Rob Rose from the Financial Mail and Zukile Majova from Scrolla.Africa clash over the Constitutional Court’s ruling that let the ANC register the candidates it failed to submit, in episode 30 of Sharp Sharp.

Rob says rules are rules, and the ANC missed its own deadline by not pressing submit. Zuks says punishing the party means punishing voters, especially in the Eastern Cape, where people could lose the party they have backed for 30 years.

They also ask whether the ruling has saved Fikile Mbalula’s career, and who takes the blame if the ANC does badly in November.

In the first half of the show, they speak to Dr Elsa Thirion Venter from MarkData about the new poll with eNCA. It puts the DA on 35% and the ANC on 21.8% in Joburg. Dr Elsa explains how the poll was done, why so many voters are still undecided, and what people want from their next mayor.

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• The EFF says the Ingonyama Trust board showed King Misuzulu kaZwelithini no respect by holding a summit in Durban without his approval.

• The board has promised to reply to the EFF’s list of complaints within seven days, and says it is not leaving before its term ends in five months.

The EFF in KwaZulu-Natal wants an independent investigation into how the Ingonyama Trust handles its money, including a recent summit at the Durban International Convention Centre.

EFF members protested outside the trust’s offices in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday to show support for King Misuzulu kaZwelithini.

EFF leader in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature Mongezi Thwala told supporters the board shows no respect for traditional leaders and the king “while selling their land to the highest bidder”.

He said this in front of acting CEO Siyamdumisa Vilakazi, who came out to receive the party’s list of complaints.

Thwala said the board also snubbed the king by holding the summit without his approval.

He said the investigation must look at the trust’s books from 1 April 2021, and go further back where needed. It must cover the two convention centre meetings, buying of goods and services, top jobs and pay, legal and consultant fees, loans, grants, income and who gets land. It must also look at any spending that was irregular or wasted.

Thwala said it must find out who approved and received each payment in question, and whether the work was done.

The EFF also wants proof that the king was asked about the summit, and wants to know why it went ahead after he spoke out against it.

Thwala dismissed claims that the EFF does not respect King Misuzulu. He said people who hate the party spread this lie, and the king is the EFF’s king too.

The protest follows a tense weekend between the board and Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso, who called the board “rogue”. He asked King Misuzulu for permission to dissolve it.

The board says it is going nowhere. It says a court order of 26 March, which stops the minister from removing it, stands until its term ends in five months.

Vilakazi said the board would reply to the list of complaints within seven days. If the EFF is not happy with the answer, it is welcome to come back, he said.

• Speaker Nontembeko Boyce stopped the swearing in of National Freedom Party (NFP) president Ivan Barnes, planned for Thursday, 22 October, after Mbali Shinga applied to appeal a court order.

• The swearing in could have helped the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party and the EFF take over the KwaZulu-Natal government from the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP.

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce has stopped the swearing in of National Freedom Party (NFP) president Ivan Barnes, which could have changed who runs the province.

Barnes was due to be sworn in on Thursday, 22 October, to replace NFP member Mbali Shinga in the legislature.

The NFP asked for Shinga to be replaced. On 15 September, Justice Mngadi ordered the Speaker to swear in the next person on the party’s list.

Shinga then applied for leave to appeal the order. The application was handed to the legislature on Wednesday, 21 October.

Boyce wrote to NFP secretary general Sunset Xaba that afternoon. She said section 18 of the Superior Courts Act pauses a court order while an application to appeal is decided.

Boyce said the legislature will take no further steps to carry out the order until the application, and any appeal that follows, is decided, unless a court says otherwise. That includes Barnes’s swearing in. She also said Shinga remains a member of the legislature for now.

The uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party and the EFF hoped Barnes’s seat would give them the numbers to take over from the Government of Provincial Unity, made up of the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP.

The MK party had already started planning who would sit in its cabinet, as it was sure Barnes’s swearing in would swing the numbers its way.

