First Take SA

Parliament has been forced to postpone the first day of the start of the preliminary hearing lodged against a number of EFF members after the initiator for the process decided to withdraw. The establishment of the process aims at investigating whether the implicated MPs have indeed breached the Powers, Privileges and Immunities Of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, after EFF MPs stormed t...

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union, NEHAWU will today march to the Social Development department In Pretoria over claims of nepotism. The Union is opposing an alleged attempt by Minister Lindiwe Zulu to reappointment Linton Mchunu - her suspected close ally - as director-general for the Department. Mchunu previously served as Zulu's chief of staff during her tenure as Small B...

Medical legal claims against the Health department are showing a significant increase.  That is according to the Office of the Auditor General.  The office of the AG and the department, led by the deputy minister, Dr. Sibongiseni Dhlomo, briefed Parliament's Select Committee on Appropriations on the impact of medical negligence claims on provincial health budgets and mitigations on medical legal c...

Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, has called on engineers to help government tackle infrastructure challenges made worse by destructive weather patterns. He delivered a keynote address at the 9th United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Africa Engineering Week, which got underway with an engineering conference in Pretoria. South Africa has experienced disasters linked to...

Eleven people are confirmed dead due to a severe weather system, that hit the Western Cape.  According to police reports four of the victims were children aged between 7 and 12 years old.  With heavy rains and strong winds subsiding, clean up assessments and repairs are underway across in the province.  This while many roads remain inaccessible and dangerous. The Western Cape Department of Educati...

The Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape has called for  the establishment of a provincial commission of inquiry into state capture in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The party has written to Premier Oscar Mabuyane requesting an independent commission to Investigate alleged state capture in the municipality by politically connected Individuals. The party has given the premier until Friday...

The 32-year-old mayor of the uMngeni Muncipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands - Chris Pappas - has been announced as the Da's KZN Premier candidate in the 2024 elections. Pappas was part of the campaign team which ensured a 42 vote victory over the ANC in 2021. This landed the party it's first municipality that it controls outright in the province. Having built a reputation as a hands-on mayor, P...

The Special Investigating Unit, SIU will probe allegations of maladministration and corruption In the City of Tshwane. President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate allegations of corruption relating to the failed Rooiwal waste water treatment plant. The multimillion-rand tender, which was awarded to controversial businessman Edwin Sodi is suspected to have pos...

Emergency services are on high alert as heavy rains and flooding persist in the Western Cape. Heavy rainfall and gale force winds battered parts of the province, causing flooding and damage to infrastructure since the start of the long weekend. This after the South African Weather Service had issued a level 9 warning of disruptive rain and gale force winds. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke t...

Elvis Presslin looks at the current top African economic stories with Victor Kgomoeswana, 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 South African Federation of Trade Unions, SAFTU will host the BRICS Trade Union Forum Dialogue in Durban, KwaZulu Natal today. The annual conference which consists of union federations from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will discuss matters of global political and economic interest that affect workers. The BRICS Trade Union Forums follows the recent BRICS Summit in Sandton. The...

The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) will be hosting a policy dialogue on "School Dropout of Adolescent Girls during Pregnancy and in the Postpartum Period Policy Dialogue". The dialogue is informed by CGE's recently published research report exploring reasons for school dropout by adolescent girls during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. The research study investigated the social, cultu...

Road Accident Fund CEO Collins Letsoalo says the fund cannot afford to pay out foreign nationals who suffer injuries during accidents on the country's roads. He says the government-funded scheme, which provides compensation to victims of motor vehicle accidents, cannot provide cover to foreign nationals as it is simply unsustainable. The Fund published a directive last year stating lump-sum paymen...

Land invasion in rural areas, crime, mining licenses and contracts are some of the issues that will be tackled today when a conference hosted by the Mpumalanga department of Co-operative Governance and the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders gets underway. The conference will also address the issuing of liquor licenses in outlets under traditional leadership. This comes amid the recent inciden...

Elvis Presslin takes a look at the current top African economic stories with Victor Kgomoeswana, 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 South African Medical Research Council has been awarded a multi-million rand grant to test and develop a novel HIV vaccines in Africa. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID has invested approximately 867-million-Rand for a trial of a preventive HIV vaccine. The clinical trial has begun candidate enrollment in the United States and South Africa. The announcement comes at a time t...

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is demanding that power utility Eskom must be given 70% allocation in the renewable energy space. NUMSA expressed concerns that workers will get left behind if they do not occupy all spaces of the debate.  The union says it also has questions, why government is rushing to implement the transition in South Africa, when the carbon emissions...

Parliament's Justice and Correctional Services Committee will go ahead with impeachment proceedings against Judge Nkola Motata and Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe. Both judges have been found guilty of gross misconduct by the Judicial Conduct Tribunal.  Motata, for a drunk driving case in 2007 and Hlophe for influencing two retired Constitutional court judges in 2008 in the matter involvi...

Gauteng police are investigating an incident where at least 90 learners were hospitalised after consuming muffins laced with dagga. The learners from Pulamadibogo Primary school in Soshanguve, North of Pretoria were rushed to various medical facilities after experiencing nausea, stomach cramps and vomiting after consuming the so-called space cookies. Police visited the school and subsequently, a s...

At least 55 villages in and around Giyani, Limpopo are still without reliable water supply, despite phase one of the Giyani Bulk Water Project being completed. This according to the Transformation Alliance, which has cited the turf war between Giyani Local Municipality and Mopani District Municipality for the water challenges. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke to Abel Tau, leader of the Trans...

The ANC in the Overberg region of the Western Cape says it is deeply concerned by the recent protest in Swellendam. Angry community members blockaded the N2 and torched a municipal building - Just a few weeks after another municipal office was set alight. The irate protesters are still unhappy about the application process for indigent benefits and service delivery in the area. For more on this, E...

The EFF's motion of no confidence against Free State premier Mxolisi Dukwana lacked support from other opposition parties in the Free State Legislature. The motion was rejected as the DA and Freedom Front Plus decided to abstain from the vote. It comes after a reply from Dukwana that more than R3-million was spent on the funeral of the late Education MEC Tate Makgoe in March this year. For more on...

The South African National Taxi Council, SANTACO in KwaZulu Natal is demanding a rank for its members at a newly established Oceans Mall in Umhlanga, Durban. Scores of taxi operators blockaded the entrances and exits to Mall, causing major traffic disruptions in the Umhlanga CBD. The taxi council says they were promised a rank when the mall was built where their previous rank was. For more on this...

South Africa could soon have a new gender-neutral parental leave policy. A case against the Minister of Employment and Labour recently heard at the Gauteng High Court, is seeking a gender-neutral parental policy that enables all employees to take parental leave regardless of their gender. This after a father was reportedly denied maternity leave by his employer who said maternity leave protection...

Postbank says all outstanding grants payments have been paid. This after thousands of pensioners and other social grant beneficiaries were left destitute after not receiving their monthly payout for September. Postbank cited a technical glitch for non-payment. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to Postbank Spokesperson, Dr. Bongani Diako