The Week That Was: 16 - 20 June 2025
Top Political Stories This Week
Helen Zille confirms Johannesburg candidacy
Business Day reported this week that Helen Zille has confirmed she will put her hat in the ring for the DA’s nomination to be Mayor of Johannesburg. She will join twelve other applicants vying for the nomination. Zille has indicated that should she be selected as the DA’s Mayoral Candidate for Johannesburg, she will step down as Chairperson of the Federal Council. This would create a vacancy in the second-most powerful DA leadership position.
Latest SRF polling bad news for the EFF
The Social Research Foundation released some latest polling from this month - conducted after the budget saga - that will make for difficult reading for the EFF. The poll puts the party at 3% and indicates that it may be losing support to MK which is polled at 18%. The poll has the ANC at 40%, the DA at 26%, the IFP at 5% and the PA at 3%.
ANC retains Ward 6 in Thaba Chweu
The ANC retained Ward 6 in Thaba Chweu, Mpumalanga this week fighting off the EFF and MK. The party won 53% of the vote. After losing second place to MK in two Mpumalanga wards last week, the EFF will have been relieved to have obtained a solid second place with 28% of the vote to MK’s 10%.
Floyd Shivambu signals a new party
On Thursday, recently axed MK Secretary-General, Floyd Shivambu indicated that he would be commencing a consultation process with various communities and groups to decide whether he should launch his own political party. He signalled he will be announcing an interim structure next week but he still remains a member of MK.
Top Economic Story This Week
CPI at 2.8%
South Africa’s consumer price inflation (CPI) was at 2.8% for May. This is unchanged from April and again below the Reserve Bank’s inflation targeting range of 3-6%. Although this steadiness would ordinarily cause the MPC to consider lowering interest rates, global uncertainty driven by the Israel-Iran conflict and the continued threat of Trump tariffs will probably lead to rates remaining unchanged.
Highlights from the South Africa Brief
Paul and Jonathan caught up on Wednesday for Episode 2 of the “The Real National Dialogue” to discuss the political news of the week.
On Thursday, Jonathan released Part 3 of our series on what it takes to launch and run a political party capable of contesting elections on a national basis.