![Local Government Elections in SA | ConCourt vs CAB3 | Emfuleni by-election [Edition 18]](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=720,onerror=redirect/uploads/asset/file/340c4a2a-1d62-425a-989e-402c15849e3b/SEYCHELLES__10_.png)
This edition focuses on the upcoming Local Government Elections in South Africa, a Constitutional Court application challenging the Constitutional Amendment Bill 3 in Zimbabwe and the Emfuleni Municipality by-election in South Africa.
CAB 3 Before the Courts: Youngerson Matete v Parliament of Zimbabwe and Others
A constitutional challenge filed in the High Court by Youngerson Matete, founder of Project Vote 263, has introduced a significant new dimension to the ongoing debate surrounding the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill 2026. The application focuses specifically on Clauses 4, 9 and 10 of the Amendment Bill and asks the Court to determine whether these provisions affect entrenched constitutional safeguards protected under section 328 of the Constitution.
At the heart of the application is a fundamental constitutional question: can Parliament amend these provisions through ordinary constitutional amendment procedures, or must the amendments first go through a national referendum?
The case therefore seeks to answer one of the most consequential constitutional disputes arising from the Constitutional Amendment Bill 3.
Overview of the Court Case
The application is preventive rather than retrospective. It seeks judicial intervention before the ongoing constitutional amendment process has been completed. The application seeks declaratory relief concerning the legality of the proposed constitutional amendment process. The applicant asks the Court to determine:
Whether Clauses 4, 9 and 10 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill 2026 affect entrenched constitutional provisions protected under section 328 of the Constitution;
Whether the proposed amendments contained in Clauses 4, 9 and 10 may lawfully be enacted without approval through a national referendum; and
Whether the intended conduct of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, the President of Zimbabwe, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs violates sections 2, 3 and 328 of the Constitution.
The application rests on four interconnected constitutional principles.
Constitutional Supremacy - The applicant relies heavily on section 2 of the Constitution, which establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of Zimbabwe. According to the application, any constitutional amendment process undertaken in a manner inconsistent with constitutional requirements would be invalid regardless of parliamentary support.
Founding Values and Principles - The application also invokes section 3, which identifies constitutional supremacy, democracy, transparency, accountability, the rule of law, and citizen participation as foundational constitutional values. The applicant argues that these principles require meaningful public involvement in constitutional change, particularly where entrenched constitutional safeguards are implicated.
Protection of Entrenched Constitutional Provisions - The applicant contends that section 328 does more than establish procedural requirements. It acts as a constitutional safeguard designed to prevent fundamental constitutional protections from being altered solely through parliamentary processes.
Sovereignty of the People - The application further argues that constitutional amendments affecting protected provisions must ultimately derive legitimacy from the people themselves rather than Parliament alone.
The Relief Sought
More specifically, the application requests four principal orders.
First, the Court is asked to declare that Clauses 4, 9 and 10 fall within the category of constitutional provisions protected by section 328 and therefore cannot be amended without a referendum.
Second, the applicant seeks a declaration that any attempt to enact or implement those clauses without first obtaining referendum approval would be unconstitutional and invalid.
Third, the Court is asked to interdict Parliament of Zimbabwe and other respondents from taking further steps toward implementation of the relevant clauses until a referendum has been conducted.
Fourth, the applicant seeks an order directing the relevant electoral authorities to facilitate and conduct a national referendum should the amendments be passed by Parliament.
Key Concern - Ripeness and Judicial Intervention
Although the applicant argues that the matter is neither hypothetical nor academic, respondents may contend that the challenge is premature because the amendment process has not yet been completed. The Court will need to decide whether the threat of unconstitutional conduct is sufficiently imminent to justify intervention before enactment.
Constitutional Significance
Regardless of the outcome, the case, if heard, has the potential to become an important constitutional precedent in Zimbabwe. The Court's decision could clarify the meaning and scope of section 328, the relationship between constitutional supremacy and parliamentary sovereignty, the circumstances under which a referendum becomes mandatory, and the limits of Parliament's constitutional amendment powers. In doing so, the judgment would address issues that extend well beyond CAB 3, touching on the broader architecture of Zimbabwe's constitutional order and the balance between representative government, popular sovereignty, and constitutional safeguards.
