South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Wednesday 24 November 2021

Stay informed with the latest news stories and headlines in South Africa on Wednesday 24 November 2021.

The ANC has been dealt the one blow after the other, and just when you think things can’t get any worse for them, it does… they lost control of ALL THREE metros in Gauteng on Tuesday.

The sheer collapse in political support for the ANC has shown that South Africans are fed up with the empty promises of the ruling party.

Meanwhile, the Richards Bay Municipality descended into chaos on Tuesday morning, after the IFP saw their candidate elected as mayor. A video shared online shows the EFF councillor delivering a volley of blows but failing to floor his resilient target.

TODAY’S LATEST NEWS IN SOUTH AFRICA, Wednesday 24 November

Breaking: ANC booted out of Gauteng, as DA Mayor wins in Tshwane

It’s a clean sweep for the DA in Gauteng, and they have sensationally claimed control of ALL THREE metros in Gauteng. Mpho Phalatse will run Johannesburg, Tania Campbell takes charge of Ekurhuleni, and as we learned just moments ago, Randall Williams is the new Tshwane Mayor – kicking the ANC to the curb.

Before the weekend, it appeared the ANC had a genuine chance of seizing power in all three metros. But after agreements with coalition partners collapsed, the EFF and ActionSA sensed an opportunity. Both parties, which have had their differences with the DA, decided to vote with the Blues – FORCING them to run the metros together.

Minority governments and frail coalition agreements seem to be holding most municipal agreements together, after the 2021 Local Elections threw some major curveballs our way. The ANC is also in danger of losing control of its stronghold in eThekwini, and another council sitting is expected to take place on Wednesday.

Watch: Fists fly as EFF member punches rival in council meeting

The bad blood between the political parties of South Africa continues to run cold on Tuesday, after an EFF councillor landed two punches on a rival in eMhlathuze. The Richards Bay Municipality descended into chaos earlier this morning, after the IFP saw their candidate elected as mayor.

The scenes in eMhlathuze Council were far from pretty. The video shared online shows the EFF councillor delivering a volley of blows, but failing to floor his resilient target. The puncher is then restrained by others.

Mayor Donda of the IFP, and Deputy Mayor Ngubane of the EFF, will now form the leadership team that aims to restore Richards Bay to its former glory – but, as we can see from this footage, the next five years may not be all that friendly…

‘Floyd, it’s Herman’: Here’s how one phone call sank the ANC this week

On Monday night, Herman Mashaba logged into his Twitter account, and posted a GIF of himself sipping tea. The caption read ‘chess, not checkers’, and sent the rumour mill into overdrive. Just a few hours later, the ANC had lost control of the Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni metros – with Tshwane also set to fall under DA rule on Tuesday.

For the ActionSA leader, he was celebrating a job well done – but claims he couldn’t have done it without the help of an old frenemy. Mashaba revealed that his plot to bring down the ANC, effectively booting them out of government in EVERY Gauteng metro, was only put into place following a phone call he made to Floyd Shivambu.

The EFF Deputy Leader, it is alleged, was told by Mashaba that there was a way to prevent the ANC from taking control of the remaining hung metros – while also granting ‘a route to power’ for both the Red Berets and ActionSA.

Herman Mashaba explained that both parties could vote for DA candidates in these cities, and FORCE the Blues to work with the minority groups, despite their previous refusal. This, in turn, would flip the South African political landscape on its head, giving the smaller parties more power than the ANC would hold.

Malema threatens Kunene with R1m lawsuit over ‘cockroach’ comments

Once upon a time, Kenny Kunene was a founding member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). His stint in the party did not last long and he left in August 2013, the same year the EFF was formed.

Fast forward eight years and Kunene – who is now deputy president of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) – is facing a R1 million lawsuit over “defamatory statements” made about EFF leader Julius Malema.

Earlier in the post-vote cycle, it seemed as if the PA and EFF would have to work together in municipalities across the country. However, negotiations stalled and before long, the mudslinging began.

‘It is BETRAYAL’: Jessie Duarte is full-on sour grapes over ANC implosion

For the significant majority of South Africans who did not vote for the ANC in 2021, this might be music to your ears. The ruling party, who have had things go their own way for the past 27 years, crashed and burned in the Local Elections – and Jessie Duarte’s attempts to rationalise what happened aren’t exactly helping, either.

The ANC Top Six member has delivered a message to her party comrades, reflecting on the events of the past 24 hours. Not only did the IFP break their coalition agreements with the party in KZN, but a secretive plot between the EFF and ActionSA saw the ANC lose control of all three Gauteng metros for the first time in our democratic history.

The sheer collapse in political support for the ANC has seen the 109-year-old organisation plunged into a crisis. They’ve lost municipalities left, right, and centre this week – and even their Richards Bay stronghold has fallen under IFP control. So, perhaps it’s no wonder that Jessie Duarte is sour grapes about the whole thing.

SAHRC urges public not to blame noodle deaths on foreigner ‘revenge plot’

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said it is concerned with harmful messages on social media that claim the possible contamination of 2-minute noodles is the result of tampering with products by foreign nationals – who are often described as “illegal immigrants.”

The recent deaths of five children in two different provinces may be linked to contaminated noodles. The Department of Health and South African Police Service’s (SAPS) investigation into the matter is ongoing.

The latest word – on Monday, 22 November – was that the children, from the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga, ate two different brands of noodles.

“The investigation is ongoing. It’s a long process to try to come down to one thing because there are many factors that are involved in cases of food poisoning unless it is laboratory confirmed or other factors that might be involved,” said the Department of Health’s Murdock Ramathuba.

Revealed: Three of the world’s six ‘most dangerous cities’ are in South Africa

Well, let’s hope the Tourism Department doesn’t put this on a billboard anytime soon. The latest figures from Numbeo reveal that South Africa still has some very serious problems in several of its major metros, and out of the top six ‘most dangerous cities on Earth‘, half of the entries are based within our borders.

Numbeo is driven by user-generated data. In this ‘Crime Index’, residents from over 450 cities worldwide were asked to rank the volume of crime in their cities, and rate just how safe they feel living there.

Needless to say, the disparity between criminal activity and safety in South Africa is felt keenly in many of our biggest urban settlements. Pretoria is deemed as Mzansi’s most dangerous city – and comes second on the global list, beaten only by the lawlessness reported in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

Johannesburg comes in at #4, with Durban completing the top six. If we branch out a little further, Cape Town ranks in 18th place on the worldwide table, meaning that SA is home four of the top 20 most dangerous cities on the planet.

LATEST NEWS: WEATHER FORECAST, Wednesday 24 November

Take a look at weather forecasts for all nine provinces here.

LIVE TRAFFIC UPDATES FOR CAPE TOWN, JOHANNESBURG AND DURBAN

Stay one step ahead of the traffic by viewing our live traffic updates here.

HOROSCOPE TODAY

Free daily horoscope, celeb gossip, and lucky numbers for Wednesday 24 November.