First Take SA

Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, says those found guilty of attacking truck drivers on the country's roads will be charged with economic sabotage. He briefed the National Assembly on his department's plans for enforcing road safety this festive season. Dozens of freight vehicles were recently torched and vandalised - as some protestors raised concerns about foreign nationals getting trucking jo...

Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi says plans are in place to build a new "One Stop" Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe outside Musina in Limpopo. He says the border post will have dedicated lanes for trucks, busses, cars and pedestrians. Motsoaledi says the Zimbabwean government has started building on the other side, and South Africa is expected to start soon.

Political parties in parliament have called on for alternative ways to be found to fund the SABC. Taking part in a debate on the growing crisis at the public broadcaster, parties say the SABC is an important institution, which plays a crucial role in keeping South Africans informed.

The Public Servants Association has vowed to continue with its legal process to have hearings on the long-running wage dispute with government heard at the Labour Court TODAY. This follows government's proposal to all unions representing public servants to have the hearings postponed to February next year while the unions consider an out of court settlement. The dispute centres around the final ye...

Government wants to get more HIV-positive people on treatment now to improve the outcomes of the country's HIV/AIDS response. It has therefore launched the "Welcome Back Campaign" encourage more people living with HIV to start taking antiretrovirals and improve their healthcare. This comes as South Africa joins the world in commemorating World AIDS Day today (Tuesday 1 Dec). South Africa currently...

Former South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane has accused Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan of arrogance, petty jealousy, and racism. The legal team representing former Sars Commissioner Tom Moyane told the state capture commission. Gordhan has denied Moyane's assertions and accused Moyane of advancing state capture.

Three children aged between six and eight have been electrocuted while swimming in a river at Jika Joe informal settlement in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. People from the settlement have made illegal connections from poles that supply homes in the government sponsored Lindela transit camp with electricity. Locals claim that 5 people have been electrocuted so far this year due to the electric c...

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says 82 per cent of grades one and eight learners have been placed in schools. Lesufi was speaking during a media briefing YESTERDAY (Sunday) in Johannesburg about the Online Application Placement process for the 2021 academic year. The process started at the beginning of last month, and will end today.

Tourism bodies in Cape Town fear that rising Covid-19 infections in the city may have a devastating impact on the industry this festive season. Although no decision has been made on the possibility of restricting the movement of people, concern abound. There are now over eight-thousand active Covid-19 cases in the province and over 1000 people have been hospitalised. Provincial authorities have st...

The South African Liquor Association has joined efforts to curb the increasing number of new infections in the Eastern Cape. This as liquor outlets, including tarvens have been identified by health officials as key enablers for the rapid spread in infections, especially in areas such as Nelson Mandela Bay. The province now faces possible stricter lockdown regulations as government officials try to...

Government will continue engaging with stakeholders in the trucking industry this week, following a meeting over the weekend. This comes at the back of the recent spate of attacks and burning of trucks. Thirteen such incidents have reportedly taken place in the last month, and between April and November 2020, more than eighty attacks have been recorded.

Testifying before the commission of inquiry into State Capture, former Treasurer at Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), Phetolo Ramosebudi claimed that he did not know if Gupta-linked Regiments Capital was entitled to 40-million-rands in fees which were paid to the firm for its involvement in financial instrument transactions between ACSA and Nedbank as well as Standard Bank. Ramosebudi worked f...

Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande says the National Student Aid Financial Scheme (NSFAS) has received more than 650-thousand applications for the 2021 academic year. Nzimande says they expect the figure to increase by the end of the month, which is the closing date. Nzimande also says all universities are fully committed to completing the 2020 academic year by mid-March 2021. This follo...

Hundreds of SABC employees are expected to converge at the Johannesburg Labour Court TODAY as worker's union, BEMAWU seeks an urgent court interdict to stop the retrenchment processes at the public broadcaster. The union wants the SABC board to not only withdraw all notices of redundancy that were issued to employees but also to restart consultations with all relevant stakeholders before Sections...

The Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, is expected to lead an inter-ministerial task team in the Nelson Mandela bay metro TODAY as part of an all out campaign to curb the rapid spread of the corona virus in the city. The Metro has in recent weeks become a Covid-19 hotspot and nearly half the new cases reported nationally, coming from here. The focus will be on testing, tracing and awareness as non-...

Government has announced that it will soon be reviving its old policy on housing that will allow people to receive vacant pieces of land to build their own houses as an alternative to the current system of building houses for them. It says this is, in part, because of the housing backlog and the recent land invasions during the lockdown in areas such as the Western Cape. Human Settlements Minister...

Managing Director of ENS Forensics, Steven David Powell has named Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo as one of the individuals who received irregular payments of up to R1.3million from EOH Africa through his service providing company named Molelwane Consulting in 2012. Powell says EOH AFRICA secured a number of payments from the City of Johannesburg without any work being delivered to the City. ENS'...

A new report released by humanitarian organisation Oxfam, has revealed that black women continue to suffer huge inequalities in South Africa. The report titled, Reclaiming Power: Womxn's Work and Income Inequality in South Africa, has found that the average CEO takes home as much as 461 black women combined would earn. They also form part of the bottom ten percent of earners in the country, while...

The Western Cape government has called for an immediate public response in order to contain what it classifies as an established resurgence of new covid-19 infections. This as health minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize is expected to travel to the Eastern Cape today in order to support efforts to contain a rise in new infections in that province. A resurgence is when the number of active cases increases, we...

A group of foreign nationals who are currently living in a temporary shelter at Wingfield, in Maitland near Cape Town have called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to urgently intervene and assist them to leave South Africa. The group says the verification of their legal status in the country has continuously failed or been delayed in recent months.

Hundreds of illegal immigrants entering the country through the Beitbridge border fence outside Musina, in Limpopo, have been turned back into Zimbabwe by the army and police. The joint operation at the border is aimed at minimising the influx of undocumented immigrants into the country. The Beitbridge border gate is also experiencing a stream of people travelling from South Africa to Zimbabwe and...

ANC secretary-general, Ace Magashule has publicly apologised for the utterances he made two weeks ago in Bloemfontein, while addressing his supporters, after his court appearance. The apology follows a complaint by a group of ANC members at the Ngaka Modiri Molema region in the North West. In his address, Magashule said the ANC in the North West could not function without the former premier, Supra...

Unemployment and alcohol abuse are some of the main contributing factors to the increase in intimate partner violence in South Africa. Gender activists say men tend to compensate for their lack of employment by physically and sexually abusing their partners. One victim of gender based violence says she's desperately looking for a job for her husband so he can stop abusing her.

The first COVID-19 vaccinations could take place in early to mid-December in the United States. This after Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech applied for emergency use of its vaccine on Friday while Moderna is expected to follow suit with a similar application before the end of the month. The head of the U.S. vaccine programme known as Operation Warp Speed also indicated over the weekend that...

Despite a looming eviction order by the Public Works department, a small group from the Khoisan community protesting outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria has vowed that they will not leave until their demands are met. The group has been camping on the lawns of the Union Buildings for nearly two years. They're demanding, among others, official recognition of the Khoisan language and its people a...