First Take SA

Thousands of South Africans have today taken to the streets across the country to express their dissatisfaction with President Jacob Zuma's leadership, calling for him to step down. In Pretoria, thousands of people marched through the Pretoria CBD to the Union Buildings to hear Save SA leaders speak. Save SA's Sipho Pityana also addressed the large crowd - again calling for ANC MPs to vote Zuma ou...

Several civil society organisations and political parties such as Save SA, OUTA and main opposition party, the DA, marched in major cities including Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, eThekwini and Mbombela calling for President Jacob Zuma's resignation. They are demanding President Zuma that step down following his Cabinet reshuffle last week. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to State Security Minister, Da...

Ratings agency, Fitch has downgraded South Africa to non-investment grade, this comes dead on the heels of a downgrade by Standards and Poor's. In a statement Fitch says the recent political events and the cabinet reshuffle are some of the reasons for the downgrade. Moody's is still to issue a sovereign credit rating decision on South Africa. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Chief Economist at Standard B...

Daughter of slain hero Chris Hani, Lindiwe Hani. Lindiwe Hani will on Thursday launch her memoir 'Being Chris Hani's Daughter'. In this memoir, she recalls the 12 years she shared with her father and the toll that his untimely death took on the Hani family. She spoke to Tsepiso Makwetla

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe has reiterated that no MP of the party will vote with the opposition in its motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma. Mantashe was speaking at Luthuli House during a press briefing on the outcomes of the National Working Committee. This follows the EFF and DA's request to Speaker Baleka Mbete to hold an urgent sitting of Parliament to consider the motion...

South African Revenue Service Commissioner Tom Moyane has announced that the revenue service has collected R1.14 trillion in tax for the 2016 and 2017 financial year. According to the report, the projected revenue had been revised down due to the poor performance of the economy. SARS commissioner, Tom Moyane, says the global economic performance in 2016 impacted South Africa negatively. Tsepiso Ma...

The ANC has refuted reports suggesting that the Integrity Commission of the ANC wants President Jacob Zuma to resign. According to the reports, a letter signed by the Commission's Chair Andrew Mlangeni was expected to be delivered to ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe today, calling for an urgent meeting with the party's top officials. ANC Spokesperson Zizi Kodwa has however confirmed that Presi...

The ANC Youth League has welcomed the announcement by President Jacob Zuma on the cabinet reshuffle. They say they are pleased with the changes as it "brings some younger MPs and women into the National Executive in order to benefit from their energy, experience and expertise". Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to ANCYL President Collen Maine

Chief economist at Investment Solutions Lesiba Mothata says business confidence has been depressed domestically and foreign investors have begun to sell their South African assets following the cabinet reshuffle. Mothata says investor confidence has been substantially dented by the rapid changes at the National treasury. Chief economist at Investment Solutions Lesiba Mothata spoke to Tsepiso Makwe...

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema earlier filed an application at the Constitutional Court, to have the Speaker of Parliament to institute impeachment or disciplinary proceedings against President Jacob Zuma. The party says it's been a year since the court made adverse finding against Zuma on this matter. However there has been no consequences against him. Tomorrow will be...

Statistician General Dr Pali Lehohla has released a report on the state of service delivery in the country. The report finds that households in metropolitan municipalities are generally more pleased with service delivery than houses in smaller municipalities, particularly in Limpopo. Although their priorities vary, the report shows that South Africans generally believe that municipalities are not...

The South African Communist Party says it is President Jacob Zuma's intention to fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas. Briefing the media in Johannesburg today (Thursday, 30 March), the party says it told the ANC in a bilateral meeting on Monday that it rejects the move to replace the two. It has also decried the role of the country's state security agencies in public...

The newly appointed SABC interim board says it will do its best to restore the image of the public broadcaster. The SABC has been embattled with a number of issues - most of which were revealed during a parliamentary ad hoc committee inquiry into the previous board's fitness to hold office. The interim board was officially appointed by President Jacob Zuma on Sunday and will serve for a period of...

The Cabinet meeting which was postponed to this afternoon is finally underway. President Jacob Zuma postponed the start of today's Cabinet meeting to enable members to attend the funeral of struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada. Zuma Ddid not attend the funeral. He was requested not to speak at Kathrada's funeral as per the struggle stalwart's wishes. Meanwhile EFF Leader Julius Malema says he expects...

South African comedy lovers are in for a real treat as comedians from around the globe head to Mzansi for the Johannesburg International Comedy Festival. Over 50 local and international comedians will grace the stages of the city of Joburg when the festival returns for the second time from the 30 March- 1 April. Russia's Igor Meerson, Eddy King of Canada and our very own Celeste Ntuli and Kagiso L...

Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation says the Mpumalanga department of health is in crisis. The Committee is in the province on a two day oversight visit. Chairperson of the Committee, Dr Makhosi Khoza has raised concerns over the department's failure to pay close to 1.5 billion rand to service providers on time. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to...

Political parties in Parliament have expressed sadness over the passing of struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada. Kathrada died this morning at the Donald Gordon hospital in Johannesburg. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to social activist and a former unionist and Cabinet minister Jay Naidoo

It has been reported that President Jacob Zuma during a consultative meeting yesterday with South African Communist Party (SACP), told the Alliance partner that he is planning to sack Pravin Gordhan as finance minister. This after President Zuma had asked Gordhan to return from his investment road show to the United Kingdom(UK) and United States (US). Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Deputy General-Secre...

Finance minister Pravin Gordhan says he has NOT been fired, contrary to rumours that have been trending since he landed in the country this morning. Gordhan rushed to ANC headquarters at Luthuli House after he was called back from an investor promotion tour in the United Kingdom by the presidency. The Minister then attended court proceedings in Pretoria, where he's seeking an order to stop the Gup...

ANC secretary Gwede Mantashe says President Jacob Zuma's decision to recall finance minister Pravin Gordan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas from international investment roadshow has nothing to do with the ruling party's NEC. The two were scheduled to kick off an investment promotion drive in the UK and United States. Briefing the media on the latest NEC decision earlier Mantashe said the decision is...

Minister of Environmental Affairs, Dr Edna Molewa is attending the Ministerial Conference of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) in Berlin, Germany. The conference aims to further strengthen the capabilities required to implement the country's transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient and pro-employment development path. The programme will help South Africa achieve its goal of...

A new Multi Drug Resistance TB treatment will soon be rolled out in four provinces. About 400 patients will take part in the research. The drug is produced by Japan and has been approved for treating MDR-TB in the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea. As the world celebrates World TB Day today, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has launched the Delamanid Clinical Access Programme for the...

A snap survey conducted by advocacy group ActionAid South Africa has found that 96-percent of the women who use taxis say they have witnessed violence and harassment, while 56-percent say they were victims of violence. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Action Aid South Africa Head of Programmes, Emily Craven.

Three suspects have been arrested for the alleged series of gang rapes of female taxi commuters on Gauteng's West Rand. Following media reports about the sexual assaults, more women are continuing to come forward with information of sexual assaults by taxi drivers. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Gauteng Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange...

Newly-elected ANC Chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Bay region, Andile Lungisa says he is willing to step down from his position. This emerged in a letter sent to the SABC by Lungisa. The ANC top six has called on Lungisa to resign from his position as it goes against the party's constitution for Lungisa, a member of the provincial executive committee, to take a leadership role in a regional struc...