The Weekend View

ANC Elective conference: Delays and International relations

The current energy crisis in South Africa has been described as one of the worst and may be here to stay for quite a while. The country was plunged into stage 6 load shedding last Tuesday ahead of the planned outage of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station's Unit 1. The outage at Koeberg - initially planned for last Thursday (8 December) - was pushed back to THIS WEEKEND to give Eskom breathing room to tr...

Rise Mzansi, is a new political movement that has been established after months of conversations between activists led by the Rivonia Circle, a political think tank. It comes after a year in which the Rivonia Circle says it has taken a critical look at South Africa's democracy and, after careful consideration, identified what needs to be done to rescue it.  Songezo Zibi, the chairperson of the Riv...

The Democratic Alliance and ActionSA this week put their differences aside and are again preparing to join forces ahead of the 2024 provincial and national elections. The leaders of both parties held bilateral talks in Johannesburg on Thursday to discuss how to topple the ANC in the next elections. DA leader John Steenhuisen and ActionSA president Herman Mashaba agreed to let bygones be bygones an...

There has been mixed reactions following this month's re-opening of some eThekwini beaches in Kwa Zulu Natal that had been closed due to high e-coli levels. eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and his team excitedly recently opened beaches that had faced environmental challenges. Kaunda and his team even went for a swim at the North and uMhlanga beaches to show the public that the water was safe. Howev...

The festive season is upon us. Holiday makers are gearing up and children being sent to various provinces to visit relatives and we will all be sharing the roads. Driving is not only about having a vehicle which is in safe condition, but also about having a positive attitude behind the wheel. Motorists need to ensure that our long distance trips are safe and merry and our loved ones arrive safely...

Each year in South Africa, when universities begin new academic calendars, the issue of student funding dominates the national debate as more challenges arise. Among the affected group of students facing financial 'exclusion' is the 'Missing Middle', whose families or guardians neither fall within the income threshold that qualifies for government funding nor can they afford to pay tuition fees. T...

Do not pay or negotiate with kidnappers. This is a plea from Western Cape safety officials who fear that paying ransoms interferes with their ability to investigate and return victims safely to their loved ones. South Africa is witnessing a spike in kidnappings with mostly foreign nationals and, or business people or their relatives being targeted for a quick buck. Western Cape officials say stati...

The ANC NEC meeting which got off to a false start on Friday and was then re-scheduled for today has again been cancelled and is now expected to take place tomorrow; Monday. The ANC now says the National Working Committee will instead be meeting Today (Sunday) to discuss the Phala Phala  report. The working committee will then pass on its recommendations to the NEC for deliberation in Nasrec on Mo...

The business end of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar starts TODAY as the tournament enters its knockout stages. Despite the uncertainty around a winter World Cup and quetions around the host nation and human rights and LGBTQ+ issues, it has been an entertaining one on the pitch thus far. The first teams to play in the round of 16 later TODAY are the Netherlands and USA who play at 5 pm SA time fol...

Friday's  ANC NEC meeting at NASREC, south of Johannesburg, that was discussing the future of party President Cyril Ramaphosa was adjourned soon after sitting.  The meeting was expected to discuss the report on Phala Phala saga. The meeting will re-convene tomorrow ( Sunday).  Our Senior political reporter Ntebo Mokobo, was at NASREC. We also spoke  Sizophila Mkhize; National Spokesperson for the...

The world has been on a significant interest rate hike cycle in the last year and it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon. South Africa has experienced six interest rate hikes in 2022 alone, with the last one hitting us by 75 basis points on the 24th of November. As a result, consumers view credit as the only option when it comes to purchasing  some big items, and this leaves them trap...

South African Crime Statistics released by Minister Bheki Cele this week, reveal a concerning spike in violent crimes. Cele says the figures showed that aggression and violence were at worrying levels in the country.  Some opposition parties have renewed the call for the return of the death penalty to deal with violent crimes.  The African Transformation Movement (ATM) is one political party askin...

On Thursday Eskom downgraded load shedding to stage 2 during the nights through this weekend courtesy of new diesel reserves making it to the power utility. Eskom received the major lifeline from PetroSA in the form of 50 million litres of diesel to keep its open-cycle gas turbines running. The turbines are meant to be run only during peak energy demand periods when the normal coal stations cannot...

Yesterday marked the beginning of 16 Days of Activism of Activism for no Violence Against Women and Children. The annual campaign puts the spotlight on issues of femicide and gender-based violence that affect both women and children. It runs from the 25th of November to 10th December 2022. Despite the noble intentions of the campaign, over the years, South Africa has witnessed ever increasing leve...

The Life Esidimeni Family Committee will today host a healing session in Johannesburg for all bereaved family members to support each other and remember their loved ones. Many of the families have not been able to meet during COVID, so this is the first gathering in years. The Life Esidimeni tragedy involved the deaths of 144 people at psychiatric facilities in  Gauteng from causes including starv...

Government this week put out a notice urging all dog owners who no longer wish to keep their animals to take them to their local SPCA, animal welfare shelter, or private veterinarian. This as the debate on whether pitbulls should be banned continues to gain momentum as more children are getting mauled to death by the dogs. In the most recent case, a one-year-old child was on Wednesday mauled to de...

It is important to keep close track of your finances during the festive season.  With the Black Friday shopping frenzy in full swing, a lot can go wrong in a short space of time during the festive season hype. It may lead to tougher months ahead. South Africans have been complaining about the rising cost of living, interest rates, fuel and food prices. Naledi Totana, Compliance Officer at National...

The Technolife Wise Foundation recently launched the "Active Digital Wellness" initiative in collaboration with the Roosevelt High School in Johannesburg. The goal of the programme is to encourage parents to say yes to wait till Grade 8 or the age of 14 before giving children access to the internet and social media via a smartphone.  Dr Marlena Kruger, digital wellness coach and founder of the Tec...

As heavy fighting between government forces and the M23 rebels escalated in Eastern DRC this week, attempts to restore peace will resume tomorrow in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the facilitator of the East African Community-led talks, visited Goma after talks in the Congolese  capital Kinshasa on Monday. He also spoke to Rwandan leader Paul Kagame on the...

The Sports for Social Change Network Africa (SSCNA) has officially launched the inaugural SSCN Africa Awards set to be held this Wednesday, 23rd November, here at the SABC in Johannesburg. The awards are aimed at celebrating the achievements of individuals and organisations who have made strides toward positive social impact throughout Africa. Under the theme 'Leading like Mandela', the awards cer...

The opening ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place in Doha today, ahead of the opening Group A match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador at 6pm SA time. The opening ceremony is scheduled to begin at 4pm SA time. Although South Africa failed to qualify for the tournament, local soccer fans will join millions others around the world for the month long football festival. The final will take...

The American space agency - NASA - this week launched its most powerful ever rocket when it blasted off on its test flight on Wednesday, bringing closer it's ambition of putting astronauts back on the surface of the moon for the first time in 50 years. The space agency is aiming to send four astronauts around the Moon on the next flight, in 2024, and land humans there as early as 2025. The launch...

The Pretoria High Court has ordered cinema company, Nu Metro, to pay the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) R5 million plus interest for defaulting on its licence fees. Samro has been in court with Nu Metro since 2018, following a breached settlement with the organisation. The amount that the company will be paying to Samro spans over three license years. Samro says it's quest and...

A South African Police Service corruption 'whistle-blower' Patricia Morgan-Mashale says she fears for life and hasn't received any protection from government. This comes after she received death threats for  exposing  police corruption. The former Free State Saps administrative clerk, was reportedly dismissed from her job last year and has been in hiding since February. She says she survived two a...