First Take SA

The ANC has distanced itself from what they call policy changes at the SABC. Addressing the media at Luthuli House in Johannesburg, chairperson of ANC sub-committee on communication Jackson Mthembu says the party was not consulted on the policy changes at the broadcaster. The SABC has come under fire following editorial decisions not to show violent public protests and other decisions which have r...

Fifteen thousand jobs were lost in the first quarter of 2016. This is according to the StatsSA's quarterly employment survey, which shows that the job losses were across all sectors of the economy. This is a decline of 0.2 per cent in the formal employment of South Africa's economy. Gross earnings also declined by 4 per cent during the quarter from over 545 million rand to just over 523 million ra...

Tsepiso Makwetla speaks to Nontando Ngamlana, the Executive Director of Afesis-corplan about the Trend.

The high court of Pretoria has adjourned until tomorrow, wrapping up day one in the sentencing procedure of Oscar Pistorius. State prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, earlier questioned psychologist Jonathan Scholtz's objectivity after he refrained from including a prison report in his testimony that stated Pistorius had been verbally violent towards prison officials. Nel questioned why Scholtz only selected...

The SACP in KwaZulu-Natal has agreed to allow its provincial Secretary Themba Mthembu to take up the position of MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development. In a joint media briefing held in Durban, the ANC and the SACP have said Mthembu will take up the position following urgent bilateral talks between the parties. Questions arose earlier today when Mthembu did not attend the swearing in of the ot...

Northam Platinum has suspended operations at its Zondereinde mine following the deaths of two rival union members. Northam Mine says violence erupted after another worker had been shot dead in a nearby town on Sunday. Another has been stabbed to death in the on-going clashes. The platinum belt has been the battle ground for a membership turf war between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and...

Both stillbirth and miscarriage are types of pregnancy loss, but they differ by when the loss occurs. A miscarriage (sometimes called a spontaneous abortion) is when a baby dies before the 20th week of pregnancy. Stillbirth is the death of a baby after the 20th week of pregnancy but before delivery. Researchers estimate that, among women who already know they are pregnant, nearly 15 percent will h...

ANC Branch Chairperson at Edendale outside Pietermaritzburg has been shot dead. Nathi Hlongwa was gunned down at IMbali Township in Pietermaritzburg after meeting with some party members. His killing comes just a day after Mpofana Municipality Chief Financial Officer Simo Mncwabe was shot dead. Both Mncwabe and Hlongwa are originally from Edendale. Last month two other ANC councilors were also sho...

A general household survey released by Statistics South Africa today reveals that almost a third of the population is now relying on social grants. There's been a steady increase over more than a decade from 12.7% of the population in 2003 to 30.1% percent in 2015. PM Live anchor Tšepiso Makwetla speaks to the Statistician General Pali Lehohla

The South Africa National Editors Forum has called on the SABC to review its decision not to broadcast footage of public property being destroyed during protests. The SABC argues that showing such material on its news bulletins and using sound on its radio stations, might encourage other communities to do the same. However, SANEF national chairperson Mpumelelo Mkhabela says the SABC could find cre...

Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Paul Mashatile is this hour expected to visit Sekampaneng outside Hammanskraal where the community went on rampage yesterday. Two people were killed and three buses set alight as the community which protested against being evicted on a land owned by the City of Tshwane municipality. According to the police the situation remain...

After seven years on suspension more than 500 members of the South African National Defence Force can report back for duty. The follows the announcement by the chief of the National Defence Force, Solly Shoke to reinstate the soldiers who were suspended after they stormed the lawns of the Union Buildings, in a violent protest in 2009. The members have been on special leave, on full salaries, since...

N our Tech Talk feature this week...... In 2015, Nosipho Gamede founded GigNet Mobile App, South Africa's first and only fully integrated entertainment networking platform that allows for the interaction of multiple user groups in a single entertainment ecosystem. The Mobile App allows for entertainment consumers to view and track their favourite entertainers and more.

Mantshali Motijoane took her daughter’s relatively new tablet in for repairs at the Edgars Active store based at Clearwater Mall, west of Johannesburg, at the beginning of this year. This after it stopped functioning in December 2015. She says she could not take it to Edgars Active then, because of her December holiday programme. But now the gadget has seemingly disappeared.

Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, has announced that the repo rate will remain unchanged at seven percent. This means that the prime lending rate remains steady at 10 point five percent. The move had been widely expected following Stats SA's announcement of better than expected inflation data. CPI slowed year on year to six point two percent in April. However Kganyago has voiced concern abo...

Former mine workers say today's ruling by the Johannesburg High Court that they can now bring a class action suit against mining companies to claim for compensation for contracting silicosis and TB is a first step towards justice. At least 200-thousand current and former gold miners and their families may join the class action.

This week we introduce a new feature on the show called Trends watch. Our Producer Aphiwe Honono will take us through the social media commentary on some of the stories that made headlines during the week.

The Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Aurora directors, upholding a high court ruling that they be held personally responsible for the destruction of Pamodzi mine assets. The directors, including President Jacob Zuma's nephew, Khulubuze and former president Nelson Mandela's grandson, Zondwa will in terms of the judgement be sequestated if they do not pay for damage and the outstan...

A group of local NGO’s have joined the global Break Free campaign aimed to disrupt the fossil-fuel industry by targeting the world’s most dangerous and unnecessary fossil fuel projects. In South Africa corruption is said to be aggravating the coal sector. Local communities are speaking out against the so called dirty sector. Blocking the increased use of coal isn’t just about safeguarding the envi...

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has proposed to Justice Minister Michael Masutha that Judge Mabel Jansen be placed on special leave, following the outcry over alleged racial comments she made on social media. In a Facebook conversation with social justice activist Gillian Schutte, Judge Jansen posted messages with racial undertones, seemingly suggesting that rape is an ingrained part of blac...

Rioting residents of Grabouw in the Western Cape have now set alight an open field surrounding an informal settlement in the area. The protestors earlier set a traffic licencing centre alight in dispute over housing issues. Community members are allegedly in dispute over a local housing project and who the beneficiaries should be.

Government says it will set up camps and provide mobile classrooms to cater for over two thousand grade 12 learners in Vuwani and its surrounding villages. Co-operative Governance minister, Des Van Rooyen briefed the media outside Polokwane after a meeting between the inter-ministerial team and Vuwani traditional leaders

355 thousand people lost their jobs in the first quarter of 2016. This is the highest rate since 2008. Statistics South Africa says there were already 521 thousand unemployment people before these new figures were released in Pretoria today. This means unemployment currently stands at 26.7 percent, a figure higher than last year's 24.5 percent. For more on this we are joined on the line by Statist...

The Basic Education department says it will cost more than half a billion rand to rebuild 24 schools that were burnt down or vandalised by residents at Vuwani* in Limpopo. Minister Angie Motshekga says valuable school records that cannot be easily replaced have also been destroyed. Motshekga says a full assessment on the extent of the damage is still to be completed. A meeting between senior gover...

Multichoice lawyers have told the Competition Appeal Court in Cape Town that there's nothing unusual about its deal with the SABC. Media Monitoring Africa and Caxton Publishers are challenging a ruling by a tribunal in February giving the go-ahead for the deal. They say the five-year contract is problematic as it gives one competitor exclusive control of a portion of entertainment archive material...