Barnes wanted to be MEC for economic development, a post now held by Musa Zondi of the IFP. Under the plan, the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch, Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza, was set to be voted in as premier of an MK-led government.

• Yunus Carrim of the Communist Party told Ixopo supporters that Zuma’s party is tribalist and wants traditional leaders in power.

• The Communist Party contests elections fully on its own for the first time, calling the vote a foundation for 2029.

A senior Communist Party figure has called Jacob Zuma’s party tribalist and said it wants to put South Africa back under the power of traditional leaders.

Yunus Carrim, who sits on the party’s Central Committee and Politburo, spoke to supporters at a campaign event in Ixopo ahead of the 4 November elections.

He said many people in the alliance led by the African National Congress no longer want to vote for it.

“It is also sad that if they had a choice they would choose the MKP, which is a tribalist party, which wants to take us back under power of traditional leaders, which is against what the Communist Party stands for. But comrades, despite the bad weather you came and went house to house, that is the greatest thing you have ever done. No matter what happens on 4 November, this is merely a start, and we cannot expect overnight that we will become victorious, comrades. But it is a start, it’s a foundation for 2029 and I think we are setting a very good foundation in this province,” Carrim said.

The Communist Party is fully contesting elections on its own for the first time, with more than 4,000 candidates. It has run in by-elections before.

The party has also reached out to traditional leaders. Its general secretary, Solly Mapaila, called traditional leaders a key constituency after the party met the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa last year.

Professor Mathole Motshekga of the Balobedu Royal Council has rejected the Communists’ view that African kingdoms are feudal.

He told Scrolla.Africa that African kingdoms are spiritual and that Karl Marx knew nothing about African traditional leadership.

Scrolla.Africa does not have a response from Zuma’s party.

• Crowds gathered at the Site C taxi rank on Sunday hoping to hear the president explain his plan against crime.

• He focused on removing the DA, leaving residents frustrated and taxi owners begging for urgent help with unfair vehicle impoundments.

President Cyril Ramaphosa left ANC members and taxi owners fuming in Khayelitsha on Sunday.

He visited the Site C taxi rank in Cape Town but failed to speak about extortion and violent crime.

Residents hoped the president would explain how the party plans to make their community safe. Instead, Ramaphosa spent his time talking about removing the DA from power in the Western Cape.

Zilungile Mlandwana, 47, said high crime is making the township unsafe.

“I am disappointed because we cannot start businesses, and some have closed because of extortionists,” Mlandwana said.

Mlandwana said people are getting robbed inside their own homes. The ANC member said crowds came to hear how the party would tackle crime if it wins Cape Town.

Zandile Fotyala, 50, said the president missed a chance to win over voters. Fotyala said people wanted to hear about real change, not just politics.

“Our president decided to talk more about the DA and not about what they would do and why people should vote for the party,” Fotyala said.

The president also faced anger from the taxi industry.

Codeta chairman Nceba Enge handed Ramaphosa a document demanding help with rising petrol prices and unfair vehicle impoundments.

Enge said taxi owners are punished when drivers break the rules. Enge said owners carry the financial cost when vehicles are locked up.

The Codeta chairman warned that high petrol prices will soon force the taxi industry to push up fares for passengers.

Enge said taxi owners also struggle to get operating permits. He said the government impounds vehicles even though owners have applied for the right paperwork.

Dullah Omar regional chairperson Ndithini Tyhido defended the president.

Tyhido said Ramaphosa had already spoken about crime and gender-based violence in church and during two radio interviews.

• Mashinini-Maphumulo says the ruling clearing 181 African National Congress candidates reopened the pain of the National Freedom Party’s 2016 exclusion.

• The Electoral Court rejected her old party in 2016 and the African National Congress in September. Only one was saved.

Sindi Mashinini-Maphumulo says this month’s Constitutional Court ruling for the African National Congress (ANC) has reopened the pain of 2016, when the Electoral Court rejected the National Freedom Party’s (NFP) bid to contest the elections.