About the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill, 2026
On 16 February 2026, the Speaker of Parliament, gazetted the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill, 2026 which proposes extensive changes to the governance and electoral framework of Zimbabwe. Key provisions include replacing the direct presidential vote with an indirect system where the President is elected by Members of Parliament and Senators, extending the terms of the President and MPs from 5 to 7 years and transferring voter registration and the voters’ roll from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to the Registrar-General while creating a new Zimbabwe Electoral Delimitation Commission. The Bill also proposes expanding presidential powers in judicial appointments, allowing the President to appoint all judges and removing the requirement to consult the Judicial Service Commission when appointing the Prosecutor-General. Increasing the composition of Senate, allowing the President to appoint an additional 10 senators, repealing the Zimbabwe Gender and National Peace and Reconciliation Commissions, transferring their functions to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, while also permitting traditional leaders to participate in partisan politics and altering the constitutional role of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Election
Observation Methodologies: A Practical Framework for African Observer Groups
TDGHRconsult in collaboration with the Election Resource Centre published an occassional paper, Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Election Observation Methodologies which explores how AI can strengthen election observation in Africa by addressing challenges such as disinformation, cyber threats and data overload. The paper presents a practical framework for using AI across the electoral cycle from pre-election analysis to real time monitoring and post election reporting whilst emphasising that AI should complement and not replace human judgement. The paper highlights both the opportunities and limitations of AI, underscoring the need for ethical safeguards, capacity building and strong human oversight.
Over the next newsletters ERC will break down key chapters of the paper, highlighting practical insights on how AI can be responsibly integrated into election observation.
Strategic Framework for AI integration across the Electoral Cycle
This edition focuses on the chapter Strategic Framework for AI Integration Across the Electoral Cycle, which outlines how AI can be integrated across the entire electoral cycle to strengthen modern election observation. The chapter highlights how AI tools can support pre-election legal reviews, voter registration monitoring, boundary delimitation assessments and the detection of online disinformation campaigns. On election day, AI powered systems can enhance real time incident reporting, biometric verification monitoring and results verification, while post election applications focus on dispute analysis, statistical verification and evidence based reporting. The chapter argues that AI has the potential to improve the timeliness, consistency and analytical depth of election observation missions, while emphasising that technology should complement, rather than replace the judgment and oversight of human observers.
Excerpt: Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Election Observation Methodologies: A Practical Framework for African Observer Groups
Electoral Commission launches 2026 Local Government Elections campaign
On 27 May 2026, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) formally launched the 2026 Local Government Elections (LGE), marking the beginning of a nationwide voter awareness and mobilisation campaign ahead of Election Day on 4 November 2026.
The Commission’s campaign will span multiple communication platforms—including television, radio, digital media, and social networks—aimed at maximising reach across South Africa’s diverse electorate.
This early and coordinated rollout reflects an institutional recognition of the increasingly complex electoral environment. With voter participation becoming reduced and becoming less predictable, the effectiveness of public awareness efforts will play a consequential role in shaping turnout and, by extension, electoral legitimacy. The IEC’s continued emphasis on accessibility and transparency remains a stabilising factor in an otherwise fluid political landscape. However, as South Africa approaches the 2026 LGE, the success of such efforts will ultimately be measured not only by participation rates, but by the extent to which they sustain public confidence in the integrity of the democratic process.
South Africa - 2026/27 Local Government Elections
Local Government Elections in South Africa are held every five years to elect councillors tasked with governing municipalities for a fixed term. These councillors serve across local, metropolitan, and district councils. The process is administered by the Electoral Commission of South Africa, which oversees the conduct of elections, voter registration, and the overall electoral framework.
South Africa’s local government elections operate under a mixed electoral system, combining closed-list proportional representation (PR) with direct ward-based elections.
