It’s another year at the polls for South Africa, with the focus this time on municipalities. At the end of 2026, citizens will vote for their local government representatives in an election that will take place between 2 November and 1 February 2027. This is a crucial event in the democratic system because local government Read more >
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Democracy. A word we often hear spoken in various contexts and with good reason, because its presence or absence is hugely influential on transformation, independence, progress, and fairness in the world. A democratic system is one which enables public control over decision-making and -makers, in which people are entitled to have a say in decisions Read more >
Pan-African research network Afrobarometer has released its flagship report for 2025, on the topic of citizen engagement in democratic processes. Titled Citizen engagement, citizen power: Africans claim the promise of democracy, the report highlights the various ways in which citizens in 39 African countries express their needs and preferences while helping to ensure government remains Read more >
Democracy: from Ancient Greek dēmokratía, dēmos ‘people’ and kratos ‘rule’. Literally, rule by the people, especially rule of the majority. In its basic form, a government in which state power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving free and competitive elections. September 15 Read more >
Democracy [noun]UK /dɪˈmɒk.rə.si/ The belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves. South Africa, like more than 60 other countries, goes to the polls in a couple of months in what is Read more >
Voters go to the polls on 29 May to make their mark in what is arguably the most significant and hotly contested general elections of the democratic South African era. With the governing party teetering on the brink of losing its majority, there is a real sense that this time around, we can make a Read more >
In the build-up to the general elections, the Nguvu Collective, an organisation working with marginalised communities in building leaders that will take the voice of the community forward, has launched its South Africa 2024 Elections survey to learn more about the issues South Africans care about. The organisation is committed to working with people on Read more >
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will hold its second – and final – voter registration weekend on Saturday and Sunday, 3 and 4 February 2024. Registration will be possible at 22 300 voting stations countrywide, between 08h00 and 17h00 on both days. New voters are encouraged to add their names to the voters’ roll, while Read more >
Victory has come just in time for independent candidates wishing to contest the general elections in 2024, in the form of a lifeline handed down by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) on 4 December 2023 in two separate judgments. The applications were brought by the Independent Candidate Association (ICA) and One Movement South Africa respectively, asking Read more >