The Weekend View

Wanted fugitive Michael Lomas, was YESTERDAY successfully extradited back to South Africa and was formally charged for his alleged crimes. A former Eskom employee Lomas was wanted for fraud and corruption in-excess of 1.5 billion-rand, that happened between 2008 and 2018 at the Kusile Power station. He was previously arrested and was granted bail, before fleeing to the UK. He was arrested in Londo...

INTRO:  It's a  'Super Saturday' of rugby TODAY as the Springboks play their penultimate Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash against Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero, Argentina TONIGHT. Boks Coach Rassie Erasmus has made 10 changes to his starting team. A win would be the sixth in succession in the Rugby Championship, which would be the Boks' longest winning run in the competition. The game kick...

There's been mixed reaction to the South African Reserve Bank decision to cut its repo rate by 25 basis points with some welcoming the relief but expressing disappointment at the modest scale. This is the first cut since the Covid-19 global economic fallout four-and-a-half years ago. The repo rate will now be at 8% while the prime lending rate will come down to 11.50%. Meanwhile the automobile ind...

To explore how best should South Africa remember and honour Pravin Gordhan Bongiwe Zwane spoke to political analyst Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast AND  Neeshan Balton, Executive Director at the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation 

Russian President Vladimir Putin THIS WEEK warned that  any attack on his country by Ukraine using missiles supplied by Western nations is tantamount to NATO directly entering the war.  He said any such move will receive the appropriate response. Ukraine's western allies have long resisted giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the green light to use their long-range ballistics against for...

A recent global survey conducted by Theirworld , a global children's charity organisation, has revealed that South Africa faces an urgent crisis in early childhood development. According to the report , 38% of South African primary school teachers believe most children are not developmentally ready when they start school and this places South Africa's children at a significant disadvantage compare...

President Cyril Ramaphosa YESTERDAY officially signed the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) policy into law. The BELA Bill, as it was previously known, makes changes to the South African Schools Act of 1996.  The  act introduces new regulations around schools in South Africa, most notably in relation to compulsory schooling from Grade R, language policies and curriculums, and prohibition of co...

The ANC, PAC, Rise Mzansi and Action SA have lauded Gordhan's fight against corruption while at the helm of the department of public enterprises. During his tenure at the department, Gordhan was responsible for overseeing entities such as Eskom, Transnet, Denel and SAA, amongst others. However, the EFF says that the former Minister's legacy was one filled with the destruction of state owned enterp...

Black Sash in partnership with the London School of Economics, Stellenbosch University Law Clinic, and the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa THIS WEEK launched the "Collaborations to curb indebtedness" report in Johannesburg. The report seeks to highlight the issue of indebtedness and makes recommendations to curb involuntary indebtedness, especially among social grant recipients. For m...

Early this year , the Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice published its annual ranking report of the 50 most violent cities in the world. The report ranked Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha) as the most dangerous city in South Africa,  leaping past Cape Town and Durban.   Meanwhile, announcing the quarterly crime statistics last Friday,  National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola...

TODAY is International Literacy Day and the day is of particular importance to South Africa, a country plagued by a literacy crisis. A recent study has shown that most children in SA are not developmentally ready when they start school. To address this non-profit organisation, Santa Shoebox Project, is installing reading corners in early childhood development centres countrywide. Equipped with a r...

The Springboks came from behind to win 18-12  the All Blacks at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town YESTERDAY. Victory ensured a fourth straight win for the Springboks over the All Blacks for the first time since 1949, secured the Freedom Cup for the first time since 2009 and gave the Boks a firm grasp on their first Rugby Championship title since 2019. and they did this while allowing the HAKA to take p...

President Cyril Ramaphosa was THIS WEEK on a State Visit to China, before he attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit which drew around 50 African heads of State to Beijing. Several trade deals were clinched between South Africa and China during the tour. During the summit Chinese President Xi Jinping, pledged $50 billion (over R900 billion) in investment and assistance packages to th...

Parliament's Justice and Constitutional Development committee says it will among other things, seek legal opinion while processing the information given by Minister Thembi Simelane to the committee. Simelane YESTERDAY denied allegations that she had an improper relationship the service provider that was appointed by the Polokwane Municipality, Gundo Wealth Solutions, when she was still Mayo in 201...

The reintroduction of the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill in Parliament THIS WEEK has unleashed a chorus of warnings by those against the Bill. The Bill is proposing new legislation that will regulate the sale, advertising and use of tobacco products. Critics argue that the Bill is likely to push consumers towards harmful illicit markets. They also say the Bill lac...

South Africans are being urged to be cautious and withdraw from their retirement savings only for emergencies. Financial experts and political parties say citizens will do well to keep in mind that a withdrawal from the savings pot will reduce the final total amount available at retirement and may result in a reduced standard of living. 

The Springboks defended/ their home turf with a 31 - 27 win over All Blacks in an epic Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at the iconic Ellis Park Stadium yesterday. New Zealand played a great game of rugby, but could never quite bury the Springboks who kept plugging away and remain undefeated in the championship.

The Two-pot retirement system kicks in today. The system has however been criticised by labour federations including SAFTU who are not happy with some aspects of the scheme and say the second pot should not only be accessible at retirement age. 

The national, provincial and local government, the SAPS, the City of Cape Town, community organisations and private security companies will collaborate and share resources, technology and intelligence as part of efforts to improve policing and community safety for all the residents of Cape Town. By drawing on each other's expertise, it is hoped that crime fighting agencies will be able to do much...

The greatest rivalry in world rugby gets underway in Johannesburg TODAY when the Springboks face the All Blacks at Ellis Park stadium. The Rugby Championship Test match will be the 11th time the old rivals meet at the iconic venue since South Africa's reintroduction to the Test fold in 1992. Springboks coach, Rassie Erasmus, THIS WEEK made nine changes from the team that won against the Wallabies...

The Stop Stockouts Project says it has found that in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, almost all women and girls who were surveyed did not receive the contraceptives they requested. The project says some of its findings are that poor national procurement planning continues to be the main driver of contraceptive shortages and stockouts. The Stop Stockouts Project says access to contrac...

The National Credit Regulator ("NCR") says consumers must be vigilant of debt counsellors engaging in the deceptive or misleading practice of placing consumers under debt counselling without their knowledge or consent. The NCR says it has been receiving alarming complaints that Debt counsellors are duping consumers into debt counselling without a full understanding of the process which they are en...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the three spheres of government to combat crime in the Western Cape. Ramaphosa attended the pledge signing event in Cape Town. This will see cooperation between the national government, provincial government of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town to pull together ideas and resources to fignt crime. 

A container ship THIS WEEK lost part of its cargo in bad weather off the coast of Port St. Johns in the Eastern Cape. The MSC Antonia, sailing under the flag of Liberia, encountered severe weather conditions while en-route from Colombo, Sri Lanka to New York on Wednesday and lost 46 containers overboard. 305 other containers were also damaged.  The vessel is now expected to arrive in Cape Town TOM...

Floyd Shivambu is now the National Organiser of the Umkhonto WeSizwe (MK) party. The former EFF deputy president announced last week that he would be joining the MK party. The party's President is Jacob Zuma and Dr John Hlope is Deputy President. The uMkhonto WeSizwe Party will be led by the National High Command which will be comprised of commanders of different skill sets and experiences. The hi...