PRETORIA — President Cyril Ramaphosa may not have received the 60% support of national votes in the 2019 elections that he wanted, but he has a big enough mandate for decisive leadership. A political analyst from the Stellenbosch University, Dr Collette Schulz-Herszenberg told Biznews that the election result is the most appropriate result right now. -Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA — She may have only one seat, but the leader of the GOOD party, Patricia de Lille, who broke away from the Democratic Alliance after a controversial stint as the mayor of Cape Town, is likely to be a vocal voice in Parliament. Her party also has at least two seats in the provincial legislature of the Western Cape  We could not pin down De Lille, but her spokesperson Nthabiseng Lephoko promised that they will make good on their promises to hold the DA to account in the province and the ANC in Parliament - Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA — Many of the smaller parties in the election did not manage to gain a single seat. One of the parties that have been more successful is the ACDP which have doubled their number of MPs. The party's leader, Kenneth Meshoe says they will oppose land distribution without compensation, and want to create an environment which attracts investors to the country. - Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA — The Inkatha Freedom party has increased its share of the vote in the elections and is running neck and neck with the Freedom Front Plus. IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa says the party was negatively effected by floods and unrest in the province. - Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA — The Australian High Commissioner Adam McCarthy, who is one of the international observers at the election headquarters says he is impressed with voter turnout especially when it is compared with other countries. In Australia voting is compulsory. - Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA - The American civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson has always taken a keen interest in South Africa and was a staunch opponent of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Jackson sent representatives to the #Elections2019 to observe the elections. One of them is James Gomes from the Rainbow/Push Coalition who inspected voting that took place in the Soweto area. - Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA — With the first results in, a couple of interesting trends are starting to emerge. Very few of the smaller parties are doing well, although one or two might get a seat in Parliament. Political Analyst and former South African Ambassador to Ireland Melanie Verwoerd says the ANC is performing well. - Linda van Tilburg

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Pretoria — South Africans turned out in their millions to vote in the first general election where social media played a major role. And although problems were reported with some voting stations in Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape not opening because of continued unrest, in general the election process could be regarded as a success. By midday 14 stations in these areas had not opened which the IEC managed to whittle down to a handful by early evening. Considering the fact that they had around 22,000 polling stations, the IEC has been successful in carrying out a smooth voting process. Problems that were experienced at some polling stations were more visible than previous elections due to posts on social media, but it also enabled the IEC to address issues and encourage voters to bring problems to the attention of electoral officers. The Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo regretted the disruption experienced due to unrest and said he was happy with a smooth election process despite some glitches. - Linda van Tilburg

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PRETORIA — South Africans will go to the polls for the country's sixth democratic election today. After a hotly contested election campaign, the politicians will fall silent while voters get the chance to give their say on who they want to rule the country. The first two days of special votes were marred by some incidence of violence and disruption by protestors about services delivery, but the IEC's Sy Mamabolo says the special voting has helped the IEC to fix glitches. 22,924 voting stations will be open from 7 in the morning until 10 at night for the country's 26.7 million voters. - Linda van Tilburg

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LONDON — The devastating fire at the Notre Dame in Paris that has almost destroyed the 800 year old cathedral has attracted donations from all over the world and the total amount of money is expected to reach €1bn. This is more than any disaster in history which thousands and thousands of people have died in. The generosity of people, including many of the super rich of the world has raised the question whether it is appropriate to spend so much money on rebuilding a monument. Many architects weighed in saying it will cost billions to repair the Notre Dame and that perhaps it should not be restored as it was; that it should evolve. The timeline that President Emmanuel Macron set of five years for restoration is also said to be unrealistic and would probably take much longer. In Britain, several commentators were asking where the donations were when the Grenfell tower burnt down killing 233 people to which the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu who is originally from Uganda replied that he did not think you should either give money to restore the Notre Dame or save people, you could do both. The Notre Dame fire has also raised the question of how safe the historic buildings in Britain are. The Palace of Westminster that houses Parliament is said to be a serious fire hazard where fire safety teams constantly patrol the building that has caught fire 40 times just in the years between 2008 and 2012. Bloomberg’s Bob Moon was in Paris at the Notre Dame and he believes it will rise again. - Linda van Tilburg

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