First Take SA

The South African National Roads Agency, SANRAL, says it welcomes the Pretoria High Court judgment for the non-payment of e-tolls. The court has ruled against an Alberton-based company which reportedly owes SANRAL, over 400-thousand rand in e-toll fees. Sanral says the judgment sets a precedent for those who do not pay e-toll debt to be prosecuted. However, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), s...

World Oral Health Day (WOHD) is celebrated every year on 20 March. It is an international day to celebrate the benefits of a healthy mouth and to promote worldwide awareness of the issues around oral health and the importance of oral hygiene to looking after everyone old and young. Research shows that 90% of the world's population will suffer from oral diseases in their lifetime and many of them c...

Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini has welcomed the Constitutional Court ruling on the social grant contract. Addressing community leaders, the minister says she will abide by the court's judgement. The Court extended the CPS contract by 12 months and has resumed its supervisory role. Dlamini has also admitted that she should have apologised when she appeared in parliament last week....

Parliament's Police Portfolio Committee will request permission to hold a special meeting during recess to discuss the position of Hawks' head Berning Ntlemeza. Parliament will go into a short recess next week until early May. The Pretoria High Court found that Ntlemeza's appointment was unlawful and invalid, following an application by Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation. Tsepiso Ma...

Lawyers for Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and SASSA have managed to file their affidavits a few minutes after today's deadline. The Minister and the social grants agency were supposed to file papers in the Constitutional court by three O'clock today to explain why they did not comply with yesterday's Concourt deadline responding to questions from the Judges about its social grant p...

The Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi is taking the report by the Ad-hoc Committee which was set up to look into the SABC board's fitness on a judicial review. Muthambi has written to the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, urging her not to implement the recommendations of the report just yet. The report is highly critical of Muthambi and recommends that she be fired. Sipho Seepe who is...

South African Revenue Services has accused Judge Dennis Davis of "unashamedly" misleading the public by claiming that the revenue services was at a risk of imploding. Davis is the chairperson of the Davis Tax Committee. He addressed a conference in Cape Town last weekend - saying SARS does not have the capacity to deal with multinationals that seek to evade tax and that he's concerned about the er...

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has ordered the SABC Board to revert back to its 2004 editorial policies, ruling that the 2016 amendments to its editorial policies were invalid in terms of the Broadcasting Act 1999. This follows a complaint from S.O.S Support Public Broadcasting Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa alleging that the SABC failed to comply with the...

Three advertising companies are going to be prosecuted by the Competition Commission for price fixing and collusive tendering. This after the commission's investigation found that Human Communications, Kone Staffing and Jobvest agreed on prices at which to quote their customers. The accused link job seekers to potential employers and assist their clients place advertisements in newspapers. Tsepiso...

In August 2016, Lesego Tsoku subscribed to be a trader with STOCK MARKET COLLEGE. Upon signing up the college promised him that he will make a fortune, however this was not the case for Lesego- when he started to trade on the college system, he lost ten thousands rand within three-days. Here is his story…

Passanger Rail Agency Board Chairperson Popo Molefe says he will legally challenge Transport Minister Dipuo Peters's decision to dissolve the Prasa Board. Molefe says he wants to demonstrate that South Africa is a constitutional democracy. Peters sent a letter to Parliament's Transport Committee today, informing it of her decision to dissolve the board. This followed hearings at which committee me...

The minister of Transport Dipuo Peters, has dissolved the PRASA board. This after calls by the portfolio committee on transport that the current board be done away with. On Tuesday, the PRASA board and former acting CEO, Collins Letsoalo appeared before the committee where they had a heated exchange over his alleged 350 per cent salary increase. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to the Chairperson of the Par...

The Constitutional Court has issued notice to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), requesting for details on when exactly the agency realised it would not be able pay welfare grants by itself when Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract expires. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Tim Sukazi, who is Sassa Transition Program, Legal and Legislative Framework Leader....

The National Assembly has adopted parliament's Ad Hoc Committee report into the SABC board's fitness to hold office. All parties involved adopted the report, except for the UDM who raised an objection due to Hlaudi Motsoeneng not being given an opportunity to make submissions before the committee. During the debate DA MP Mike Waters called on President Jacob Zuma to fire Muthambi. Waters says Muth...

The deaths of 14 people believed to be illegal miners in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, have once again put the spotlight on illegal mining activities and the dangers posed by disused mines. The discovery of the 14 bodies in the past few days come after five-year-old Richard Thole fell into an open mine shaft at Jerusalem informal settlement near Witfield in Boksburg, over a week ago. His body is y...

The EFF has rejected President Jacob Zuma's intention to appoint Justice Raymond Zondo to the position of the Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. In a letter to the President, leader Julius Malema says the decison to nominate Zondo to replace former Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke is anti-women's empowerment. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Leader of the EFF Julius Malema

Parliament's standing committee on public accounts says Sassa has not been cleared of wrongdoing, despite reports that a new deal has been clinched with Cash Paymaster Services to continue paying out social grants. Committee chair Themba Godi says Scopa will continue with a meeting on Tuesday to probe the matter, whether Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini attends or not. The Constitutio...

The South African Human Rights Commission has requested an urgent meeting with Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and SASSA CEO Thokozani Magwaza. The commission says it requires a detailed brief from the two parties on the plan of action to ensure that social grant recipients receive their grants in April. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke the Human Rights Commission Spokesperson, Gail Smith....

The South African Post Office has offered SASSA a solution to disbursing grants from 1 April. Speaking to Tsepiso Makwetla during #PMLive Post Office CEO Mark Barnes says they have a system that allows them to send electronic vouchers to beneficiaries across the country. SASSA's current contract with Cash Paymaster Services, which was declared invalid by the Constitutional court expires at the end...

All focus will be on FNB Stadium this weekend as Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates lock horns tomorrow afternoon. Both teams will go into the match following draws. Pirates drew 1-ALL with Polokwane City in their last match, while Chiefs also played to a 1-ALL draw with Ajax Cape Town in their last fixture. Some fans have expressed their dissatisfaction over the cost of the tickets t...

Murder figures have shown a slight decrease, while the so called trio crimes - car hijackings, robberies at residential properties and robberies at non residential premises are still on an upward trend. Police management, accompanied by Minister, Nathi Nhleko, briefed Parliament's Police committee on crime statistics for the period between 1 April 2016 to the 1st of December the same year. In line...

The social security agency (SASSA) spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi says they have entered into negotiations with Cash Paymaster Services to renew its contract to distribute welfare grants. The Constitutional Court declared Sassa's contract with CPS invalid in 2014 but subsequently suspended its ruling for the duration of the contract to prevent the grant payment system being disrupted. The contract...

Political Analyst and leader of Right to Know campaign Dr Dale Mckingley says the political fallout will be substantial should the social security agency fail to pay social grant beneficiaries at the end of the month. SASSA says it has entered into negotiations with Cash Paymaster Services to renew its contract to distribute welfare grants. The Constitutional Court declared Sassa's contract with C...

The Competition commission says Unilever has to pay a fine of 10% of its annual turnover. This after the commission found Unilever and Sime Darby had entered in a sale agreement not to compete with each other. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Commissioner at the Competition Commission, Tembinkosi Bonakele

The All Saints Hospital in eNgcobo, in the Eastern Cape, has been forced to discharge patients and send others to nearby health care centeres, as it has been without water for five days. The water shortage comes as truck drivers in the town have prevented a water tanker from reaching the hospital. The truckers are demanding that a local supplier be used for water. Tsepiso Makweta spoke to the East...