On 15 October, the Constitutional Court overturned an Electoral Court ruling and ordered the Electoral Commission to put 181 of the ANC’s candidates on the ballot in six municipalities. The party uploaded its lists, but they were not marked final on the Commission’s online system by the 28 August deadline. The ANC said the system glitched, and the Commission said it did not.

“I am not even angry, I am livid about this latest decision that favoured the ANC. We tried everything possible in 2016 to plead with the IEC and went to court,” Mashinini told Scrolla.Africa.

In 2016, the National Freedom Party was left off the ballot after paying its required deposit on 22 June, 20 days after the 2 June deadline. The Electoral Court dismissed its application in June, and again on 5 August.

“It was one of the most painful decisions I will never forget in my life,” Mashinini-Maphumulo said.

She said many people had hoped to vote for the party as a thank-you to founder Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, who was recovering from a stroke.

The Commission announced last Thursday that it would grant relief to 32 other parties in the same position as the ANC, covering 121 municipalities.

Mashinini-Maphumulo’s new political party, AMC.Roy, is on the ballot, but was not one of the 32.

Mashinini-Maphumulo was a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, the National Freedom Party, the United Democratic Movement and the Allied Movement for Change before joining AMC.Roy, which Roy Moodley formed after the African Movement Congress expelled him in December 2025.

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• Land Reform Minister Nyhontso told King Misuzulu he will dissolve the Ingonyama Trust board, calling it “rogue”, at eMashobeni Palace.

• Ingonyama Trust deputy chair Linda Zama says a March court order blocks the minister. Its term ends in five months.

Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso has told King Misuzulu kaZwelithini he will dissolve the Ingonyama Trust board, a move a court ruled unlawful in March.

Nyhontso made the announcement on Saturday night at eMashobeni Royal Palace in Pongola. 

He said he had told Parliament’s land committee the same thing. 

“I will never work with this board over my dead body because they are rogue,” he said.

“Your Majesty, we are going to dissolve this board. The board has four members left and the contracts of the other two are coming to an end this month. So it would be left with only two members, which means that thing is dying a natural death,” he said.

He said he has told the director-general to dissolve it, and asked the King’s go-ahead to advertise the vacant posts. 

He wants “a board that has no politicians, because the current one is full of politicians,” and said the King and traditional leaders would recommend the names.

The Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled in March that his earlier dissolution was unlawful and outside his powers. The court reinstated the board and ordered both the minister and the King not to interfere with it. 

Nyhontso’s reason then was also that too few members were left to make a quorum.

Board deputy chair Advocate Linda Zama told Scrolla.Africa the Minister cannot touch the board, because that order still stands. 

Advocate Linda Zama of the Board told Scrolla. Africa that the Minister cannot touch them because the court order of 26 March against him to dissolve the board is still standing.

“That rogue unit applies the laws of this country in every work.We receive a R24 million budget every year from the government and we are guided by the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act] on every cent we spend. Unfortunately that act has never been amended till today this means we are rogues that work according to the laws of this country. 

“Another thing there is a court interdict that barred the Minister from dissolving this board that was delivered by the court on 26 March 2026. This means he can’t touch us whether he likes it or not. All we are waiting for now is for the end of our term which is in five months and we are having a very good sleep for the work we have done for the Trust,” said Advocate Zama.

King Misuzulu kaBhekuzulu, who chairs the board, welcomed the decision. 

During the meeting, Nyhontso told the King the board tried to block a report by Advocate Marumo Moerane, commissioned after the King complained. He said he is also investigating the Trust’s summit that the King’s regiments disrupted.

He also promised the King government does not plan to expropriate Zulu land, “the only land that is left in the hands of black people in South Africa.”

This article has been updated with a response from the Ingonyama Trust Board Deputy Chairperson.

The court ruling restored the ANC’s affected candidates and gave Fikile Mbalula a political lifeline ahead of its 2027 leadership contest, writes Zukile Majova in Real Politics.

