EAST LONDON police are investigating four attempted murder counts after four dog unit members were shot at by gunmen while patrolling the Mdantsane area as part of their election duties. Nobody was injured and the policemen managed to arrest a suspect.

THE Independent Electoral Commission was forced to quarantine four full ballot boxes in Ermelo on Tuesday after their seals were broken. Seals on three of the boxes from different polling stations were apparently simply not closed, while the seal on a fourth box appears to have been broken by accident while being transported. All four […]

POLLING stations opened late on Wednesday in several parts of Mpumalanga because more than 300000 ballot papers were not delivered to the right places. IEC provincial media officer Leon Mbangwa said some ballot papers intended for Standerton, White River, Middelburg, and the Lowveld District Council were delivered instead to the IEC offices in Nelspruit. “We […]

MPUMALANGA premier Mathews Phosa made a last-minute bid to prevent liquor sales on election day but pubs, taverns, bottle stores and restaurants ignored his appeal. Provincial liquor board chairman Jabulani Matsane admitted that the Liquor Act does not prevent booze sales on election days. He said Phosa’s appeal was based on “civic responsibility”. And at […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.10pm. THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) claims that several employers, some large-scale, are requiring employees to work on Wednesday, election day. The party alleges that businesses are “conniving with certain political parties to deny workers the right to vote so that these parties benefit from the outcome […]

AN estimated 60% of registered voters in Mpumalanga had cast their ballots by 6pm, with only a couple of polling stations in the former KwaNdebele reporting possible delays. Some polling stations in Daggakraal and Burgersfort had already reported over 95% voter turnout. IEC provincial electoral officer, Steve Ngwenya, told journalists at a press briefing that […]

TUESDAY, 12.30PM: STATE-owned synthetic fuel producer Mossgas has asked the government to allocate R180-million from the Central Energy Fund to finance the development of its Bredasdorp Basin gasfields. The request from one of South Africa’s most expensive white elephants comes at a time when the future of the South African petroleum industry is in turmoil […]

POLLING stations opened late in several parts of Mpumalanga because more than 300000 ballot papers were delivered to the wrong places. IEC provincial media officer Leon Mbangwa said some ballot papers intended for Standerton, White River, Middelburg, and the Lowveld District Council were delivered instead to the IEC offices in Nelspruit. With the help of […]

VOTING got off to a false start in the hotspot of Greenfields on the East Rand when officials discovered they had been using the wrong ballot papers. IEC officials accidentally used tender ballot papers for the first 177 voters. Clusters of police officials are monitoring voting at both the Greenfields and nearby Phola Park polling […]

MPUMALANGA health and welfare authorities have set aside R4-million to boost the distribution of female condoms across the province in the battle against Aids, said chief medical officer, Dr Kelvin Billinghurst, on Tuesday. He said the female condom, which is inserted into the vagina and also covers the external genitalia, was initially regarded as a […]