Verashni Pillay

Multi awardwinning South African journalist. Founder of news platform & comms agency Former editor-in-chief: M&G, HuffPost SA

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

@KevinHamann8 Good point

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

One of the more interesting options being floated within the ANC for partnering with the DA is a confidence-and-supply proposal. This means the DA governs alone in metros where it is the biggest party and the ANC does the same, with each party protecting the other from no-confidence votes.

I like this idea because it gives voters what they asked for AND it gives everyone a chance to see who governs well. Plus, it removes the instability within councils where parties trying to work together fall out.

I doubt the ANC will agree to it, though, because it would see the DA govern alone in the three Gauteng metros AND Nelson Mandela Bay, while the ANC takes Mangaung and Buffalo City.

Still... a sensible option.

From News24 here: https://t.co/AgWHqj9lkQ

[explain.co.za @explainZA]

Sy Mamabolo discusses clean audits, technology and the importance of public confidence in South Africa’s elections.

@verashni #sanews #LGE2026 #southafrica #iec #elections

[explain.co.za @explainZA]

State capture needed more than corrupt politicians. It also needed accountants, auditors, and consultants. Years later, what happened to them?

We look at the consequences professionals and firms linked to the scandals faced. https://t.co/12MunZ6E8j

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

Choosing a mayor outside of the top three parties would be revisiting the tail wagging the dog situation with the Al Jamah mayor, and again not a reflection of the voters will.

People are making this about their personal issues with the DA or Action SA or the personalities involved. I'm not offering a judgement on Zille or Mashaba as mayors. I'm simply saying IF the coalition negotiations result in a DA or Action SA mayor, that person must be the one party voters had in mind when they cast their ballot.

Mashaba suggesting another DA/Action SA mayor in place of him / Zille is not defensible.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

While Joburgers didn't directly elect mayors, they did make their choice based on mayoral candidates punted by the parties. For Action SA to now propose those candidates step aside isn't in keeping with the spirit of respecting the will of the people.

34.79% of voting Joburgers chose DA with Helen Zille as their mayor. 16.27% chose Action SA and Herman Mashaba.

Putting forwards someone else entirely from either of those parties is disingenuous.

https://t.co/LYhDsBgi0P

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

The only party in the top three justified in choosing just any mayor is the ANC as they didn't campaign with one. DA and Action SA promised Zille and Mashaba respectively as a mayors should they govern. Subbing them out with other DA or Action SA candidates, especially because of personal grievances, wouldn't be honest.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

@kwenza_b Never said any of that

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

I'm not the biggest Zille fan but this is just a silly take. The DA got the biggest share of the vote. There was no majority party. You're making it sound like the rest of the 65% who didn't vote for the DA were unified. They were not. Voters largely chose the DA, ANC and Action SA, in that order.

[Mbali Ntuli @mbalimcdust]

Please do not allow any politician or political party to gaslight you into believing that the way the public voted has somehow forced them into an impossible situation where they now have too little time to negotiate and form governments.

The Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, commonly referred to as the Coalitions Bill, has been in development since 2024 and was only formally introduced in Parliament in August 2026.

Among other things, the Bill was meant to provide a proper legislative framework for coalitions, including extending the current 14-day period for convening newly elected councils to 30 days, giving parties more time to negotiate.

Every single political party knew this. We have been dealing with coalition governments since 2016. We went through this again in 2021. Nobody can pretend that the possibility of hung councils in 2026 came as a surprise.

I personally called at least one senior person in each of the big six political parties, in some cases more than one, to raise these very issues. So I know they knew.

Yet I have already heard two politicians suggesting that voters have put them in this difficult position.

No. The voters did their jobs. They voted.

Political parties had years to prepare for these outcomes and to ensure that the necessary legislative reforms were in place. That this was not done cannot now become the responsibility of the electorate.

The public is not responsible for political parties failing to plan for an electoral outcome they knew was entirely possible.

And please, let us not start treating voters exercising their democratic rights as an inconvenience to politicians who now have to negotiate with one another.

