First Take SA

DA Leader John Steenhuisen will today conduct an aerial oversight inspection of the Durban port, In KwaZulu Natal to assess the logistics crisis. The visit comes after Transnet experienced a backlog of over 70,000 containers that needed to be offloaded. At Richards Bay, the port terminal suspended the receiving of goods due to truck congestion. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke to Christopher...

Energy analyst Chris Yelland says loadshedding will play a major factor in next year's general elections if higher stages of power cuts persist. This after Eskom implemented stage 6 load shedding over the weekend due to the heatwave, a shortage of generating capacity and emergency reserve. Speaking to our Senior Producer Ronald Phiri, Yelland outlined how Eskom's challenges will have a political b...

Police in Mpumalanga have urged parents and guardians to be vigilant following a string of rapes against minors in Vosman. The incidents date back from March this year, when a seven year old victim was abducted and raped, according to local authorities. The police say from there on, a number of similar incidents involving victims aged between seven and thirteen were reported. This, as Deputy Presi...

The Department of Social Development will today lead a march against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Pretoria. The walk comes right after a Grade 6 pupil Sibusiso Mbatha, at Khahlekile Primary School in Thokoza committed suicide due to being bullied about his sexuality. To discuss more about homophobia and the walk Elvis Presslin spoke to Deputy Chairperson of the South African National Ai...

Parliament's Powers and Privileges Committee will today hold a hearing into former Minister Mosebenzi Zwane's failure to appear before the House to apologize for undeclared state capture and Gupta-related benefits. In May the National Assembly adopted findings of Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests that Zwane failed to disclose the benefits he received from the controvers...

Oscar Pistorius will know his fate at his second parole hearing today. The former Paralympic athlete and convicted murderer made an application for parole in March this year but was denied. Pistorius will now appear before the Kgosi Mampuru parole board in Pretoria for his second attempt to be release. He was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison in 2017 for killing his then girlfriend,...

Elvis Presslin takes a look at the current top African economic stories with 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

The Democratic Alliance has laid a complaint against President Cyril Ramaphosa with the South African Human Rights Commission. The DA says Ramaphosa is responsible for the starvation of almost five million of South Africa's children. 4.8 million of the country's 20 million children are starving, this according to latest statistics from the State of the South African Child Report, by the Nelson Man...

The Reserve bank's monetary policy committee is expected to announce its decision on interest rates this afternoon.  This, as data released by Statistics South Africa shows that consumers continue to buckle under the pressure of high prices as inflation increased on average by 0, 9-percent in October.  The annual consumer price inflation (CPI) increased for the third consecutive month from 5,4-per...

Should Transnet be placed under business rescue? Well NT55 Investments, operator of the Port of Gauteng seems to think so. This as the state-owned logistics company struggles with backlog issues with more than 70 000 containers anchored at the Port of Durban. Transnet says the congestion may be cleared by the end of February next year. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to Sibusiso Nduna, a Bus...

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Free State Province says it disagrees with ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula after he ordered the suspension of the mayor of Kopanong Local Municipality - Xolani Tseletsele. Mbalula directed the immediate recall of Tseletsele as Mayor and suspension of his ANC membership, after a video went viral of Tseletsele threatening a resident of Jagersfonte...

Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande had dismissed calls for the scrapping of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and rather distribute funds directly to higher institutions of learning. NSFAS has been rocked by a series of scandals including leadership instability and the irregular awarding of four fintech companies to disburse student allowances. Funding applications for the 2024 a...

The National Assembly has voted in favour of a motion by the Economic Freedom Fighters for government to shutdown Israeli Embassy in South Africa, pending a ceasefire as the war ranges on between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The motion was passed following an amendment by the African National Congress which resulted vote supported by 248 members of parliament from the EFF, ANC, Al Jama ah, NFP, ATM a...

Former Eskom CEO, Matshela Koko has accused the state of pursuing what he calls a hate crime against him and his family. Koko's remarks follow a decision by the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court which struck the corruption case against him and 18 co-accused off the roll on Tuesday afternoon. The court found that there have been unreasonable delays in the case involving alleged corrupt...

National Treasury has announced that the government of South Africa has signed loan agreements with the World Bank, the German government and the African Development Bank. According to a statement released by the department, the loans will be provided below market rates in order to support South Africa's just Energy Transition. The World Bank is set to provide a R1-Billion loan for a duration of 1...

The South African human rights NGO Africa4Palestine has welcomed Israel's decision to recall its ambassador to South Africa for consultations. This ahead of a parliamentary motion calling for the Israeli embassy in South Africa to be closed. The Israeli Foreign Ministry recalled its Ambassador Eli Belotserkovsky to Jerusalem for consultations due to recent comments from South Africa on the ongoing...

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) in KwaZulu-Natal will today hold a picket outside the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate High Court. They are aggrieved about the continued killings of South African Police Service officers. In the latest incident in the province, two police officers were killed in a shopping mall robbery at the weekend. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to POPCRU sp...

Elvis Presslin takes a look at the current top African economic stories with 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

A University of Fort Hare director will today join nine other murder suspects In the dock, at the Alice Magistrates' court in the Eastern Cape. The Institution's Director for Investigations and Vetting Services was arrested last week and appeared before the same court. He has been added as the tenth accused in the spate of killings of Fort Hare employees. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke to...

Public Interest South Africa says harsher punitive measures need to be imposed against senior executives of banks that manipulate the bank exchange rate. London-based Standard Chartered Bank is among 28 local and international banks accused by the Competition Commission of manipulating the RAND/DOLLAR exchange rate between 2007 and 2018. To discuss this further Elvis Presslin spoke to Public Inter...

The Electoral Commission will today host a media briefing on the outcome of the first voter registration weekend. The first registration weekend saw various voter registration stations being affected by service delivery protests in some parts of the country. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to IEC Commissioner Janet Love and a professor of Political Science at Unisa, Professor Dirk Kotze

Two voter registration centres were disrupted in Soweto, Johannesburg following protests over electricity. This as the IEC conducted its voter registration at the weekend. Last week, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi promised Soweto residents who have not had electricity due to the power crisis in that area, that they will soon have lights. Lesufi was speaking at the Kopanong Community Hall where he...

Several voter registration stations in Mpumalanga were disrupted after disgruntled residents staged protests over the appointment of teachers as Voter Registration Agents. The protests took place over the weekend as the Independent Electoral Commission was registering citizens to vote in next year's general elections. To further discuss this Elvis Presslin spoke to IEC Mpumalanga Stakeholder-Liaso...

A woman alleged to be behind the murders of her relatives to benefit from insurance claims will appear in the Mmabatho Magistrate's court, in the North West today. The 49-year-old suspect was arrested in Centurion north of Pretoria yesterday. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to National police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe

Elvis Presslin takes a look at the current top African economic stories with 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