It is not difficult to understand why ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula was overcome by emotion when the Constitutional Court ruled in the party’s favour in its candidate list dispute with the Electoral Commission.

His entire political future had been hanging on that ruling. The court saved his goose.

The man who calls himself the boss at Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters in central Johannesburg, has long seen himself as a future president of the party and the country.

Those ambitions gained momentum when he was elected secretary general at the ANC’s 2022 conference at Nasrec. He had previously led its Youth League.

His rise survived controversy over a luxury family holiday in Dubai in 2016, costing roughly R680,000. Part of the bill was funded through an arrangement with Yusuf Dockrat, a director of Sedgars Sport, which supplied the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee while Mbalula was sports minister.

Mbalula maintained that the money was a loan he repaid. The National Prosecuting Authority previously declined to prosecute over the trip.

He has also faced allegations in affidavits that R3-million linked to misappropriated National Lotteries Commission grants helped finance a Bryanston house intended for him. Mbalula has disputed his association with the property and maintained that he does not own it.

In a party long haunted by its leaders’ “smallanyana skeletons”, these controversies did not stop his advance.

For months, his name has circulated for deputy president, and even president Paul Mashatile should become unavailable to contest the top position.

Then came Friday, August 28, the deadline for submitting candidates for the November 4 local elections.

The ANC said it had captured the required information before the deadline, but the final electronic submission step was not completed for candidates in six municipalities.

Four were in the Eastern Cape: Sundays River Valley, Walter Sisulu, Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns. The others were Mangaung in the Free State and uMshwathi in KwaZulu Natal.

In Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns, the ANC faced having neither ward candidates nor proportional representation candidates, whose lists are used to allocate council seats according to each party’s vote.

The blunder brought Mbalula into direct conflict with Eastern Cape structures in a province expected to help launch his campaign for higher office.

Regions threatened to withdraw their support and demanded his resignation before the December 2027 elective conference.

Allegations of list tampering intensified the crisis. An internal report, described in published reporting, identified 34 material changes to the Eastern Cape lists, including removals, insertions, replacements and changes in rankings.

The fallout fuelled branch revolts, disrupted meetings and demands for Mbalula’s head.

With Jacob Zuma’s MK Party having severely weakened the ANC’s electoral position in KZN, the Eastern Cape has become even more important to its leadership calculations.

MK won about 45% of the provincial vote in 2024 and now threatens ANC control of municipalities, including eThekwini.

At the heart of the Eastern Cape calculation is the OR Tambo region, which includes Port St Johns and Ingquza Hill. Winning an ANC conference without substantial support from this region and the broader province would be a formidable challenge.

That is how high the stakes were for Mbalula.

The fallout also put him into conflict with Andile Lungisa, who says the ANC’s National Executive Committee, its leadership body between conferences, had approved him as its Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate.

Lungisa challenged his removal from the municipality’s proportional representation list, alleging that Mbalula had instructed officials to take his name off.

The ANC cited his criminal record and vetting requirements. But the Johannesburg High Court found the removal unlawful and ordered the party to restore him to its internal list. Submission to the Electoral Commission remained subject to electoral law, and the ANC announced that it would appeal.

The ruling concerned the limits of Mbalula’s authority under the party’s rules. His office did not give him unrestricted power to amend a final list.

Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi also accused Mbalula of ordering Lungisa’s removal in a letter threatening defamation proceedings over attempts to blame him for the list crisis.

Granted, ANC guidelines allow adjustments to achieve gender balance and improve skills and youth representation. But those interventions must follow the party’s rules.

Had the Constitutional Court bid failed, Mbalula would have been toast.

So how realistic are his chances at a future conference?

Very high, actually, because his position puts him at the centre of the organisational preparations.

The secretariat oversees the administrative machinery supporting branch, regional and provincial conferences. Those structures produce the delegates who eventually elect the national leadership.

The ANC expects its structures to meet representation requirements, including those concerning women and young people. Interventions to enforce those requirements can carry considerable political weight.

In a party divided by factions, there are fears that organisational interventions can also serve factional interests.

