Last updated: 25 August 2026
Elections place particular demands on political journalism. Mzansi Political Safari applies its normal standards of accuracy, fairness, attribution and independence throughout national, provincial, local-government and by-election coverage.
Neutral news reporting
News coverage is not written to campaign for or against a political party or candidate. Political claims, slogans and accusations should be attributed rather than adopted as the publication’s own language.
Fairness is not identical coverage
Fairness does not require every party to receive identical space or prominence. Coverage may reflect newsworthiness, public significance, electoral support, relevance to the story, geographic context and available evidence. Smaller parties and independent candidates should not be excluded merely because they are smaller where they are materially relevant.
Right of reply
Candidates, parties or officials who face significant adverse factual allegations should normally be offered a reasonable opportunity to respond before publication, subject to the urgency and circumstances of the story.
Campaign material and press releases
Campaign statements and media releases are treated as source material, not as independently verified fact. We aim to identify the party, candidate or organisation responsible and to add relevant context or verification where necessary.
Polls and surveys
Reports about opinion polls should, where information is available, identify the commissioning body, research organisation, fieldwork dates, sample size, geographic scope, methodology and margin of error or other stated limitations. Polling results should not be presented as election results or certain predictions.
Election results
Official results and electoral-status information should be checked against the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) or other competent official sources. Preliminary, projected or party-supplied figures should be clearly identified as such.
Misinformation and manipulated media
Election periods create elevated risks of false information, impersonation and manipulated images, audio or video. Viral claims should be treated with additional caution and should not be amplified without a clear journalistic reason and appropriate verification or context.
Political advertising
Political advertising must be clearly distinguishable from news coverage. Payment for advertising does not confer favourable editorial treatment. See our Advertising & Sponsored Content Policy.
Conflicts and political activity
People responsible for election reporting should disclose material political conflicts of interest to the editor. Personal political activity must not be allowed to compromise the fairness of news reporting.
Corrections during elections
Material election-related errors can have immediate consequences. We aim to correct verified errors promptly and to make the correction clear to readers.
Opinion and analysis
Opinion or analysis may discuss parties, candidates and policy choices but must be clearly labelled. Such material does not alter the neutrality standard applied to straight news reports.
Contact
editorial@politicalsafari.co.za