First Take SA

Various political parties in Parliament say it is regrettable that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not say anything new in his State of the Nation Address. The event was significantly scaled down to adhere to Covid-19 regulations. Only 50 people were allowed inside the National Assembly, in an effort to comply with Covid-19 regulations. All other MPs and guests followed proceedings via virtual platf...

In his State of the Nation Address President Cyril Ramaphosa, put emphasis on four areas that he says government will focus on. That is defeating the Covid-19 virus, accelerate economic recovery, implement economic reforms and fight corruption as well as strengthening state institutions. This year's SONA took place amid quite subdued and solemn affair. Only 50 people were allowed inside the Nation...

Fights over money and routes, competition for executive positions within taxi associations, and the unlawful take-over of businesses are some of the contributors to taxi violence. That's according to the findings contained in a report by the Commission of Inquiry into minibus taxi violence in Gauteng. The Commission was set up by Gauteng Premier David Makhura in September 2019 to probe the spate o...

Today's State of the Nation Address will be quite subdued and even a solemn affair. And it will be held at a fraction of the cost of previous years. This, Parliament's presiding officers say, is due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Divisions within the ruling ANC will widen if former president, Jacob Zuma is arrested for failing to appear before the State Capture Commission. This is the view of KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary, Mdumiseni Ntuli. Ntuli met Zuma last week following his widely-publicised and open defiance of the Zondo Commission. The party in the province seeks intervention of Cyril Ramaphosa and the organisation's t...

The Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley in the Northern Cape has revealed that it is owed at least two billion-rand in unpaid electricity fees from ratepayers. This as Eskom asked the provincial government to urgently intervene as the municipality failed to pay its bill to the power utility in December.

Scientists from the World Health Organisation and China's National Health Commission are yet to identify the origins for the novel coronavirus: SARS-COV2. This after four weeks of investigation and research in the city of Wuhan. The joint-team held a press briefing YESTERDAY (Tuesday) to give an update on their work. The studies have concluded that indeed the COVID-19 virus stems from an animal bu...

The South African Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the causes of the high number of fatal aircraft crashes since the start of the year. In January alone, fourteen accidents had been recorded in the industry, four of which had been fatal, claiming the lives of 8 people. According to the Aviation authority, they last saw such a spike in aircraft crashes and deaths in October 2008.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares for his annual State of the Nation Address on Thursday, he is being called to take responsibility for the controversy surrounding the Astra Zeneca vaccine which arrived in the country last week. Cosatu says it reflects badly on Ramaphosa's leadership that government has procured the vaccine that is expiring in April. Again the vaccine has proved to be less eff...

The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has heard how Parliament's Transport Committee failed its oversight duties on state owned Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said he was shocked and frustrated to hear that members of parliament did nothing about corruption at the entity while the company's fruitless and wasteful expenditure bill continued...

World Health Organisation Chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus, says he will meet with the organisation's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE today. The meeting will discuss SAGE's recommendations on the use of the Astrazeneca COVID19 vaccine. This comes as a recent study revealed that there was minimum protection in mild to moderate infections of the 501y.v2 strain - which was first...

All Medical Aid schemes in South Africa will be covering the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine for their members. This comes after South Africa's Council for Medical Schemes or CMS added the Covid-19 vaccine to its list of Prescribed Minimum Benefits.

Health minister, Zweli Mkhize says they have chosen the AstraZeneca vaccine due to promising results and its flexibility. Mkhize was speaking during a virtual media briefing last night. The briefing follows AstraZeneca's announcement that its vaccine only offers limited protection against mild disease caused by the variant that has been discovered in South Africa. South Africa has already bought o...

Many households are struggling to repay their loans, and unsecured debt is on average 32 percent higher than it was five years ago. According to the DebtBusters' fourth quarter Debt Index released YESTERDAY (Thursday 4 February), debt -to-income ratio is at 130 percent. This is its highest level in years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to curb the spread of the vi...

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has expressed outrage at revelations that four ANC MPs who voted with their conscience were told that they would be disciplined by the party's top leadership. Zondo was responding to the testimony of Makhosi Khoza who was removed from her position as Chairperson of the Public Service Portfolio Committee after admitting that she had voted with her conscience in su...

After a few years of intense political rivalry and seeking to remove Jacob Zuma from the union buildings, Julius Malema has reached out to the former President. If the EFF statement on Zuma's constitutional court ruling is anything to go by, Malema may be in a bid to persuade the former President to rethink his decision to shun the constitutional court which ordered to him appear before the state...

ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule has slammed calls by the Eastern Cape ANC for former president Jacob Zuma to be disciplined saying there is no reason to take action against the former president. This comes as other political parties expressed mixed feelings to Zuma's decision to defy the Constitutional Court order to appear before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. On Monday,...

The Office of the Auditor General has painted a bleak picture about the financial situation of some of the State Owned Entities. The audit outcomes of some of these entities are showing regress rather than improving.

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) says it is concerned about the escalating illicit trade of goods in the country. CEO of BLSA, Busi Mavuso, says the country is losing billions of rand to illicit trade. Mavuso says the ban on the sale of alcohol and cigarettes during during alert levels three and four lockdown restrictions made the situation worse. The South African Revenue Service says it h...

Political analysts say South Africans are interested in what happened during the Jacob Zuma administration and care-less about his defiance and questioning credibility of the State Capture Commission. In a bombshell statement on Monday, Zuma vowed to defy a ruling of the Constitutional Court compelling him to appear before the commission and answer questions posed to him. He said he will not coope...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Ford Motor Company's latest 15-point-8-billion-rand investment into the South African economy is a show of confidence in the country's potential. This after Ford Motor South Africa revealed that it would be investing one-billion-dollars into the expansion and development of its assembly plant in Silverton. The investment is expected to create eight to ten thousan...

Heavy rain continues to cause havoc in various parts of Mpumalanga. A number of houses have been badly damaged in Bock-B in the Nkomazi Local Municipality. The Municipality says efforts are being made to help the families whose houses have collapsed. However, they are reluctant to accommodate the affected people in community halls due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Healthcare experts say that community health workers will be critical to the success of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. The country has now received the first one-million doses of the Oxford University Astra-Zeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute, that will be administered to healthcare workers from the 14th of February. Meanwhile, the very same front-line workers who remain critical in the...

Former chairperson of Parliament's Public Enterprises Portfolio Committee, Zukiswa Rantho, is scheduled to testify at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Johannesburg this morning. Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee member James Selfe and former ANC parliamentarian Dr Makhosi Khoza could also give evidence. Yesterday former SCOPA chairperson Themba Godi told the comm...

South Africans have taken to various social media platforms to express delight at the easing of level 3 regulations of the national lockdown. President Ramaphosa LAST NIGHT announced that all indications reveal that the country has passed the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic. Curfew times have been pulled back now starting from 11pm till 4am. Beaches, dams, public swimming pools and recreation...