First Take SA

DA Shadow MEC for health in Gauteng, Jack Bloom, has lambasted the provincial health department for the cancellation of hundreds of surgery operations due to the lack of clean linen. Bloom says the lack of clean linen at the province's public hospitals has left doctors and nurses demoralized as they have to turn away patients that have been waiting for surgery operations for months. The dire situa...

Eskom has begun implementing load-shedding at short notice once again as breakdowns at the power utilities' multiple units in its various power stations -- is blamed for the current rolling blackouts. The South African Federation of Trade Unions - SAFTU -  has joined growing calls for Eskom Chief Executive Officer, Andre de Reyter to step down.  SAFTU Spokesperson, Trevor Shaku...

The community of Protea Glen in Soweto is still reeling following the recent arrest of a 26-year-old man who is suspected of killing and dismembering the body of his alleged cousin-turned-wife. Flavio Hlabangwane is in police custody on charges of murder after the remains of his wife were found in his fridge at the weekend. This comes just weeks after the East London High Court in Gheberha postpon...

The Economic Freedom Fighters say they have stopped any further coalition negotiations with the African National Congress, saying the governing party failed to agree on conditions deemed as the basis for negotiations. The EFF put forward tough conditions which included among others the expropriation of land and doing away with Die Stem in the national anthem in twelve months' time - among others....

The South African Post Office (SAPO) has recorded an irregular expenditure of almost R200-million for the 2019 and 2020 financial year. This was revealed by the Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Philemon Mapulane, in Parliament. This latest update about the financial woes of the entity comes at the back of an announcement of no further bailouts for State-Owned Enterprises...

The South African Human Rights Commission started its national investigative hearings into July's civil unrest yesterday. The hearings are set down for three weeks as the commission looks at the events that led to the deaths of at least 350 people in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. There is however concern that the probe into the riots will be inquisitorial and not prosecutorial. SAHRC Commissioner Jon...

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has extended South Africa's national state of disaster by a further month. In a government gazette published over the weekend, Minister Dlamini-Zuma extended the state of disaster to December the 15th, effectively marking the next month as the 21st month since the state of disaster was declared back in March 2020. The...

Rand Water says maintenance on a major pipe-site is on schedule as planned. The bulk water supplier is doing upgrades on its pumps, which could leave Gauteng residents with water disruptions for 54 hours. However, Rand Water says this is not a complete shutdown, or a failure of its systems, but a planned outage. The utility is installing a new pipe that will increase the amount of water drawn from...

Victor Kgomoesoana, author of  "Africa Is Open For Business" and "Africa Bounces Back" and Executive Director for Marketing and Communication at the University of Limpopo looks at this weeks top African Economic stories...

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to officially open the second Intra-Africa Trade Fair that kicks off at the Durban International Convention Centre.  The week-long event will see about 50 heads of state gather in South Africa. The conference is organized by the African Export-Import Bank in collaboration with the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area.  The aim is...

VhaVenda King, Toni Mphephu-Ramabulana has been dealt a massive blow in the kingship battle with his niece, Princess Masindi Mphephu. This after the Constitutional Court dismissed, with costs, and declared as invalid, an application by King Mphephu-Ramabulana. He approached the apex court to have a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling, that Princess Masindi is heir to the VhaVenda throne, set aside. The...

Residents in eight municipalities across Gauteng will be affected by Rand Water's planned 54-hour  maintenance shutdown. The shutdown, which started at 5am, will see affected areas having little or no water supply as Rand Water embarks on the final phase of maintenance on some of its water pipelines. These pipelines supply water to various Gauteng municipalities which include Mogale City, Wes...

 Almost 50% of South Africa's population receives social grants. That's one of the sobering revelations in yesterday's medium-term budget policy statement announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.  He also noted that the number of working people who contribute to the country's purse has significantly declined, further underlining the critical flaws in the country's economy. Economi...

There continues to be mixed reactions to the passing of former Apartheid South Africa president, F.W De Klerk. De Klerk died yesterday morning at the age of 85 after he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He is survived by his wife Elita, two children and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced but the De Klerk Foundation had earlier this month released a video of a f...

Victor Kgomoesoana, author of  "Africa Is Open For Business" and "Africa Bounces Back". Victor is also the Executive Director for Marketing and Communication at the University of Limpopo takes a look at current top African economic stories  

Fresh off the local government elections, most municipalities will be looking at the Finance minister for some form of support and relief as they continue to face significant drops in revenue. Meanwhile, the South African Federation of Trade Unions, the second largest federation in the country, will also watching today's budget statement closely as it has called for the introduction of a one-thous...

City Power has continued its call for power utility, Eskom to address City power outages in parts of Johannesburg. This comes after Eskom laid some of the blame for the recent stage 4 load shedding on municipalities that have not been implementing load shedding as required by the power utility. In an ongoing tussle between the city and Eskom, the City of Johannesburg earlier signed a memorandum of...

Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter says apart from breakdowns at power stations and capital inadequacies to perform plant maintenance, load shedding has been exacerbated by municipalities that have failed to implement load shedding as required by the power utility.  De Ruyter says letters have been drafted to all the affected municipalities to correct the situation with all future load shedding scenar...

A collection of human rights organizations, advocating for social justice in South Africa, have rejected the much talked about possible termination of the income support grants for adults expected to be announced in Thursday's budget. Esley Philander, spokesperson of Advocacy group, Black Sash....

Finance Minister Enoch Gondongwana is expected to deliver his maiden Mid-Term-Budget-Speech on Thursday. Gondongwana took over from the former minister, Tito Mboweni, in early August following President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet reshuffle. Gondongwana is expected to juggle the financial purse between support for ailing State-Owned Enterprises and possible further social relief grants for the most...

Administration of the Sisonke COVID-19 booster dose aimed at healthcare workers, which was delayed on Monday due to technical glitches, is expected to start today. Healthcare workers were the first group of people that were vaccinated in South Africa under the Sisonke Programme, which was a collaboration between the National Department of Health and other health professionals. The South African Me...

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that it is difficult at this stage to put a time frame as to when load shedding will come to an end as problems engulfing ESKOM are complex. Ramaphosa was speaking at an ANC Thank You event in Soweto, Johannesburg, where he was thanking ANC members for their work during the recent local government elections. For more on some of those complexities that pre...

The ANC says it has yet to enter into any coalition agreements with some of the political parties represented in the 66 hung municipalities countrywide. Meanwhile, ActionSA has been running a poll, asking its supporters to say which of the political parties they should enter into coalitions with. For some analysis of what these coalition talks and possible agreements could mean for the genera...

ActionSA, the party formed by former Joburg mayor, Herman Mashaba, has been running a poll, which ended at midnight, asking its supporters to say which of the political parties they should enter into coalitions with. Party national chairperson, Michael Beaumont...

The ANC says it has yet to enter into any coalition agreements with some of the political parties represented in the 66 hung municipalities countrywide. Party deputy secretary, Jessie Duarte made the assertion at the Special ANC NEC meeting in Irene, Pretoria yesterday (Sunday). The special NEC meeting comes at the back of the local government elections which saw the party failing to secure enough...