For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Nadine Ramdass.

Making headlines: South Africa has plans in place to safeguard food supply amid power crisis, lawyers tell DA and coalition partners that 69 ‘spoilt ballots’ broke the law and, ANC goes on service delivery march in Tshwane

South Africa has plans in place to safeguard food supply amid power crisis

South Africa’s government has contingency plans in place to safeguard key food-production facilities against an escalation in power cuts that are already at record levels.

Africa’s most industrialised economy has been subjected to rolling blackouts, since 2008 because State power utility Eskom has been unable to meet demand from its old and poorly maintained plants.

Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza said while a total collapse of the national grid is highly unlikely, measures have been taken to ensure abattoirs can continue to operate and that animal vaccines are protected.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster over the blackouts and last week appointed Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to the newly created position of minister of electricity to oversee the government’s response to the energy crisis.

Lawyers tell DA and coalition partners that 69 ‘spoilt ballots’ broke the law

Legal opinion sought by the Democratic Alliance and its coalition partners revealed DA councillors had transgressed the Independent Electoral Commission voting guidelines when they numbered their ballots.

The DA had instructed its councillors to mark ballots with allocated numbers instead of a cross to give some indication of which candidate the councillors backed.

The ballots were found to have been numbered from 1 to 69, equalling the number of DA councillors in the municipality.

This lifted the veil of secrecy of a secret ballot, contravening electoral legislation.

ANC goes on service delivery march in Tshwane

The ANC said that the emergence of coalition governments at a local level was because of the unintended consequence of service delivery lapses and uncontrollable governance challenges faced by successive ANC leaderships over the years.

The party claimed that coalition politics in Tshwane, under the leadership of the Democratic Alliance, had been steeped in skewed service delivery, which had little to do with tackling the plight of poor black African people, who were in the majority.

On Friday, the ANC will embark on a local service delivery march in Tshwane, and launch the #BuyaTshwane People's Campaign led by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, the Gauteng ANC leadership and alliance partners.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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