For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: IEC reopens candidate registrations and sets new dates for voter registration, DA wants minutes of parole board meeting and records and, National Freedom Party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi dies

IEC reopens candidate registrations and sets new dates for voter registration

The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa announced today that it will reopen candidate registrations following Friday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court that the local government elections would go ahead this year.

The IEC had applied to the court to have the elections postponed saying it could not be held safely owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The court ruled that the elections should take place between October 27 and  November 1.

Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will proclaim the new date of elections.

Voter registration will take place on the weekend of September 18 and 19 with voting stations open between 8am and 5pm.

Meanwhile, political parties and independent candidates intending to contest the local government elections will have another chance to submit their candidate lists.

DA wants minutes of parole board meeting and records

The DA is challenging the medical parole granted to convicted former President Jacob Zuma.

DA leader John Steenhuisen has threatened to submit an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act for the records of the parole board that granted Zuma parole.

Steenhuisen said he wants to establish what criteria the Department of Correctional Services used to determine Zuma's eligibility for medical parole.

Zuma's foundation earlier welcomed the decision and said Zuma should serve the rest of his sentence outside prison.

National Freedom Party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi dies

National Freedom Party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi died in hospital today, the party confirmed.

NFP MP Ahmed Shaik Emam said the party was reeling from the news.

He said kaMagwaza-Msibi had been admitted to an Umhlanga hospital in Durban.

KaMagwaza-Msibi, a former deputy minister, cited ill health when she resigned from Parliament in 2019.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter [@Polity ZA]