First Take SA

All Medical Aid schemes in South Africa will be covering the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine for their members. This comes after South Africa's Council for Medical Schemes or CMS added the Covid-19 vaccine to its list of Prescribed Minimum Benefits.

Health minister, Zweli Mkhize says they have chosen the AstraZeneca vaccine due to promising results and its flexibility. Mkhize was speaking during a virtual media briefing last night. The briefing follows AstraZeneca's announcement that its vaccine only offers limited protection against mild disease caused by the variant that has been discovered in South Africa. South Africa has already bought o...

Many households are struggling to repay their loans, and unsecured debt is on average 32 percent higher than it was five years ago. According to the DebtBusters' fourth quarter Debt Index released YESTERDAY (Thursday 4 February), debt -to-income ratio is at 130 percent. This is its highest level in years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to curb the spread of the vi...

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has expressed outrage at revelations that four ANC MPs who voted with their conscience were told that they would be disciplined by the party's top leadership. Zondo was responding to the testimony of Makhosi Khoza who was removed from her position as Chairperson of the Public Service Portfolio Committee after admitting that she had voted with her conscience in su...

After a few years of intense political rivalry and seeking to remove Jacob Zuma from the union buildings, Julius Malema has reached out to the former President. If the EFF statement on Zuma's constitutional court ruling is anything to go by, Malema may be in a bid to persuade the former President to rethink his decision to shun the constitutional court which ordered to him appear before the state...

ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule has slammed calls by the Eastern Cape ANC for former president Jacob Zuma to be disciplined saying there is no reason to take action against the former president. This comes as other political parties expressed mixed feelings to Zuma's decision to defy the Constitutional Court order to appear before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. On Monday,...

The Office of the Auditor General has painted a bleak picture about the financial situation of some of the State Owned Entities. The audit outcomes of some of these entities are showing regress rather than improving.

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) says it is concerned about the escalating illicit trade of goods in the country. CEO of BLSA, Busi Mavuso, says the country is losing billions of rand to illicit trade. Mavuso says the ban on the sale of alcohol and cigarettes during during alert levels three and four lockdown restrictions made the situation worse. The South African Revenue Service says it h...

Political analysts say South Africans are interested in what happened during the Jacob Zuma administration and care-less about his defiance and questioning credibility of the State Capture Commission. In a bombshell statement on Monday, Zuma vowed to defy a ruling of the Constitutional Court compelling him to appear before the commission and answer questions posed to him. He said he will not coope...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Ford Motor Company's latest 15-point-8-billion-rand investment into the South African economy is a show of confidence in the country's potential. This after Ford Motor South Africa revealed that it would be investing one-billion-dollars into the expansion and development of its assembly plant in Silverton. The investment is expected to create eight to ten thousan...

Heavy rain continues to cause havoc in various parts of Mpumalanga. A number of houses have been badly damaged in Bock-B in the Nkomazi Local Municipality. The Municipality says efforts are being made to help the families whose houses have collapsed. However, they are reluctant to accommodate the affected people in community halls due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Healthcare experts say that community health workers will be critical to the success of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. The country has now received the first one-million doses of the Oxford University Astra-Zeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute, that will be administered to healthcare workers from the 14th of February. Meanwhile, the very same front-line workers who remain critical in the...

Former chairperson of Parliament's Public Enterprises Portfolio Committee, Zukiswa Rantho, is scheduled to testify at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Johannesburg this morning. Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee member James Selfe and former ANC parliamentarian Dr Makhosi Khoza could also give evidence. Yesterday former SCOPA chairperson Themba Godi told the comm...

South Africans have taken to various social media platforms to express delight at the easing of level 3 regulations of the national lockdown. President Ramaphosa LAST NIGHT announced that all indications reveal that the country has passed the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic. Curfew times have been pulled back now starting from 11pm till 4am. Beaches, dams, public swimming pools and recreation...

President Cyril Ramaphosa LAST NIGHT dismissed rumours that the COVID 19 vaccination programme will be compulsory for all citizens. The first batch of AstraZeneca doses arrived at the OR Tambo international Airport from India YESTERDAY. The first one million shots of the vaccine will be used to inoculate healthcare workers amid a surge in infections fuelled by a new variant of the coronavirus. Dur...

South Africa's first shipment of one million doses of the India made Astra-Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine is expected to touch down at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg THIS AFTERNOON. The plane carrying the vaccine from the Serum Institute in India left for South Africa YESTERDAY (sunday) via Dubai. SA has been the worst hit country on the African continent and has reported the most cas...

South Africa's first shipment COVID19 vaccines from India left the country yesterday and the countdown to their arrival in South Africa later TODAY is on. South Africa has been the worst hit on the African continent and has reported the most cases so far. The country has seen a big surge in infections this month driven by a new, more contagious variant of the virus called 501Y.V2.

North West Premier, Job Mokgoro, insists that he has not yet received a letter of suspension from the ANC's Interim Provincial Committee ( IPC). The IPC accuses Mokgoro and four other members of the provincial legislature, of colluding with opposition parties during the election of a new Chair of Chairs in the legislature.

Tributes continue to pour for world-renowned jazz musician and opera singer Sibongile Khumalo. She died from stroke related complications at the age of 63. The Soweto born singer, affectionately known as Ma'Mngoma passed away on Thursday. Throughout her career she was awarded many accolades including The Order of Ikhamanga bestowed on her by President Thabo Mbeki. Khumalo began her musical journey...

The Constitutional Court has ordered former President Jacob Zuma to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and give evidence. The court has also declared that Zuma cannot invoke his right to remain silent as he had initially threatened. The former president was also ordered to pay the commission's legal costs and those of the two counsels.

The State Capture Commisson yesterday heard testimony relating to various covert operations undertaken by the State Securtiy Ageny's Chief Directorate for Special Operations. Amongst them were Operation Justice to deal with judges colluding against the state, Operation Hollywood, aimed at spying on high profile persons and Operation Sisonke set up to stop the so-called Cape Town "poo wars". Accord...

Ms K, an unidentified witness testifying at the State Capture Commission in Johannesburg, has spoken about how the State Security Agency (SSA) established a parallel private protection force for the personal use of former President Jacob Zuma, soon after he took office in 2009. Ms K, is an employee of the SSA and replaced Mr Y who was scheduled to testify on the stand but could not do so due to il...

The South African National Editor's Forum, SANEF is calling for an investigation into claims that the State Security Agency was used as a vehicle to plant positive news stories about government for certain media outlets. On Monday, the State Capture Commission of inquiry heard evidence from Dr. Sydney Mufamadi who claimed that news wire, African News Agency, was paid Twenty million rand in the 201...

South Africa's first batch of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in the country on Monday. The arrival of the one million doses from the Serum Institute in India was announced by Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize last night*. They will be used to immunise frontline healthcare workers in the first phase of the country's vaccines rollout. Government wants to vaccinate at least 40 million South Africans by th...

Acting State Securtiy Agency Director General Loyiso Jafta says the SSA has suffered from selective adherence to the law, employees being given illegal instructions as well as corruption and theft. Jafta, who was testifying at the State Capture Commission, was appointed in 2018. He confirmed the payment of money to members of the judiciary and the use the SSA for political as well as factional str...