The Weekend View

President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to the last apartheid era President, F.W De Klerk - hailing him for his contribution to South Africa's transition into a democratic state. De Klerk died of cancer at his Fresnaye home, in Cape Town yesterday morning. He was 85. Ramaphosa was speaking outside Parliament after Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana's mid term budget speech. He has sent condolences to the De Klerk family and says Government is willing to assist the family.

You have to have long-term and quick and short-term solutions at the same time". That was one of the key takeaways in a discussion with an international energy policy advisor on the current power crisis gripping the country. Ignacio Fernandez is a senior advisor at the primary electricity supply company in south California - the most populous state in the United States and by itself, the world's fifth largest economy. The state last year experienced rolling blackouts while Fernandez also worked in Chile's Ministry of Energy during that country's energy crisis in 2008. In conversation with the SABC's Sherwin Bryce-Pease, he makes a number of recommendations that includes a dramatic shift from coal over the longer-term.

Electricity blackouts not only lead to frustration due to the unavailability of power, but many are forced to spend thousands to repair damaged electrical appliances or buy new ones.  And if the appliances are not insured this could mean being without a flat-screen TV, computer, microwave, or fridge while trying to save some money.  Johannesburg's City Power says last year's stage 6 loadshedding set the company back about 58-million rand in losses.  They estimate the losses could be three times more this year.

City of Johannesburg's City Power has threatened legal action if Eskom did not heed its call to exempt Joburg residents from the lower stages of loadshedding. The City had written a letter to Eskom to notify it of the added capacity and thus requesting exemption from loadshedding. The municipality had recently secured additional power supply capacity of 220MW from the privately-owned Kelvin power station

Eswatini's main political opposition has generally welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa's meeting with King Mswati in the small Kingdom this week, in which they agreed on arrangements for a national dialogue to negotiate a way out of the country's political impasse. Ramaphosa met with King Mswati in his capacity as the chair of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) organ on politics, defence and security. The meeting of the two heads of state follows a visit by a special envoy last month

Political Parties have started negotiations to form coalition partnerships. Some parties will likely be forced to swallow their pride and work with their opponents. But others have made it clear that they will not compromise their principles to form a marriage of convenience to govern in local government.

One South Africa Movement Leader Mmusi Maimane has rejected Parliament's claims that OSA accused the national legislature of being in contempt of court. This comes after the Constitutional Court  gave Parliament 24 months to correct the defect in the Electoral Act. The "New Nation Movement NPC" and others who support Independent Candidates, -  successfully challenged the constitutionality of the electoral legislation. Existing legislation does not  make provision for Independent Candidates to contest the national and provincial elections

Some independent candidates in KwaZulu-Natal say they are being threatened by members from the larger political parties in their areas. Over 3-hundred candidates will be contesting the November 1st election as independents, the most in any election.

Its all systems go for the country's sixth Local Government Elections on tomorrow Novermber 1st 2021. These elections are reported to be the most contested with the highest number of ward candidates. Between the logistical challenges of keeping the electorate safe during the Covid-19 pandemic and the dissatisfaction with politicians in general, a significant disruption to the balance of power in all of South Africa's provinces is expected. To chat all things elections we are joined on the line by SABC's Research Specialist on politics, Dr Ronesh Dhawraj(pron-Dowraj)

An ANC candidate councillor in Tshwane Tshepo Malefane is in hiding following the murder of two residents and a local businessman. They were all members of the ANC's local branch in Soshanguve north of Pretoria. One of the deceased was his uncle, 42 year old Khehla Malefane