First Take SA

The mood is sombre at the SABC as the retrenchment process unfolds. The public broadcaster has continued to issue letters of redundancy and surplus to affected staff following the conclusion of last month's extended consultation process. The SABC says it has reduced the number of employees who'll be affected from 600 to just over 300. It says it has to reduce the wage bill to make the organisation...

Gauteng Premier, David Makhura says residents must brace themselves for a tough two weeks as they expect Covid19 cases to rise even higher . Makhura says the infection rate in the province has already doubled in the past Seven days. The Premier visited the Steve Biko Academic hospital in Pretoria, which has since turned its parking bay into a ward for patients under Covid19 investigation as it cou...

Teacher unions in KwaZulu-Natal have called for the Education Department to halt marking in centres that are not adhering to Covid-19 safety protocols. This is after a marker died due to Covid-19-related illnesses in Estcourt in the Midlands. Meanwhile, the provincial Department of Education says they have decontaminated the marking centre.

All learners are expected to start the new school year on January the 27th. The Department of Basic Education says it doesn't expect its timetable to be affected by lockdown regulations since there's no evidence that schools pose a greater risk to spread the coronavirus than during the first wave of infections. Basic Education Director General, Mathanzima Mweli, made the announcements at a briefin...

The Solidarity Fund says it will be making a 327-million-rand down payment towards a Covid-19 vaccine as early as next week. The Deputy Chairperson of at the Solidarity Fund - Adriaan Enthoven - says the prepayment will help to secure a vaccine for 10-percent of the South African population. The Solidarity Fund says it has allocated over 800-million-rand towards the procurement of Personal Protect...

Organized business and labour say South Africa cannot afford to go back to a hard national lockdwon. This as as the country is still reeling from news yesterday that the dreaded second wave of with high COVID-19 infections is upon us.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) says it expects more arrests in the temporary relief fund fraud case -- which involves owner of Impossible Services company. Thabo Simbini appeared briefly in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. His case was postponed to the 29th of next month for further investigation.

The Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs in Limpopo has resolved that the Collins Chabane Local Municipality will start providing services to the Vuwani area. Since its establishment in 2016, the municipality has not serviced Vuwani after angry residents, who demanded to be returned to the Makhado Local Municipality, embarked on violent protest. Some pro...

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says South Africa is now experiencing the 2nd wave of COVID-19 and has breached the six-thousand mark in new cases in the last reporting period. Mkhize says South Africa is officially in the second wave of the coronavirus. The death toll has risen to 22-thousand-574 after 135 COVID-19 related fatalities were recorded. Briefing the nation LAST NIGHT, Mkhize said four pr...

Western Cape Judge President, John Hlophe, has again disputed claims that meetings he had with Constitutional Court judges were meant to influence them to rule in former President Jacob Zuma's favour in a matter before them in 2008. Hlophe was testifying at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal underway in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg. The tribunal is hearing charges of gross misconduct levelled aga...

Former Eskom Board chairperson, Ben Ngubane, has told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, he found it disturbing that there were outside forces dictating affairs at the power utility. Ngubane admitted there were corporate governance issues at Eskom, but has denied knowing to what extent the Guptas influenced contracts deals in their favour. He concluded his evidence at the commission YES...

ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule will appear before the party's Integrity Commission on Saturday. This was announced by party president, Cyril Ramaphosa, at the end of the ANC NEC meeting which started on Sunday. The three-day virtual meeting was also attended by both former party presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. It was called to discuss challenges facing the ANC and the so-called 'stepp...

Researcher and language expert, Langalibalele Mathenjwa, has been taken to task for finding that there was no evidence that Western Cape Judge President, John Hlophe, had intended to influence Justice Chris Jafta during a meeting 12 years ago. Mathenjwa has been giving expert evidence at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal's gross misconduct hearing against Hlophe that's underway in Kempton Park, east o...

The Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development department has allocated one-billion rand to support subsistence farmers through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Initiative. 75-thousand small scale farmers are expected to benefit from the initiative with farming input vouchers ranging from one to nine-thousand rand. This in a bid to assist these farmers whose production was disrupted due to...

The ANC has removed the Mayor, the Chief Whip and the Speaker in the troubled Mogalakwena Local Municipality in Mokopane in Limpopo. The decision to fire the three was taken during the ANC Provincial Working Committee's meeting on Friday. Mayor Andrina Matsemela has been presiding over the unstable municipality since the 2016 local government elections.

Western Cape Transport Minister, Bonginkosi Madikizela, says there's a need to intensify the campaign to enforce adherence to Covid-19 regulations over the coming weeks. Coronavirus infections in the province have increased by more than two-thousand since Thursday. Currently the Western Cape has more than 12-thousand-400 active cases of the virus with over one-thousand-300 people in hospital. Madi...

A showdown is looming between the Basic Education Department on the one hand and teacher organisations and students on the other, over the department's decision for matric learners to rewrite two exam papers after they were found to have been leaked. Teachers union - SADTU and student body COSAS are expected to head to court TODAY (Monday) to seek an urgent interdict challenging the department's d...

The National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi says there's a huge progress in recovery money that was stolen meant for dealing with covid-19 pandemic. She says a number of initiatives have been put in place to capacitate the Asset Forfeiture Unit to recovery money that was lost in corruption activities. Batohi says NPA is also trying to be transparent when doing its work. She says i...

Government has declared the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in the Eastern Cape a Coronavirus hotspot. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement last night after a special sitting of Cabinet and the National Coronavirus Command Council. The president also extended the national State of Disaster to the 15th of January.

The State Capture Commission has heard how the Gupta wedding in Sun City was used to launder money from the Estina Vrede dairy project in the Free State. A researcher from London based World Investigations, Paul Holden, was testifying about offshore money flow related to the Dairy Farm project at the inquiry in Johannesburg. More than 200 million rand was spent by the Free State government on the...

The first Khoikhoi (Khoekhoegowab) language gathering in Steinkopf, Northern Cape will take place from the 12 - 15 December. It is an immersive opportunity, like no other for artists, creatives, poets and anyone interested in learning one of Southern Africa's First nation languages Khoekhoegowab. The week-long daily activities will see participants engage with the language through song, poetry, re...

President Cyril Ramaphosa declared Nelson Mandela Bay Metro a COVID-19 hotspot, with stricter measures coming into effect at midnight. These include a ban on public drinking, an extended curfew as well as restrictions on gatherings. The President was addressing the nation following a meeting of Cabinet and based on recommendations by the National Coronavirus Command Council. He says these addition...

Some political analysts say Gauteng Premier David Makhura is losing his political power as ANC provincial chairperson. This follows Makhura's announcement of a cabinet reshuffle. Makhura faces resistance from within the party. ANC Youth League's provincial spokesperson, Nkosazana Mtolo says their members won't resign to make way for former Johannesburg mayor, Parks Tau, who has been drafted into t...

The Gauteng government has predicted a surge in COVID-19 infections this festive season. Gauteng Premier David Makhura addressed the media YESTERDAY to outline measures to strengthen the provinces health-care system. Makhura also announced the appointment of Nomathemba Mokghethi as the new MEC of Health. Mokghethi takes over the reins from Bandile Masuku, who was axed in October this year, followi...

Stricter Covid-19 regulations are seemingly on the cards to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus infections in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. The acting mayor of the metro --Thsonono Buyeye -- says they're reviewing decisions around the sale of of alcohol including trading times