its system logged no malfunction and has processed over 140,000 nominations, with the ruling likely resting on whether the ANC can prove its submission was technically complete on time rather than seeking an outright deadline extension.
Mantashe pushes back on vote-buying claims over grants comments
ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe defended himself against accusations of vote-buying and emotional blackmail after a viral clip showed him asking a Freedom Park resident who provides her grandchildren’s child support grant. Mantashe insisted the party’s housing, grant and education programmes reflect 32 years of “servicing society” rather than campaigning for votes, while acknowledging people are free to choose which party to support.
ABB warns local mines are falling behind on smart technology
ABB South Africa says local mines risk losing global competitiveness by delaying investment in connected, automated systems, with many operations still running disconnected “islands of automation” that limit returns on existing tech spend. The warning follows a benchmarking study ranking South Africa last out of 10 countries on mining modernisation, though ABB says the sector’s general openness to new technology remains an advantage if a proper digital roadmap is adopted.
Rand wobbles as economists brace for a GDP contraction
The rand traded weaker ahead of Tuesday’s second-quarter GDP release, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting a 0.1% quarterly contraction that would end six straight quarters of growth, while Nedbank sees an even sharper 0.2% decline driven by weak mining, manufacturing and utilities output. Agriculture and parts of the services sector are expected to have provided some offsetting support to the economy.
Iran threatens “economic warfare” and unveils new Gulf shipping restriction
Iran said it fired an advanced missile at US warships and plans to declare a new maritime exclusion zone across the Persian Gulf within days, marking a fresh escalation six months into its war with the US after Washington struck three Iranian oil tankers over the weekend. Iranian officials say vessels entering the proposed zone could face sanctions, a move that threatens further disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil and LNG shipments passed before the conflict began.
[Sources: News24, The Citizen, BusinessDay, Reuters]