I work @HlaziyaS and @TSouthAfricaB , raise cats in my spare time. Numbers, words, maps. For best results add chocolate, coffee, hugs.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Joined April 2010
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While you are here, please go and check out the SubStack that I run with @Jonathan_Moakes. It's called The South Africa Brief. thesouthafricabrief.substack…
Make coalition agreements and council voting public.
NO BLANK CHEQUES: Who gets to decide what happens after we vote?
South Africa's local government elections are on 4 November. But voting is only the beginning.
Where no party wins a majority, coalition negotiations will determine who governs, which promises survive and what gets traded away for a mayor's chair or a committee post.
That's why My Vote Counts wrote to the top 20 political parties asking them to outline their coalition principles, possible partners and commitment to publishing coalition agreements.
Here's where things stand:
✅ ActionSA, ACDP, GOOD, Rise Mzansi, UDM and VF+ committed to making coalition agreements public.
❌ The DA said it saw no need to.
👀 Several parties did not respond, despite follow-ups.
📢 The ANC's manifesto already promises to make its coalition agreements public.
But a published agreement is only the starting point. Communities must be able to scrutinise these deals, challenge broken promises and have a say in the decisions that shape their lives.
Our Executive Director, Minhaj Jeenah, unpacks the politics of coalition agreements, Parliament's delayed Coalitions Bill and why voters must demand more than promises in our latest newsletter.
📖 Read No Blank Cheques and explore the political parties' responses here: 05h61.mjt.lu/nl3/6D4p4SfMFzv…
On 4 November, our votes give parties a mandate to govern, not permission to make secret deals.
No more elite pacts. No blank cheques. Let the people govern.
#NoBlankCheques #MyVoteCounts #LocalGovernmentElections
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
NO BLANK CHEQUES: Who gets to decide what happens after we vote?
South Africa's local government elections are on 4 November. But voting is only the beginning.
Where no party wins a majority, coalition negotiations will determine who governs, which promises survive and what gets traded away for a mayor's chair or a committee post.
That's why My Vote Counts wrote to the top 20 political parties asking them to outline their coalition principles, possible partners and commitment to publishing coalition agreements.
Here's where things stand:
✅ ActionSA, ACDP, GOOD, Rise Mzansi, UDM and VF+ committed to making coalition agreements public.
❌ The DA said it saw no need to.
👀 Several parties did not respond, despite follow-ups.
📢 The ANC's manifesto already promises to make its coalition agreements public.
But a published agreement is only the starting point. Communities must be able to scrutinise these deals, challenge broken promises and have a say in the decisions that shape their lives.
Our Executive Director, Minhaj Jeenah, unpacks the politics of coalition agreements, Parliament's delayed Coalitions Bill and why voters must demand more than promises in our latest newsletter.
📖 Read No Blank Cheques and explore the political parties' responses here: 05h61.mjt.lu/nl3/6D4p4SfMFzv…
On 4 November, our votes give parties a mandate to govern, not permission to make secret deals.
No more elite pacts. No blank cheques. Let the people govern.
#NoBlankCheques #MyVoteCounts #LocalGovernmentElections
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
PARI's Executive Director, Dr Sithembile Mbete, spoke to civic society about the important role community members play in local elections, at the Joburg Crisis Alliance's 10th summit.
"She explained that of the 270 seats in the Johannesburg council, 135 are ward councillors elected directly by citizens, whether running independently or within a political party. She added that a ward councillor is the only person in the system citizens can elect directly, making it vital for residents to know who candidates are, what commitments they make, how they plan to achieve their goals, and what past representatives have delivered."
🔗 Read the full article here: citizen.co.za/rosebank-killa…
Campaign mixtape #LGE2026. Send your requests and recommendations.
ANC:
Last Time I Say Sorry - Kane Brown & John Legend
It Wasn't Me - Shaggy
Hard to Say I'm Sorry - Chicago
....basically most songs with sorry in the title
DA:
You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby - The Smiths
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
At the launch of the Roc @IECSouthAfrica ahead of the local elections 2026! @moxiiafrica
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
Find out all about your ward and other things local elections related on ballotbox.co.za (I did say previously that I live in a DA stronghold, not so? 😂)
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
Yes, @paulyberk, You have said it perfectly. I agree with you on the two halves theory.
1994 to 2010: Building phase. 4.8m houses, 95% electrification, ARVs, 18m grants, SARS collecting R23 trillion, universities from 0.5m to 3m graduates. Undeniable state building.
2010 to 2018: Looting phase. We cannot deny it. State capture, Eskom looting, SARS decimated, local government collapse. That is when maladministration became visible and the numbers you see declining started. That is why many of us inside became vocal.
2018 to now: Correction phase. Zondo Commission, SARS rebuild, SIU recoveries over R8bn, Eskom unbundling, load shedding ended, renewal talk. Slow, but correction.