Democracy does not exist to produce results that are administratively convenient for political parties.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

@KrisKross_World I hear what you're asking. Let me give this some thought.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

@Marius67870300 Yeah it's not making sense.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

Current hopeful ANC theory: as the party loses access to state coffers and largesse, the wrong types will leave. Those who have fed on the legacy of Mandela, Tambo and more like so many vultures, reducing the party to a decimated corpse. They'll fly away and the ones who care will stay. And rebuild. We're waiting and watching.

#Elections2026

[Mbali Ntuli @mbalimcdust]

This is a good question.

So the simple way I like to explain how ward and PR seats are allocated is like this…

In South Africa we have a proportional representative system. When we go and vote for various parties the IEC afterwards must calculate how we voted in the way that seats get allocated PROPORTIONALLY to each party based on how many votes it got.

Now ward seats are easy because whichever party got the most votes in that ward get allocated that ward seat. HOWEVER other parties get votes in that ward too and those voters voices must be heard too. So those votes will help those other parties get PR ( Proportional representative seats) This is too make sure that those votes from those voices don’t get discarded.

The more wards a party needs means the fewer PR seats it will need because it is already represented by having won the outright ward seats.

PR seats help to balance the council by making sure that number of seats a party wins reflects its overall share in that municipality. So a party may not have done well enough to have won a ward outright but it did get votes and so those votes means it can be eligible for PR seats. This makes sure that just because one party may win the most wards it doesn’t skew distort the overall choices of the voters. Our system is a beautiful thing in this way.

So let’s say in a municipality you have 10 seats. You have 3 parties in that municipality party A,B and C.

Party A wins 50% of the Votes
Party B wins 30%
Party C wins 20%

That means in terms of seats
Party A should get 5
Party B should get 3
Party C should get 2

Now when you look at how each party did both for their ward and PR votes you find that

Party A won 4 wards
Party B won 1 ward
Party C won no wards

This is where the PR comes in

Party A has won 4 ward seats but it’s entitled to 5 seats because of its votes so it only needs 1 PR vote to make up its overall share of the seats

Party B won 1 ward seat so it gets 1 PR seat to make up its overall share of the 2 seats it was entitled to.

Party C didn’t win any wards but its overall votes entitle it to 2 seats so it gets 2 PR seats

It important to realise PR seats are not a “bonus” they are there to balance council and make sure that each parties seats reflect their overall share of the vote

Hope that helps. It’s easier to explain when I say it so apologies for any grammar, my brain is kinda dead at the moment from Observer work 😭

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

@KhumbuMr I agree with this.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

The rise and fall of the EFF in numbers. The red party's electoral decline is thanks in part to Julius Malema's consolidation of power and alienating of other leaders. Watch my take 👇🏾 #southafricapolitics #SouthAfrica #economicfreedomfighters

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

Clarification: The EFF launched in July 2013, nine months before they contested their first election.

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

Ok but SA voters are trolls because what do you mean we're basically forcing Herman and Helen to work together across Gauteng's metros? 😂

Mashaba couldn't even be in the same room debating Zille before the election. Now look what you guys did.

📍 City of Johannesburg (77% counted)
🔹 DA: 38.01%
🔹 ANC: 18.7%
🔹 ActionSA: 15.84%

📍 City of Tshwane (91% counted)
🔹 DA: 34.31%
🔹 ActionSA: 22.36%
🔹 ANC: 20.18%

📍 City of Ekurhuleni (88% counted)
🔹 DA: 31.42%
🔹 ANC: 21.56%
🔹 ActionSA: 18.59%

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

The DA raised over R100m - that's over 78% of total declared funding in the second quarter of this year, according to what was disclosed by the IEC (compliant and not). That's quite the war chest.

[Qaanitah Hunter @QaanitahHunter]

Helen Zille’s campaign was expensive, she admits. When can we have the conversation about money in politics?

[Verashni Pillay @verashni]

Current hopeful ANC theory: as the party loses access to state coffers and largesse, the wrong types will leave. Those who have fed on the legacy of Mandela, Tambo and more like so many vultures, reducing the party to a decimated corpse. They'll fly away and the ones who care will stay. And rebuild. We're waiting and watching.

#Elections2026