A secretary general preparing for a conference at which he hopes to contest therefore occupies a powerful position.

Mashatile demonstrated the importance of that office when he oversaw the secretariat before the 2022 conference. Although Ramaphosa’s allies secured several leading positions, Mashatile assembled enough support to become deputy president.

Beyond the power of the office, regional and cultural representation also feature in Mbalula’s appeal.

National chairperson Gwede Mantashe, who comes from Cala in the Eastern Cape, has said he will not contest again.

Eastern Cape lobbyists who believe the province deserves stronger representation have promoted provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane for deputy president. Both Mabuyane and Mbalula feature in unofficial leadership slates.

Mbalula is seen as a powerful contender within Ramaphosa’s faction in the expected 2027 succession contest.

Known affectionately by his Mpondomise clan name, Jola, he is Xhosa but also comes from the Free State. That gives him another provincial connection to cultivate.

He would have struggled to secure support there had the ANC’s Mangaung list remained excluded.

Mangaung, the metro that includes Bloemfontein, is already vulnerable to losing its outright ANC majority. The party won just 50.63% of the vote in the 2021 local elections.

Mbalula has therefore survived another major scare, even though the handling of these administrative processes should have earned him a well deserved clobbering.

ANC supporters in Port St Johns and Ingquza Hill faced a ballot without their party because of a failure on his watch.

The court restored that option. For Mbalula, it also kept his own political ambitions alive.

His tears were the relief of a man whose campaign had survived to fight another ANC conference.

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• Former president Thabo Mbeki will testify about political interference in apartheid crime cases, while Jacob Zuma’s appearance has been postponed because of illness.

• Seven men accused of murdering rapper Kiernan Forbes and businessman Tebello Motsoane return to court as several other suspects fight for bail.

Mbeki faces questions over apartheid crimes

Former president Thabo Mbeki is expected to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Cases Inquiry on Monday.

The inquiry is investigating claims that politicians blocked the prosecution of apartheid crimes.

Former president Jacob Zuma’s testimony has been postponed because of ill health. He is resting after a hospital stay.

Both former presidents failed in their attempts to remove inquiry chairperson Sisi Khampepe.

Spokesperson Lionel Adendorf said Mbeki agreed to testify without being forced.

Businessman fights for bail after airport arrest

Businessman Suliman Carrim returns to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday after police arrested him at OR Tambo International Airport.

The 49-year-old faces charges for repeatedly failing to appear before the Madlanga Commission.

He has been linked to claims of shady dealings involving Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Mswazi Jotham Msibi.

Carrim was travelling with his wife to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

He insists they planned to return home, but police are checking his return ticket.

He spent the weekend in a single prison cell at Kgosi Mampuru Prison.

Seven accused in rapper murder return to court

The murder trial of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and businessman Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane continues in the Durban High Court on Monday.

Seven men face charges over the killings.

All seven have pleaded not guilty.

The state has already called 14 witnesses, including a police officer.

More witnesses are expected to testify this week.

Love triangle murder suspects fight for bail

Two women accused of murdering Jabulile Ntimba return to the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Police found Ntimba’s half naked body in Ekurhuleni in September.

Investigators initially feared she was the ninth victim of a possible killing syndicate.

But police now say early findings point to a love triangle.

Fortunate Masilela and Tsakane Nester Msithini face charges including premeditated murder.

A third suspect was released without charges.

The court has ordered that the women’s faces must not be shown on television.

Three men in court over murdered runner’s watch

Three men accused of possessing a smartwatch belonging to murdered runner Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo are expected in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court.

Two were granted bail of R10,000 each.

The third remains in custody while officials check his legal status in South Africa.

The men face charges including theft, possession of stolen property and money laundering.

None has been charged with Moselakgomo’s murder.

Her body was the sixth found in Rhodesfield, Kempton Park, last month.

Police are still investigating her death.

