First Take SA

President Cyril Ramaphosa has left the trading of liquor at normal trading hours temporarily as he warned of an increase in positive covid-19 infections. Ramaphosa has urged people to get their jabs as soon as possible. Spokesperson of the National Liquor Traders Association, Lucky Mtimane on their call for the industry to not be prohibited from trading  

President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that the 4th wave of new COVID-19 infections is expected to hit the country by early December. He was updating the nation last night about the Omicron variant which is largely behind the latest increase in positive covid-19 infections. Ramaphosa urged people who qualify for vaccinations to get their jabs as soon as possible. For some reaction to these latest de...

South African consumers have been warned to pay close attention to black Friday deals and avoid falling prey to clever advertising gimmicks offered by retailers. Thousands of South Africans are likely to flood shopping malls and supermarkets from today, aiming to get a slice of the black Friday pie. However, as experts warn - many deals being offered by retailers have been strategically packaged u...

Time to take a look at current top African economic stories with Victor Kgomoesoana, 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 ANC has retained control of the eThekwini metro with the help of a number of small parties with one or 2 seats each in the council. This after the city emerged from this month's municipal elections with a hung council. The ANC received only 42 percent of the vote and 96 of the 222 seats in the council. Four established opposition parties - the DA, EFF, IFP, and the ACDP - tried unsuccessfully...

The number of new Covid-19 cases in the country has been on the rise for the past few days with some parts of the Tshwane Metro displaying signs of hotspot areas. Daily new infections across the country are now around a thousand a day as the health department has added the rapid antigen tests to the latest rounds of COVID-19 statistics. The sharp rise in new infections has led to more concerns tha...

The National Credit Regulator has called on South Africans not to burn their pockets while taking advantage of Black Friday deals. This comes after the regulator revealed that just over 16 million of the 26 million credit active consumers, are in good standing, while the rest of the 10 million have impaired records. It has been a hard year for consumers and things seem not likely to ease after the...

NPO, Good Governance Africa, has published a paper calling for what it calls super coalitions among the leading political parties in the country. The NPO says such partnerships have benefited countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic, and Estonia. Author and Editor at Good Governance  Africa Governance, Richard  Jurgens

The newly elected City of Tshwane executive mayor Randall Williams says political parties should put their differences aside to adequately render services to the citizens. DA's Williams has retained his position as the executive mayor of the City of Tshwane. He was elected unopposed. The ANC did not submit any candidate for the mayoral position. Head of Elections from the Freedom Front Plus, Woute...

Football fans remain on edge as they anxiously wait for FIFA's decision into the conduct of the Senegalese referee that officiated the World Cup qualifier game between Bafana Bafana and the Black Stars. This after the South African Football Association lodged an appeal with the Soccer World Body seeking an investigation into the inconsistencies by the match referee, Maguetee Ndiaye. Bafana Bafana...

The swearing-in ceremonies of new officials kicked off in some of the hung municipalities. Council sittings proceeded with some of the political parties displaying surprise changes of heart, while others stuck to their guns in their decisions to exclude parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters and the African National Congress from their coalitions. For a look at what the current coalitions m...

The election of the DA's Vasco Da Gama as the new Speaker for the City of Johannesburg was just a sample of more things to come in the country's biggest metro. Our political reporter Abongile Dumako attended the voting session for the City of Johannesburg and he now gives us the full details

As the the inaugural council meeting of the eThekwini metro was postponed to Wednesday, following a chaotic start and a power outage, the coalition agreement between the ANC and IFP also seemed to unravel. The IFP has seemingly reneged on its agreement with the ANC by clinching the mayorship in the Newcastle Local Municipality despite the ANC holding a majority vote in that municipality. For some...

Time to take a look at current top African economic stories with Victor Kgomoesoana, 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........ * After a century and a half, Ethiopian artifacts return home  * East Africa: Sky Wars - Uganda Tanzania, Rwanda Carriers Expand a...

The multi-party coalition in Johannesburg and Tshwane is looking at ending before it began, following an apparent breakdown between Action SA and the DA. African Christian Democratic Party, Reverend Kenneth Meshoe also forms part of the multi-party coalition talks.

A multi-party coalition in both the Johannesburg and Tshwane metros runs the risk of collapsing. This follows an apparent breakdown in relations between ActionSA president Herman Mashaba and the Democratic Alliance. The DA announced at the weekend that it would field its own mayoral candidates for both the Joburg and Tshwane councils. This prompted Mashaba to express shock and dismay, stating that...

A multi-party coalition in both the Johannesburg and Tshwane metros runs the risk of collapsing. This follows an apparent breakdown in relations between ActionSA president Herman Mashaba and the Democratic Alliance. The DA announced at the weekend that it would field its own mayoral candidates for both the Joburg and Tshwane councils. This prompted Mashaba to express shock and dismay, stating that...

In a surprise twist, the board of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) announced it suspended the recently appointed state-owned company's CEO after he "deliberately failed to disclose" that he holds British citizenship.  It has also emerged that Zolani Matthews' top security clearance was declined by the State Security Agency as a result. To explore this story more, Adv PAUL HOF...

The rand briefly touched the 15-rand-80 mark on Thursday, amid general dollar strength and following a decision by the South African Reserve Bank to hike the repo rate by 25 basis points to 3-point-75 percent. The Bank's monetary policy Committee increased the repurchase rate for the first time in three years, effective from the 19th of November 2021. Reserve bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said th...

Following previous protests by surrounding communities about the lack of economic opportunities for them in the Kruger National Park, SANParks is expected to embark on a series of Economic Transformation roadshows that seek to communicate available business opportunities within the Park for local communities to take part in. SANParks says the initiatives will provide up-to-date and relevant inform...

DA Shadow MEC for health in Gauteng, Jack Bloom, has lambasted the provincial health department for the cancellation of hundreds of surgery operations due to the lack of clean linen. Bloom says the lack of clean linen at the province's public hospitals has left doctors and nurses demoralized as they have to turn away patients that have been waiting for surgery operations for months. The dire situa...

Eskom has begun implementing load-shedding at short notice once again as breakdowns at the power utilities' multiple units in its various power stations -- is blamed for the current rolling blackouts. The South African Federation of Trade Unions - SAFTU -  has joined growing calls for Eskom Chief Executive Officer, Andre de Reyter to step down.  SAFTU Spokesperson, Trevor Shaku...

The community of Protea Glen in Soweto is still reeling following the recent arrest of a 26-year-old man who is suspected of killing and dismembering the body of his alleged cousin-turned-wife. Flavio Hlabangwane is in police custody on charges of murder after the remains of his wife were found in his fridge at the weekend. This comes just weeks after the East London High Court in Gheberha postpon...

The Economic Freedom Fighters say they have stopped any further coalition negotiations with the African National Congress, saying the governing party failed to agree on conditions deemed as the basis for negotiations. The EFF put forward tough conditions which included among others the expropriation of land and doing away with Die Stem in the national anthem in twelve months' time - among others....

The South African Post Office (SAPO) has recorded an irregular expenditure of almost R200-million for the 2019 and 2020 financial year. This was revealed by the Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Philemon Mapulane, in Parliament. This latest update about the financial woes of the entity comes at the back of an announcement of no further bailouts for State-Owned Enterprises...