First Take SA

The Pinetown magistrates court west of Durban has granted Kwaito star Mandla Maphumulo, popularly known as Mampintsha, two thousand rand bail. He briefly appeared in court facing a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. This after his girlfriend Bongekile Simelane or Babes Wodumo released a video on Instagram, that shows a man believed to be Maphumulo hitting Simelane in a be...

The Gauteng Health department says it has made some progress in tracing missing Life Esidimeni mental healthcare patients. Health MEC Dr Gwen Ramokgopa says in the past two weeks five more patients have been traced bringing the number of those still unaccounted for to sixteen.

Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride has filed an urgent review application in the High Court in Pretoria to have his contract extended. This after parliament's police committee on police decision that McBride's contract as the head of the Ipid, should not be renewed. The committee had set aside this week to determine whether they agree with the Police Minister, Bheki C...

Cries for better services by thousands of jobless young people within the Amahlathi Municipality in the Eastern Cape have finally been heard. The municipality has been placed under provincial administration following months of violent protests which led to the torching of municipal buildings and a clinic. Officials within the municipality are accused of providing jobs in exchange of sexual favours...

India and Pakistan are on the brink of a major confrontation after Pakistan claimed to have shot down two Indian fighter jets in response to the bombing of alleged "terror" targets inside Pakistan. The incursion across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir came after New Delhi threatened retaliation over the 14 February suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian troops. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imra...

Parliament's Communications Portfolio Committee has resolved to put on hold the shortlisting of candidates who were going to be interviewed to fill vacancies at the board of the SABC. This follows a heated discussion about whether or not to dissolve the current board as it does not form a quorum. The current board assumed office in 2017 but only four members are remaining, the other eight resigned...

Four people have now been arrested and one taken in for questioning in connection with the killing of a 28-year-old man in Polokwane. A video of the alleged killing surfaced on social media over the weekend. In the video a leaner from Capricorn High school is seen in his school uniform bragging about the brutal murder.

South Africans continue to express their outrage following claims by a Johannesburg based pastor that he raised a man from the dead on Sunday. A video showing Pastor Alph Lukau of Alleluia Ministries has gone viral on social media where he claims to be praying for a dead man who resurrected back to life. The Kings and Queens Funeral Services whose vehicle was used to ferry the alleged deceased man...

Kings and Queens funeral parlour says they are shocked by the resurrection stunt pulled by Pastor Alph Lukau using their car. The company says it is going to take legal action for damages to the company image cause by his actions.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has established a special tribunal to enable the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to fast-track the recovery of money and assets lost by state institutions through corruption and irregular spending. In a statement YESTERDAY (Sunday), the Presidency said the Special Tribunal will be headed by Judge Gidfonia Mlindelwa Makhanya for a period of 3 years.

Tributes continue to pour in as South Africans mourn the death of music icon Dorothy Masuku. Masuku's passing has been described as a great loss for the country and the music industry. She died at her home in Johannesburg on Saturday at the age of 83

Two suspects have been shot and killed and a third wounded during a shootout with police at the Edenvale High school on Gauteng's East rand. Police are looking for an unknown number of suspects who fled the scene.

on-prifit organisations Media Monitoring Africa and Support Public Broadcasting Coalition -SOS, have raised concern over the delays in appointing candidates to fill eight vacancies on the SABC board. The organisations have written a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete and the chairperson parliament's portfolio committee on communications Prof Hlen...

The community of Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape is in a state of panic following social media reports about high levels of toxin in their limited water. According to the Gift of Givers, the East side of town has less than ten days of water while the vast majority in the West require one mega-litres of bottled water a day. Blocked drains and sewage spilling along the st...

The Financial assistance to Eskom is expected to take centre stage when Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tables this year's national budget in the National Assembly today. The question is.... where is the money going to come from, considering that the national fiscus is already under pressure and its implications on the expenditure ceiling.

ANC's national spokesperson, Pule Mabe is expected to return to work THIS *MORNING at Luthuli House after being cleared of sexual harassment charges. Last year Mabe's personal assistant levelled the allegations against him in a detailed letter of complaint to the organisation. Mabe was then removed as party spokesperson in order to allow for internal investigations to take place. A panel looking i...

More than 30 children have been taken away from two children's homes at Morester Kinderhuis and Home Meah in KwaZulu-Natal. It's alleged that the Morester Children's home in Ladysmith has been implicated in allegations of abuse which have affected the two Newcastle branches which operate under the same Non-Profit Organisation number. Our reporter Hafsa Mkhize is closely following this story

The South African Independent Power Producers Association (SAIPPA) has strongly opposed government's intention to renegotiate power purchase agreements in an effort to help Eskom cut costs. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says the power utility pays high prices to Independent Power Producers for power generated from renewable energy projects. SAIPPA has cautioned that changing the rules...

1. A nuclear conference in Algeria has called on France to assume responsibility in the gathering of waste resulted from the nuclear tests that they conducted in Algerian Sahara desert in the 1960s...? 2. Egypt is to priotise trade rather than politics as it takes leadership at the African Union 3. A new fishing deal signed between the Somalia government and vessels tied to the Chinnese has raised...

Sibanye Stillwater says over six-thousand jobs are at risk of being cut at two of its gold mines, Shafts in Beatrix in the Free State and Driefontein, West of Johannesburg. The mine says this is due to operational and financial risks associated with the under-performance of these shafts, including a forecast loss in profits of a Billion rands. Meanwhile, Trade Union Solidarity has placed the blame...

Sibanye Stillwater says over six-thousand jobs are at risk of being cut at two of its gold mines, Shafts in Beatrix in the Free State and Driefontein, West of Johannesburg. The mine says this is due to operational and financial risks associated with the under-performance of these shafts, including a forecast loss in profits of a Billion rands. Meanwhile, Trade Union Solidarity has placed the blame...

Businesses in Cape Town have expressed concern over the ongoing load shedding which is having a crippling effect on their operations and ultimately, their profits. The Cape Chamber of Commerce has described Monday's Stage Four load shedding as shocking. The Chamber says the ongoing power outages, now on Stage 3, are having a devastating effect on South Africa's economy.

Thousands of COSATU members take to the streets countrywide, except the Western Cape, in an effort to oppose massive job losses in the country. The intended shutdown also comes a week before the 2019 Budget Speech by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Cosatu says it hopes to hear from the finance minister about concrete plans to create jobs and halt retrenchment of thousands of workers. The Federation...

Learners at Gatang secondary and Solomon Mahlangu high schools in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria have been left stranded. This as the COSATU-affiliated teacher union SADTU joins its mother body in a national strike against retrenchments and unemployment. However, in Mamelodi teachers reported for work, started planning to join their striking counterparts. Sonto Makhafola, a member of the Learners Repr...

Power utility Eskom says there is a probability of loadshedding again TODAY ( Monday). Yesterday the power giant implemented Stage 2 rotational loadshedding until 10PM across the national grid, citing a shortage of generating capacity as one of the reasons for the blackouts. There are fears that loadshedding could last for months.