For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: IEC expects to announce election results by Thursday; Steenhuisen calls for an inquiry into IEC over faulty devices; And, Ramaphosa says service delivery planning must integrate climate change considerations 

IEC expects to announce election results by Thursday

The Independent Electoral Commission has estimated that 90% of the local government election results will be finalised by Tuesday evening, with final results expected to be announced by Thursday.

South Africans went to the polls on Monday to elect local government representatives.

IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo said the balance of 10% would take another 24 hours to complete.

He said the Northern Cape is leading with 74% of the results completed, followed by the Western Cape with 46% and the Free State with 26% of the results counted.

He added that the rest of the provinces' completion rates range between 15% and 37%.

Steenhuisen calls for an inquiry into IEC over faulty devices

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has called for an inquiry into the Independent Electoral Commission of SA after faulty voter management devices which were used for the municipal elections on Monday, claiming that the issue left many South Africans disenfranchised. 

The IEC admitted on Monday evening that officials encountered problems with the devices. It affected around 6 000 people who were turned back when they tried to vote, even thought they were registered to vote and went to the correct polling station.

The IEC's national senior manager of electoral operations, Granville Abrahams, said the matter had received the necessary attention and affected individuals were contacted via text message and told that the matter had been resolved and they could return to the same voting stations.

Steenhuisen, however, believes that an independent probe into the IEC, as a Chapter 9 institution, is necessary for its failures, on Election Day and its conduct leading up to the elections. 

And, Ramaphosa says service delivery planning must integrate climate change considerations 

While South Africa undertakes national interventions to meet greenhouse gas emission targets, President Cyril Ramaphosa cited the need for local government to focus on integrating climate change considerations into service delivery planning.

Delegates from across the world are gathering in Scotland for the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference to accelerate action towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Ramaphosa said the agreements made at COP26 would affect the daily lives of all South Africans.

At local government level he said, the country need to integrate climate change considerations into service delivery planning.

This needs to be in areas such as the design of human settlements, in energy management through solar water heating for low-income households, and in the use of renewable energy in municipal water and wastewater infrastructure, he explained.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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