September 08, 2026.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is Polity’s daily podcast.

Making headlines:

Mbalula defends ANC nomination process as party challenges IEC in court

Manufacturing, mining weigh on second-quarter economic growth; GDP contracts by 0.2% q/q

And, Kenya offers temporary amnesty to undocumented East Africans amid fears of crackdown

The ANC has launched an urgent application in the Electoral Court following the Electoral Commission’s rejection of the party’s 181 candidate nominations across six municipalities.

Announcing the legal challenge, ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula emphasised that despite the “administrative setback”, the party is fielding over 9 000 candidates across all nine provinces.

Mbalula revealed that the ANC successfully lodged 9 128 candidates for the upcoming November 4 election. Of these, 4 366 are registered on the ward ballots and 4 581 on the proportional representation ballots.

The dispute centres on 181 candidates, comprising 130 on the PR ballot and 51 on the ward ballot, whose electronic submissions did not complete the final step on the IEC’s system before the August 28 deadline.

The IEC officially refused the ANC's request to process the stored information on September 4, prompting the party to approach the Electoral Court in Bloemfontein under Section 20 of the Electoral Commission Act.

The application seeks to overturn the IEC’s decision and direct the commission to recognise the submissions as valid.

South Africa’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter for the second quarter, following growth of 0.4% in the first quarter of the year, Statistics South Africa reports.

The manufacturing industry contracted by 1.8%, contributing -0.2 of a percentage point, to the overall GDP figure. Seven of the ten manufacturing divisions reported negative growth rates. The largest negative contributions were reported for the food and beverages; furniture and ‘other’ manufacturing; and basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery divisions.

Stats SA's data shows that the mining and quarrying industry also contracted by 3%, contributing -0.1 of a percentage point to the overall figure. The largest negative contributors were platinum group metals, manganese ore, gold and iron-ore.

Further, the trade, catering and accommodation industry decreased by 1.9%, contributing -0,2 of a percentage point. Stats SA notes that decreased economic activities were reported for wholesale trade, motor trade and food and beverages.

Kenya's government offered a temporary amnesty to undocumented East African nationals after hundreds of Burundians flocked to their country's embassy in Nairobi seeking travel documents, fearing a crackdown on small-scale traders from abroad.

Kenyan President William Ruto last week called on authorities to close down all small-scale businesses operated by foreign traders, starting on Monday, following a meeting with Kenyan traders who had been protesting against tax reforms.

The order, which Kenya's trade ministry said applied to foreigners operating without work permits, sparked chaos outside Burundi's embassy today, with some Burundians saying they had been threatened by neighbours since Ruto's remarks.

There were no signs of a crackdown in Nairobi today, and a spokesperson for Ruto's administration later said the government had a policy of "absolute zero tolerance toward any form of harassment, intimidation, or xenophobia", and urged undocumented nationals from other East African countries, and specifically from Burundi, to formally register at their embassies.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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