So you are right, it is a game of two halves... actually three 😂. First half we built, second half we bled, third half we are fixing. The mistake people make is using the second half to say the first half never happened.
If we can be honest that first half was great and second half was theft, then we can also be honest that saying ANC did zero erases the great half and does not help us fix the bad half.
We need accountability for 2010, but gratitude for 1994 to 2010. Both can be true. No?
Then come up with transparent (to the voters) rules for coalition agreements. And scrap secret voting in council, and different coloured pens for ballot marking and all the other stupid games that the DA helped to introduce to the democratic proccess.
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
...if an item costs R100 without halaal certification it will almost always still cost exactly R100 after becoming halaal certified.
halaal certification is a flat business overhead cost not a percentage based tax or a per item royalty.
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
The latest issue of @GI_TOC's Western Cape Gang Monitor is out now. In this edition: Operation Prosper as seen by communities and gang members; the myriad ways in which gang leaders run crime networks from prison; and disgraced SAPS colonel Christiaan Prinsloo - convicted of supplying guns to gangs, causing hundreds of deaths - finally testifies in a long-delayed guns case. globalinitiative.net/analysi…
And the Talmud (which I used to study daily) allows sex with a girl of three years and one day. They're all Bronze Age or Iron Age religions.
Welcome to 2026, where believers practise their religions differently (at least in part) to original scripture, you slow slow boy.
You obviously have no idea about how food certification works. I'm very familiar with kosher, halaal I had to look up.
The highest cost to have your premises or product certified is about R20 000 per year, and that's for *big brands*.
Paul Berkowitz retweeted
PREMIERING TOMORROW AT 4PM: If you could see how political decisions are really made behind the scenes, would it change the way you vote?
@PhumiMashigo1 speaks to @TJ_Masilela, the host of @PalatablePolit, for his view on the inner workings of South African politics ahead of the local government elections.
Set your reminders! #PodcastPartySA #NewEpisode #Elections
It's half-true. As the pundits say, it's been a game of two halves. 1994-2010(ish), everything you say is true. The ANC-led government did good things, even great. Since 2010, maybe a couple of years earlier, the stealing and maladministration started to become visible.
This is not an ANC defence post. It's a data post.
For weeks, 30 years of measurable state building has been waved away with anecdotes, potholes and headlines.
So here are the national numbers. Not just Jo'burg. The whole country. 👇🏾
Our population grew from about 40m to 63.5m. Services had to outrun that growth. They did:
• Electricity for lighting: 58% → 95% of households
• Piped water inside the home: 32% → 60%
• Improved sanitation: 62% → 84%
• Adults with no schooling: 19% → 7%
• Degree holders: 649,000 → nearly 3 million
• Black graduates: 188,000 → 1.7 million
• About 5 million housing opportunities delivered
• 26.5 million grant beneficiaries, including nearly 13 million children
• Life expectancy: from about 52 at the height of AIDS to nearly 67, via the world's largest ARV programme
• 8 in 10 South Africans online, nearly 2 mobile connections per person
• A real economy about 85% bigger than in 1994
• 12GW+ of renewables contracted via REIPPPP, a state-designed programme that brought in private capital
None of this was luck. It was built by an ANC-led state, with business at the table, out of a sanctions-era wreckage.
The fatigue is real. Unemployment is real. Failing municipalities are real, and we should say so. But tiredness must not make us blind. Thirty years ago millions had no lights, no water in the yard, no access to basic healthcare. Today they do. Whoever tells you nothing changed wants you to hate your own progress.
A pothole trends for three days. 5 million housing opportunities never trend at all. Both are facts. Only one gets counted.
To business: this market was built here. Talking it down is not analysis. It's a short position on your own balance sheet.
Lies have short legs. I'm ready for the debate. Which of these numbers do you dispute? Reply with your source.
Data, not vibes.
Sources: Stats SA (Census 1996 & 2022, General Household Survey 2025, Mid-Year Estimates 2026), IRR using Stats SA data (graduates), Human Settlements via Africa Check (housing), Budget 2026 (grants), DataReportal 2026, IPP Office (REIPPPP).
#LGE2026 #DataAnalytics @MYANC
For the last 15 years, ANC-led government has meant: stagnant growth, rising debt, failing local government, corruption, patronage, mediocrity. I'm not voting for what happened decades ago. Last night, power was out for hours due to SAMWU go-slow. Because @CdeDada promised R10bn.
No, Paul, no. This is a serious headline
SOUTH AFRICA’S PORK SUPPLIES REMAIN SOLID. This slide decline in slaughtering is not a major issue. 🥩🇿🇦
“National pig slaughters reached 302,767 during August 2026, 6,9% lower than in July 2026 and 2,2% lower than in August 2025. During August 2026, all the provinces reported decreased monthly slaughter. “ -- South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO)