A Narrow Margin: What Emfuleni Potentially Reveals About South Africa’s Local Electoral Trajectory
On Thursday, 28 May, a seemingly minor by-election result in Emfuleni, Gauteng, briefly dominated South Africa’s political discourse. The margin, just 8 votes, would ordinarily not move the needle, yet the outcome has drawn widespread attention, not because of its scale, but because of what it may foreshadow.
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) victory in Ward 28, a township ward on the edge of Johannesburg with a majority black electorate, marks a departure from the normal which had been primarily shaped by race.
At face value, the numbers are modest. The DA secured 32.36% of the vote, up from 14.21% in 2021 and 8.8% in 2016. The African National Congress (ANC), by contrast, declined sharply to 31.8% from 50.9% in 2021 and 66.1% in 2016.
The DA has framed the result as a breakthrough: evidence that its appeal is broadening beyond its traditional base. Whether this interpretation holds under national scrutiny remains uncertain. By-elections are often shaped by hyper-local dynamics, candidate selection, service delivery grievances, turnout variability, rather than wholesale ideological shifts. Still, dismissing the result entirely would be equally short-sighted. Electoral change rarely announces itself with sweeping victories; it begins at the margins.
This result suggests continued trends in voter behaviour, a legacy of the 2024 general elections. South Africa’s electorate is becoming increasingly fluid, less anchored by historical loyalties and more responsive to immediate emerging issues. The broader electoral environment is undergoing visible recalibration. The ANC’s performance in the 2024 general elections reflected a continued erosion of dominance. Simultaneously, new and resurgent political actors, most notably the MK Party and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), are reshaping the competitive landscape. The PA’s recent victory in Stellenbosch, accompanied by a notable decline in DA support, underscores a fragmentation that cuts across party lines.
Compounding these dynamics are non-electoral pressures: public discontent over service delivery, rising tensions around immigration, and internal fractures within major parties. The Constitutional Court’s ruling that Parliament violated the Constitution in the CR7 impeachment process has further contributed to an atmosphere of institutional contestation. While such developments do not directly determine electoral outcomes, they influence public trust—the intangible currency upon which democratic systems depend.
The result is an electorate that is less predictable, more fragmented, and potentially more volatile than at any point in South Africa’s democratic history.
As the country moves toward the Local Government Elections scheduled for November, the Emfuleni by-election offers a limited but telling preview. It suggests that no party can rely solely on historical support, nor assume that traditional voting blocs will remain intact. Electoral competition is intensifying, and with it, the stakes of governance at the municipal level.
ERC Africa mourns the passing of President Linda Masarira
ERC Africa mourned the passing of Linda Masarira, a Human Rights Defender, Development & Socioeconomic Rights Activist, Feminist and the President of the Labour, Economists and African Democrats (LEAD). President Linda Masarira will be remembered for her tenacity in defending women’s rights, promoting Ubuntu, advocating for women inclusion and amplifying the voices of women and ordinary citizens within Zimbabwe’s democratic and political spaces. We will remember her as a friend of the ERC. Her courage, resilience, and commitment to women participation and inclusive governance remain a significant contribution to the country’s democratic discourse.
ElecTalk Episode 2
Constitutional Amendment Bill 3 | Public Hearings | ZHRC | Jessie Majome
Join Fortune Maruta, Delight Muchazondida, Charmaine Munetsi & Tawanda Shanya as they discuss and give their opinions on posts made on social media relating to the ongoing Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.3) Bill, 2026
Election TidBits
🇿🇦 South Africa - The Electoral Commission has set 20 and 21 June 2026 as Voter Registration Weekend ahead of the 2026/27 Local Government Elections.
Let’s Partner ↘︎
Do you want to support or sponsor an episode of ELECTALK or pen an article?
We offer sponsorship, partnership and co-authoring opportunities for our newsletter
About the Election Resource Centre Africa
Our mission is to improve the quality of democracy & elections at all tiers in Africa. ERC Africa is a think tank and advocacy organisation formed following the need to deepen electoral research work in Africa. The ERC envisions “an Africa with transparent, credible and inclusive electoral and democratic processes at all tiers of society.
