First Take SA

The South African National Taxi Council has hinted that a possible increase in taxi fares may be on the cards as the price of fuel soared higher by one rand from THIS MORNING*. Motorists from inland provinces will now have to fork out over seventeen rands for a litre of 95 unleaded fuel while diesel has soared by a total of 65 cents. These latest price hikes are inclusive of the 27 cents that Fina...

More than 165 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Coronavirus vaccine as the country ramps up its daily doses to close on 3 million shots per day. While officials are lauding the fact the country with the highest death toll and accumulative caseload is outpacing much of the world in immunizing their population, they continue to raise alarm at rising case numbers while pointing...

Limpopo Police and the SANDF have heightened their visibility in and around the Beitbridge Border Post. There's been a spike in robberies and attacks at the Musina crossing recently. A truck driver was airlifted to the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital in Polokwane last week. He was robbed while queuing at the port of entry.

Over 600 SABC employees said their final goodbyes as they re-lived some of their most vivid moments at the public broadcaster. Yesterday marked the end of the road for 621 permanent staff members after the SABC concluded it's section 189 retrenchment process. The SABC will transition to its new structure today.

Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke says irregular expenditure among national and provincial government departments decreased to R54 billion from the R66 billion in the previous year. The AG says despite the decrease the number is nothing to celebrate as 31-percent of the auditees failed to disclose irregular expenditure. Maluleke says her office could not audit R2 billion worth of contracts due to m...

Trade union BEMAWU has expressed fears that the quality of work being rendered by the SABC will be compromised following the departure of over six hundred workers during the just concluded section 189 retrenchment process. The public broadcaster yesterday (Tuesday) met with both BEMAWU and the Communication Workers Union to discuss the completion of the retrenchment process. The public broadcaster...

Health minister, Zweli Mkhize, says the delivery of the country's vaccines is on track. Mkhize appeared before Parliament's Health committee, to give a two weekly briefing on the progress of the country's Covid-19 vaccination programme. MPs criticized the department for its inability to roll out the vaccination programme with the necessary urgency.

Former Lily Mine employees embarked on a peaceful march and handed over a memorandum of grievances to the Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela. They are calling on the court to set aside or fast-track the court case between owners of the mine- Vantage Goldfields, Business Rescue Practitioners and the potential investor, Arqomanzi. Last Month, the High court granted Arqomanzi an interim order preventi...

Despite fears that the Easter weekend activities could become spreader events for the Coronavirus pandemic, President Cyril Ramaphosa has kept the country under Alert Level One. He has also announced that religious gatherings over this period will be restricted to 250 people indoors from 100 and 500 people outdoors from 200. But the president has put some restriction on the sale of alcohol for the...

SANCO in the Free State says it has noted with concern the alleged interference by Businessman, Johan Rupert in ANC internal affairs. This comes at the backdrop of leaked audio clips circulating on social media platforms, depicting a chaotic ANC NEC meeting marred by an exchange of insults and swear words. Speculation had been rife throughout the day YESTERDAY as reports indicated that the NEC mee...

ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule will have to step down within 30 days or run the risk of being suspended from the party. This came out at the end of the governing party's National Executive Committee held at the weekend. President Cyril Ramaphosa read out the long-awaited outcomes of the meeting last night. The delivery of his closing remarks was delayed when members failed to agree on the fin...

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy David Mabuza, accompanied by other high-profile officials, yesterday visited the pharmaceutical giant Aspen in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape to assess the process of vaccine production at the sterile manufacturing facility. This forms part of the partnership between the government and the private sector in the national vaccination programme.

Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa says the 300 million rand, which was meant to help support the creative industry as part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme didn't disappear but was over-committed. Mthethwa says the department will conduct a forensic investigation to get to the bottom of the how irregular payments and over-budgeting took place with regards to the...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government must strive to be an entrepreneurial state by being more innovative, by taking risks and adopting an investment driven approach in its leadership. Ramaphosa says government has often outsourced the services consultants to address its lack in capability however that has not yielded positive results. Ramaphosa says the role of the state has once again been b...

Cabinet says the country is on track with its COVID-19 vaccination programme, and announced that it will extend the roll-out programme to 54 vaccine sites across the country. Acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshaveni made the announcement following Wednesday's (24/03) cabinet meeting. Cabinet also discussed the debt crisis facing higher education students, the country's unstable energ...

Another North West Department is reported to have failed to spend its allocated grant by national treasury and as such, was requested to take back the money. The provincial human settlements department, has lost a hundred-million rand allocated for housing in the 2019/2020 financial year. The money has been re-allocated to other provinces. This comes against the backdrop of a huge housing backlog...

Farm workers from about 20 farms in the Cape Town and the Klein Karoo region say there's very little respect for the human rights of farm workers as the country celebrates Human Rghts Day. The workers are meeting in Stellenbosch where they shared their frustrations on issues including illegal evictions, sub-standard housing and non-compliance with the minimum wage.

Seventy-two-year-old amaZulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been laid to rest at the KwaDlamahlahla palace in Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal, in a ceremony called ukutshalwa in the early hours of this (Thurs) morning. In Zulu culture, the term ukutshalwa refers to the belief that a King never dies but that he is planted. The longest serving Zulu monarch died from COVID-19 complications last week....

Deputy President David Mabuza has answered questions on wide ranging issues in the National Assembly. These included land redistribution, loadshedding and Eskom's turn around strategy as well as ensuring that the acquisition of Covid-19 vaccines will not be tainted by corruption.

The EFF's application in the High Court in Pretoria to have the bank statements and financial records of donors to President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2017 ANC presidential campaign, also known as CR17, unsealed will continue TODAY. The Deputy Judge President, Audbrey Ledwaba, sealed the CR17 financial records in August 2019 after Ramaphosa's legal team argued they were illegally obtained by the Public Pr...

A hybrid sitting of the National Assembly has voted in favour of establishing an ad hoc committee to investigate the fitness of Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, to hold office. The ad hoc committee was recommended by an independent panel, which found that prima facie evidence exists to institute removal proceedings, and that Parliament should look into charges of misconduct and incompetence a...

Former president Jacob Zuma insists that there's nothing untoward about the state funding his criminal case. TODAY(16 March), Zuma's legal team will appeal the December 2018 high court order which set aside the state's decision to pay for legal costs relating to his criminal prosecution. Zuma, the DA and the EFF have filed papers in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein. The former pre...

Student bodies across the country are calling for the continued national shutdown of tertiary institutions as a result of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme's failure to fund first year students and the financial exclusion of students with historic debt. The protests started last week, and students say they'll continue taking to the streets until their demands are met. They also want to mee...

The stage is set for government to lock horns with public sector unions over wages. This as the new round of public sector wage negotiations is scheduled to begin today.

National student body -- SASCO and the EFF Student Command -- have threatened to shut down all institutions of higher learning TODAY (Monday). This is part of the student's ongoing protest to demand free education and for students to be allowed to register for the 2021 academic year even if they have historical debt. Tshepo Phagane spoke to Karabo Damane -- a Wits student -- who was not allowed to...