The Weekend View

More than 160-million children are labourers and over 106 million of that figure are children out of school. This is according to the International Labour Organisation  (ILO). ILO says the number of children in child labour increased by 8.4 million children in the last four years. Now, The 5th Global Conference on the elimination of Child Labour takes place for the first time on the African c...

A number of homeless people living near the Castle of Good  Hope in Cape Town have been slapped with R 1000 fines by the city's law enforcement officials allegedly for various offenses including littering. Some of the homeless people say this is a waste of resources by the city because they never attend court or pay any fines. In fact, they allegedly destroy these receipts as soon as officers...

 Sri Lanka's main opposition party has joined anti-government protesters in rejecting the appointment of a new prime minister and is insisting the president must resign to take responsibility for the country's disastrous economic crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed five-time prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to his sixth term on Thursday, a move unlikely to resolve the politica...

 Israeli police yesterday clashed with Palestinian mourners packed around the coffin of killed AlJazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh at the start of her funeral procession in Jerusalem. Masked police officers faced scores of flag-waving and chanting Palestinians in east Jerusalem. The violent scenes underlined the growing anger over Abu Akleh's killing which has threatened to add further fuel...

The noose may finally be tightening on members of a 99 rand debit order syndicate as the Hawks THIS WEEK confirmed two more arrests. The latest suspects are a father-son duo running a call centre in Durban. Ravenda Singh and his son Andrew were arrested  last Wednesday in Johannesburg. According to the police the pair were involved in unauthorized debit order transactions where clients from d...

In just under 30 days, more than 100 areas in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro will be without water. Millions of people will be left without water to drink, cook or clean, unless they drastically reduce their water consumption. The opposition Democratic Alliance is claiming that due to the metro's ineffective awareness campaigns, residents continue using water normally instead of reducing their consu...

The cricket fraternity learnt with great sadness of the passing of one of South Africa's 6 greatest fast bowlers of all time, as identified by Cricket South Africa; Hoosain Ayob. Uncle Hoosain passed away surrounded by his family in Gqeberha on Friday. He was 81.    

There are growing concerns, confusion and some frustration among recipients of the R350 grants following the recent change in the eligibility criteria by SASSA. The Department of Social Development announced that recipients of the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant must reapply as it will now be paid out under a new legislative framework. The grant's new framework has new additional qu...

According to reports, South Africa is ranked as one of the world's 10 least attractive mining destinations. The 2022 Mining Indaba begins in Cape Town tomorrow  and will run till Thursday. This year's theme is Evolution of African Mining: Investing in the Energy Transition, ESG and the Economies. Various African heads of states including President Cyril Ramaphosa and other mining professional...

Do you have problems putting down your cell phone or feel anxious when you know you'll lose connection for a few hours? Do thoughts of being without your phone cause distress?  You could be one of millions of people who suffer from Nomophobia; an extreme fear of not having your phone or not being able to use it. Nomophobia is short for  "No Mobile Phone Phobia" and it is so severe in som...

Some District 6 families who were forcefully removed from the historic township can now finally return to their ancestral land. Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza will on Monday be giving some family members keys to their new homes. Didiza says this is a clear indication by all three spheres of government our commitment to restore the dignity of the people of...

Mangaung Metro Municipality on the spotlight. In conversation with Founder and Director of Step Up News Christopher Choane, Mangaung Concerned Residents Spokesperson, Themba Zweni and Cogta MEC in the Free State Mxolisi Dukwana. Concerned residents say the Mangaung Metro leadership is greedy and accountability is non existent. 

South African Red Cross Society in KZN says those who need funding assistance to rebuild their homes or for other basic needs following the KZN floods can contact: Siyabonga Hlatswayo:  031 563 2914 or 076 223 8425

The South African National Blood Service is calling on all South Africans that are willing and able to please come forward and donate a unit of blood. The service is sitting on 2.7 days of stock  following the Easter long weekend. We spoke to  South African National Blood Service spokesperson, Khensani Mahlangu.....

South Africa's National Defence Force has so far deployed only 500 of the 10 000 troops earmarked for emergency, relief and reconstruction operations in flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal. Joint civilian and military search teams were this week still recovering bodies from the debris more than a week after the disaster struck. There have been claims that deep and serious SANDF budget cuts are delaying w...

Relief efforts for flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal residents are also being stepped up with the help of ordinary citizens and humanitarian organisations. Among them is South Africa's Red Cross Society whose KZN provincial manager, Siyabonga Hlatswayo

Following the suspension of the COVID 19 emergency, companies across South Africa are now rapidly demanding a return to work of all employees. While corporate leaders might consider it their prerogative to get all hands physically back on deck at the office again, a leadership expert is cautioning that they should be aware of the consequences of a top-down, inflexible approach. Advaita Naidoo, MD...

Deputy City Manager for Economic Development and Planning in the eThekwini Metro, Phillip Sithole and  Spokesperson for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in Kwazulu-Natal, Senzelwe Mzila

The state of the North West provincial capital, Mahikeng, continues to deteriorate as the existing infrastructure is not being maintained and new ones are not built. The town also continues to slide into a state of decay and cannot not attract potential investors as most provincial capitals would. Sellwane Khakhau compiled this report ….

45 Chinese cities are either under complete lockdown or partial lockdown. Shanghai with a population of 25 million is one of those cities reported to be hardest hit with new daily record infections of Covid-19 being reported on a regular basis. South African couple Elmien and Wesley Gerber are caught in the hard lockdown of Shanghai in China.    

As a water-scarce country, South Africa is facing many complex water problems and studies have shown that the country will not have enough water supplies to meet demand by 2025. Challenges affecting our water include the amount available, the unequal distribution and access to clean water, the quality and state of water infrastructure, droughts causing towns to run dry and corruption that has affe...

Operation Dudula's launch in Kwazulu-Natal has been postponed. This comes as reports emerged LAST NIGHT that the meeting had NOT been sanctioned by police...  The postponement comes at the back of the City of Ethekwini raising concern about possible violence that may arise during the launch. It's leader Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini is behind bars facing charges of house breaking, theft and malicious...

Civil society group, Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia will THIS MORNING hold a march against what they call Xenophobia after being initially denied by the police. The group had planned to demonstrate on Human Rights Day this past Monday. However this was stopped by the Johannesburg Metro Police after threats by Operation Dudula members. The anti xenophobia group had to turn to High Court to over...

Fraud prevention experts have warned that consumers need an extra layer of protection on their identity against criminals who will turn their lives upside down without a second thought. They say over the past two years, South African companies have been victims of cyber attacks and data breaches and its growing daily. They say Protective Registration is just one of the effective ways to safe guard...

Tshegofatso Pule's family says there is no sentence that can bring her back to life.   Ntuthuko Shoba the father of her unborn baby -- was found guilty of premeditated murder in the Johannesburg High Court YESTERDAY. In handing down his verdict, Acting Judge Stuart Wilson said phone calls Shoba made to Muzi Malepane was for no other reason than to arrange Pule's killing.