First Take SA

Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi has warned of consequences for security company Enviromongz after thirty seven undocumented migrants escaped from the Lindela Repatriation Centre outside Krugersdorp on Gauteng's West rand. Motsoaledi says the escape, which happened on Sunday, was an inside job allegedly by security personnel. He says those who escaped were waiting to be repatriated to their...

The South African Revenue Service has warned that revenue collection will continue its downward trajectory because of the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter has warned that revenue performance will be lower than the February budget announcements, by between 15 and 20 percent. This means there will be a revenue collection shortfall of 285 billion Rands this year. The Commissione...

Uncomfortable, but necessary! That's how some Gauteng residents have described their experience of wearing a mask. This comes after government announced that everyone is required to wear a mask in public. Meanwhile, the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry says it is manufacturing 14-million fabric face masks a week in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call for...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised Co-operative Governance Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for her leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is despite some opposition parties saying Dlamini-Zuma is law unto herself, and accusing her of undermining the president. The president also lauded Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize for his excellent work in helping the country to adequately respond...

Although advised to stay home as they are susceptible to contract the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of elderly persons and people with disability were on the streets to collect their monthly social grants. SASSA has set aside Monday and Tuesday to pay grants to the most vulnerable section of our society. The SABC caught up with the 56 year old Beauty Citha who is on a life support due to a lung pro...

A group frustrated with the ongoing national lockdown has taken to social media, demanding that government lift the COVID-19 lockdown. The group -calling itself the 'End the lockdown Mzansi' - wants the lockdown to be lifted within 3 to 5 weeks. End the Lockdown spokesperson - Michael Southwood - says if the lockdown is allowed to continue, it could lead to thousands of people going to bed without...

Government says the provisional costs to accommodate people in private owned establishments who have tested positive to Covid-19 virus will be to the tune of about R28 million. The Department of Public Works says it has identified more than 700 privately owned properties including four star hotels nationwide for quarantine purposes. Briefing both the Public Works and the Select Committees on Publi...

South African non-profit organisations have called on the government to offer them more support. The organisations, which have been providing essential services during the Coronavirus pandemic, say their financial wellbeing is even more uncertain as the economic crisis persists due to the Covid-19. The Smile Foundation and other NPO partners, who include the South African Depression and Axienty Gr...

The Minister of Employment and Labour - Thulas Nxesi - has urged employers to implement the return-to-work measures to protect the health and safety of their employees. The minister was addressing the media in Pretoria yesterday on the country's back-to-work readiness. This is after the country moved from Level 5 of the Lockdown regulations to Level 4 which will result in more businesses and indus...

Co-operative Governance Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says people will now be allowed a once off opportunity to move to provinces of their workplaces or to move back home during the new Level Four Lockdown regulations. The minister also stressed that once people have moved they will not be allowed to commute back to another province until the end of Level Four. She was speaking in Pretoria la...

Some children across the country have expressed concerns over returning to school next week. The scholars have asked about the safety measures that they can practice in their schools. This as the Department of Basic Education announced that learners in Grade 7 and Grade 12 might return to school on the 6th of May. This as the country also moves to Level 4 - with the gradual reopening of the econom...

The Department of Social Development will begin paying out the unemployment grant on May 15th. South African nationals who have no source of income, registered permanent residents and refugees who are unemployed are encouraged to apply for the 350 rands which is part of government's COVID-19 relief efforts. Minister Lindiwe Zulu briefed the media on the roll out of this temporary measure as well a...

Unemployed doctors who are eligible to work for the state will be placed by provinces soon. This is according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. Provinces such as Gauteng, Limpopo and the Northern Cape are recruiting to fill vacant positions of doctors. This week, government came under fire following the arrival of the more than 200 health experts from Cuba to assist with the COVID-19 outbreak - man...

Five weeks into the national COVID-19 lockdown - workers who are not registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), are among the hardest hit financially. For those registered with the UIF - under the Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme provision - the fund will pay employers the cost of employees' salaries for up to three months. This was announced earlier by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Howev...

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has some reservations following the arrival of more than 200 health experts from Cuba to help with the battle against the coronavirus. The medical brigade that arrived from Cuba YESTERDAY includes epidemiologists, physicians and biotechnologists. SAMA says government should first exhaust all the skills available locally before seeking outside assistance...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says as the country celebrate 26 years of freedom, the 1994 dream of a better life for all can no longer be deferred. He used his Freedom Day address to urge South Africans to work together to fight inequality, poverty and unemployment. South Africa celebrates 26 years of freedom since its democratic elections on the 27th of April in 1994. It was for the first time that t...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says from the first of May, the country's current nationwide lockdown will be lowered from Level Five to level Four. He says some economic activities will be allowed to resume subject to extreme precautions to limit transmission. The president was speaking at the Union Buildings in Pretoria last night following his meeting with the National Command Council and some leader...

Political parties have welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement of a gradual easing of the nationwide lockdown in curbing the spread of COVID-19. Addressing the nation on Thursday, Ramaphosa said that on May 1st 2020 the country will enter alert level four of the lockdown, which means some activities will be allowed with extreme caution.

We had expected Level 3 lockdown but welcome the president's decision. We are calling on government not to sideline small business when open companies in similar sectors.

The Competition Commission has referred pharmaceutical company, Dis-Chem to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution. This after the commission established that the company had excessively inflated pricing for essential hygienic goods during the State of National Disaster which came as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. The commission says it received several complaints from the public against sev...

The South African National AIDS Council, SANAC, wants HIV and TB screening to be incorporated into the testing and screening for COVID-19. It says it does not want to see a reversal of progress made in the country's HIV and TB response due to the emergence of the corona virus. The issue was raised during SANAC's panel discussion on the impact of COVID19 on people living with HIV and TB.

Social grant recipients and the unemployed say the grant increases announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night is better than nothing as it will help supplement the meagre cash they receive currently. The President announced that child support grant beneficiaries will receive an additional 300 rand at the end of this month; and an extra 500 rand from June to October. All other grant re...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government will only be guided by scientific evidence before re-opening the country for economic activities. The number of Coronavirus infections has risen to 3 635 with over 133 thousand-tests conducted countrywide. President Ramaphosa will THIS EVENING (thursday) address the nation on measures aimed at easing the lockdown and lift the restriction on economic activi...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a massive 500 billion Rand (or ten percent of the GDP) economic and social package to help curb the effects of the corona virus pandemic. The money will be raised from re-directing 130 billion Rands from other government's departments while the rest will come from local and international institutions. Government says its priority will be to intensify health...

Clashes between police and residents of Lawley, South of Johannesburg led to the arrest of thirteen people for public violence. This after a City of Johannesburg operation carried out by the Red Ants and the JMPD led to the demolition of several shacks in the informal settlement for the second time in a week on Tuesday. Residents responded by pelting officers and Inyalas with rocks. Last week Thur...