For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: Three candidates approved to fill IEC commissioner vacancies; DA condemns Ramaphosa, Lamola’s ‘silence’ on Tanzania’s opposition leader imprisonment; And, Cameroon opposition leader rejects Biya win, vows resistance

Three candidates approved to fill IEC commissioner vacancies

The National Assembly has approved a motion to recommend Dhaya Pillay, Mosotho Moepya and Joyce Pitso to serve as commissioners in the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa.

Last week, the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs recommended the three candidates to the National Assembly, ahead of the three vacancies that will arise on November 4, when the term of office expires for IEC chairperson Moepya, IEC commissioner Pillay and IEC commissioner Dr Nomsa Masuku.

If appointed by the President, the three nominees will fill the vacancies.

Parliament pointed out that the appointment process for IEC Commissioners was designed to ensure transparency and integrity.

DA condemns Ramaphosa, Lamola’s ‘silence’ on Tanzania’s opposition leader imprisonment

The Democratic Alliance today said Tanzania’s elections would not be free or fair as the State muzzled opposition leaders and controlled democratic processes.

Tanzania is holding its general election today against the backdrop of what the DA describes as rapidly intensifying repression and the exclusion of opposition candidates.

DA spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation Ryan Smith said the party condemned the unlawful imprisonment of Tanzania’s opposition leader Tundu Lissu of the Party for Democracy and Progress on trumped-up charges of treason by the Tanzanian government.

As a result, President Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to win.

Smith said the detainment of Lissu, along with fellow Tanzanian opposition politician John Heche, marked an alarming trend of democratic backsliding that had become commonplace in the Southern African Development Community.

The DA wants President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola to speak out against what the party says is a “flagrant attack” on democracy in Tanzania and the SADC at large.

And, Cameroon opposition leader rejects Biya win, vows resistance

Cameroon opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary dismissed the Constitutional Council's declaration of President Paul Biya as winner of the October 12 election, calling the ruling a "fictitious victory" and pledging to resist.

Biya, the world's oldest leader at 92, has ruled Cameroon since 1982. His re-election has deepened tensions in the cocoa and oil-producing nation, where critics accuse him of using state institutions to cling to power.

Tchiroma claimed that he won the election by a large majority. He said this victory is not his alone; it belongs to the Cameroonian people.

Violent protests intensified across several towns in the central African nation on Monday after the council's ruling, which is final and not subject to appeal.

At least 10 people have been killed in the violence, local media reported, as hundreds took to the streets to denounce what they described as a rigged election.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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