• Inkosi Jongumhlaba Ramseni has accused Gwede Mantashe of sidelining traditional leaders in discussions about rising petrol prices and South Africa’s mineral wealth.
• Gwede Mantashe walked out of the Cosatu congress over speaking arrangements, angering union delegates and prompting calls for an apology.

An Eastern Cape traditional leader has lashed out at Gwede Mantashe, accusing him of ignoring rural communities struggling with rising fuel prices while fighting political battles with workers.

Inkosi Jongumhlaba Ramseni of the AmaNgxongo Royal House says the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources should be discussing fuel costs and mineral wealth with traditional leaders instead of clashing with trade unions.

Ramseni, who leads the Madotyeni Traditional Council, spoke out after Mantashe walked out of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) elective congress following a dispute over speaking arrangements.

The African National Congress national chairperson was unhappy that his party had been scheduled to deliver its message before the South African Communist Party.

Mantashe insisted that the African National Congress should speak last, but Cosatu refused to change its programme.

“You can’t wake up one day and change the alliance,” Mantashe told reporters.

His departure angered delegates, with some accusing the African National Congress of behaving as though it was superior to its alliance partners.

But Ramseni said the bigger concern was Mantashe’s failure to engage traditional leaders about rising fuel costs and the country’s mineral resources.

“We ask ourselves why he is running away from talking about the minerals and the issue of petrol especially with us as traditional leaders because he has not done so ever since,” said Ramseni.

He said traditional leaders had repeatedly been left out of important discussions about resources found on land under their leadership.

Ramseni questioned why government ministers responsible for minerals had not approached traditional leaders to discuss how those resources could help communities during difficult economic times.

He believes traditional leaders should have a say in discussions about mineral exports and possible ways to ease the burden of rising petrol prices.

Ramseni also accused politicians of looking down on traditional leaders and treating them as people who do not understand the economy.

“The biggest problem here is that all politicians have the same mentality of thinking that traditional leaders are uneducated,” he said.

He pointed to King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo as examples of traditional leaders who understand economic matters.

Ramseni said many younger traditional leaders were educated and capable of contributing to discussions about the country’s economy.

He questioned why the government continued making decisions without seeking their views.

His biggest concern is the effect of rising fuel prices on poor rural households.

He warned that higher petrol prices were widening the gap between rich and poor, leaving struggling families with even less money to survive.

Ramseni believes traditional leaders and government should work together to find ways of reducing the financial pressure on communities.

His concerns follow a similar call by Chief Mandla Mandela of Mvezo, who urged the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa to engage the government over fuel prices.

Mandela wants traditional leaders to help find solutions for rural residents, particularly those who depend on social grants.

Meanwhile, Mantashe’s walkout has caused anger within Cosatu.

Delegates from the South African Municipal Workers Union accused the African National Congress of trying to dictate how the federation should run its congress.

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union also criticised Mantashe’s conduct.

Its general secretary, Zola Saphetha, expressed disappointment, particularly because Mantashe previously served as general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.

Delegates argued that the African National Congress was an alliance partner and had no right to control Cosatu’s programme.

Cosatu general secretary Zingiswa Losi said the federation was unhappy with Mantashe and expected an apology from the African National Congress.

“We are not happy with the behavior of the National Chair because he was sent here to come and speak,” said Losi.

She said delegates had made it clear that Mantashe’s conduct should not be seen as the position of the entire party.

Losi said Cosatu would continue working with the African National Congress despite the disagreement.

She also said affiliates had been asked to write to the party’s secretary general to express their dissatisfaction.

Mantashe later said he had refused to speak because he wanted to protect President Cyril Ramaphosa from what he described as a factional attack within the alliance.

But Ramseni believes the political dispute should not overshadow the struggles facing ordinary South Africans.

He wants Mantashe to engage traditional leaders on the country’s mineral wealth and explore how those resources could help communities facing rising living costs.

For Ramseni, the issue is not simply about who speaks first or last at a political gathering.

It is about whether the government is listening to traditional leaders and rural communities who are struggling to put food on the table.