The Weekend View

Public outcry continues to pour over reports that the e‑Panic Button App, a tool residents rely on in moments of danger, exposed their most sensitive personal information. University computer science students discovered the flaws while analysing the app's code last week. The Gauteng Legislature's Portfolio Committee on e‑Government, Research & Development has described the breach as larming an...

Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) says years of underfunding have undermined South Africa's fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). AIDC says government cannot keep acknowledging gender-based violence as a national crisis while treating its funding as optional. For more Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Suraya Jawoodeen,  Economic Justice Programme Coordinator at Alt...

The CEO of the SABC, Nomsa Chabeli, has assured MPs that the public broadcaster will cover the November 4 local government election, to the extent its finances will allow. The SABC and ICASA appeared before the Porfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies, to brief MPs on its state of readiness to cover the election. In previous meetings the SABC has made the committee aware of it...

Long before children can confidently explain their ideas, they find other ways to show us what they are thinking. A drawing, a sculpture made from clay, an imaginary game or a joyful dance can communicate things they may not yet have the words to express. For young children, creativity is not simply an enjoyable activity to fill the day. It is one of the most important ways they explore, understan...

The current murder rate and the mass killing of women are serious events that do not warrant side-show commentary from the government and the president. This is according to Senior Researcher at Africa Asia Dialogues,  Thembisa Fakude. He furtehr adds that these uncertain times require a different measure of intervention as the country is in state of terrorism.  For more Bongiwe Zwane sp...

Calls are intensifying for the deployment of soldiers to Mashobote in Mpumalanga. This follows deadly gun battles allegedly involving rival groups of illegal miners in the area, along the N4 Schoemanskloof toll road. Two bodies with multiple gunshot wounds, believed to be those of suspected illegal miners, were found near the road on *Wednesday and Thursday*. For the latest Bongiwe Zwane spoke to...

A recent regulatory and legal action against pharmacies illegally compounding GLP-1 weight-loss medicines has affected up to 300,000 South Africans.  Obiflex , a doctor-led health management programme says with the compounded route now closed, and with an appetite for weight-loss GLP-1s in South Africa estimated at R3 billion, affected patients face a tough choice, seek out other unregulated...

Non-governmental organisation, My Vote Counts has written to political parties asking that they outline their plans for coalition negotiations before the local government elections on November the 4th. They argue that voters should have this information before casting their ballot. Meanwhile, Africa Check, another non-governmental organisation says after it has extensively followed political party...

Participants at the National Alcohol Summit argue that excessive alcohol consumption is increasingly causing harm in society in the form of gender-based violence, road fatalities, health problems and the breakdown of family structures. The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in South Africa (SAAPA SA) - which is hosting the summit - is calling for tighter measures to restrict excessive alcoho...

What does it really take to build wealth in South Africa?  That is the question at the heart of Welvaartskeppers, South African financial television series and book project focused on wealth creation and financial strategies. The series is hosted by financial advisers and brothers PJ and Geo Botha. The series swaps financial theory for real stories, unpacking not only how people built wealth,...

As South Africa observes Heritage Month , the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) calls on all South Africans to recognise language as one of the most important and enduring expressions of cultural heritage and to recognise that our languages are not merely tools of communication, but are living repositories of our traditions, histories, identities and knowledge. For more Bongiwe Zwane spok...

The City of Johannesburg is warning residents about sophisticated scams involving people posing as City officials and contractors. Criminals are allegedly visiting properties with forged job cards, threatening immediate disconnections of water or electricity and demanding payment. The City says reported losses range from three-thousand five hundred to a 120-thousand rands. Residents are urged neve...

As the country observes Anti-Suicide Month, there are concerns about escalating bullying incidents involving school children, which sometimes lead to suicides. In Mpumalanga, several assault cases stemming from bullying incidents have been reported to the police. Meanwhile, a number of videos of girls in schools reportedly assaulting each other have recently been circulated on social media. Mthobi...

Durban mother Linda Govender has returned to South Africa after spending two weeks in Nepal searching for her missing daughter, Terricia. Terricia was in Nepal when floods struck the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26. Linda says returning home does not mean giving up the search. The natural disaster left more than a thousand four-hundred people dead, while over six thousand remain missing. Linda Gov...

The Standing Committee on Appropriations in Parliament says it will be  taking a proactive role in examining government funding to address gender-based violence (GBV). This follows the tragic recent discovery of the bodies of nine women in Kempton Park and other parts of Ekurhuleni in Gauteng. Chairperson of the Standing Committee on AppropriationS, Dr Mmusi Maimane says the committee will ex...

Colombia's new government has withdrawn its intervention in South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. South Africa accused Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention with its military operations in Gaza, allegations Israel, rejects. As Khayelihle Khumalo reports, Colombia informed the World Court about its decision...

South Africa has used the United Nations' biggest diplomatic stage to defend its democracy while demanding fundamental changes to a global system it says is failing Africa and the developing world. Addressing the General Assembly in New York, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said South Africa had built a democracy strong enough to resist what he called "external supervision and tutel...

City Power is continuing its cut-off operation in Johannesburg’s Inner City, targeting problematic buildings affected by electricity theft, illegal connections and vandalism. The entity says five buildings in Doornfontein and surrounding areas owe almost five-million-rand. City Power says it is monitoring more than 108 problematic buildings, with combined outstanding debt of about 115-millio...

Four people, including businessman Vusumuzi Matlala and his wife Tsakani, have appeared in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on fraud, forgery and uttering charges linked to an alleged fraudulent lease agreement. NPA says three accused were granted R20, 000 bail each, while Matlala abandoned his bail application. The National Prosecuting Authority says the State will oppose his bail applicatio...

SAPS has activated a 72-hour operation to track suspects linked to the KwaMakhutha mass shooting, south of Durban. Eleven people were killed and three others injured after armed suspects opened fire at a house in the Ziko area on Tuesday night. The motive remains unknown, while police say they are following a promising lead.  SAPS Head of Communications  is Major General Nonkululeko Phok...

KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma says verification following Saturday’s fire in the Swapo informal settlement in Copesville, Pietermaritzburg, found that 20 shacks were destroyed. Duma says 19 foreign nationals occupied the affected shacks, while one South African had an identification document whose authenticity is being verified by Home Affairs. He says the w...

SAPS and the Border Management Authority have arrested a 52-year-old South African man at OR Tambo International Airport. Police say suspected heroin worth more than two million rand was found in his luggage. Police say the suspect had arrived from Accra, Ghana, when he was intercepted during an intelligence-led operation. Police say they found bullet-like objects and blocks containing substances...

Feminist movement - Black Women Caucus has given the Kempton Park police station in Ekurhuleni 10-days to convene a multi-stakeholder engagement to outline how to deal with the murder of women. The group led a picket outside the police station on Friday. This follows the discovery of a woman's body in Villa Liza in Boksburg on Thursday- bringing to NINE the number of women's bodies discovered acro...

In Cape Town, the GOOD Party and the United Democratic Movement's (UDM) election campaigns ahead of this year's Local Government Elections saw a focus on issues including making the City of Cape Town more affordable for Capetonians and the ongoing scourge of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. Tando Ntunja reports

Chronic stress may be doing far more than affecting South Africans' mental health – it could be contributing to the country's growing burden of obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disorders, many of which are also major risk factors for cardiovascular disease .  While stress is often viewed as an unavoidable part of modern life, mounting scientific evidence suggests that prolonged psy...