First Take SA

The Vaal Dam has dipped below the 50% mark for the first time in a year. The department of water and sanitation says Gauteng residents need to limit water use. The department says other dams that form part of the Integrated Vaal River System have also taken a knock.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says churches found violating the lockdown regulations under the alert Level Three will be closed down. All places of worship will be allowed to operate from the 1st of June subject to restrictions in accordance with alert Level Three of the national lockdown. They are expected among others NOT to allow more than 50 congregants. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the...

The Gauteng Legislature's Portfolio Committee on Roads and Transport has expressed concern that thousands of train commuters in the province may be left stranded on Monday. Large numbers of people are expected to return to work when level three of the national COVID-19 lockdown comes into effect. The Committee says it was not satisfied with passenger rail agency PRASA's operational plans presented...

Whilst many religious groups are applauding government's decision to re-open places of worship from next week, the Jesuit Institute of South Africa is not impressed at all. The Institute says places of worship are not immune to the corona virus and churches do not need to open in order to practice their faith. Spokesperson of the Jesuit Institute South Africa, Father Anthony Egan says in the midst...

The North Gauteng High Court has declared former South African Airways (SAA) chair Dudu Myeni a delinquent director for life. The application was brought to court in 2017 by Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and the SAA Pilots Association, to declare Myeni a delinquent director in terms of the Companies Act. The organisations accuse Myeni of plunging the national carrier into financial chaos while sh...

Former DA Youth Leader and member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Mbali Ntuli has questioned the credibility and fairness of the DA holding its October elective congress virtually. Ntuli, is vying for the position of party leader, alongside Gauteng's provincial leader, John Moodey and the party's interim leader, John Steenhuisen. The DA's Federal council decided to move the elective congress to...

South Africa has implemented diesel stock rationing following the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions from alert level 5 to level 4. That's according to the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA). The organisation says the diesel shortage is attributed to the re-opening of the economy, which has resulted in a more rapid recovery than expected.

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) says religious institutions will take all necessary precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus. This after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that all places of worship will be allowed to operate from the 1st of June - subject to tough restrictions in accordance with alert Level three of the national lockdown. The decision followed a meeting w...

All places of worship will be allowed to operate from the 1st of June subject to tough restrictions in accordance with alert Level Three of the national lock-down. President Cyril Ramaphosa made this announcement during his address to the nation in Johannesburg last night. The decision followed his earlier meeting with leaders of the religious sector.

Municipal workers in the Mogale City municipality on Gauteng's Westrand are expected to return to their posts today following a breakthrough in talks over the lockdown payment dispute. These essential services workers who are employed in the supply and maintenance of water and electricity infrastructure and traffic officers embarked on a go-slow from last week. They were demanding to be incentivis...

The National Department of Basic Education says they will accommodate learners whose schools were vandalised during the more than two month lockdown to curb the spread of the Coronavirus. Basic Education spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, says 1 577 schools were vandalised.

A consortium of Liquor Trader Associations, made up of township-based taverns and shebeens representing over 50 000 members countrywide, is recommending that taverns be permitted to operate as off-site liquor sales points when level 3 of the lockdown kicks-in. This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement that a number of economic activities, including the sale of alcohol, will be allowed...

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) says it is working round the clock to ensure that those who qualify for the Covid-19 social relief grant get paid. South Africans who have no source of income can apply for the 350 rand grant which forms part of the Covid-19 social relief measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The amount will be paid to beneficiaries until October 2020. Th...

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) says if schools have not received the relevant personal protective equipment (PPE) by today, their members will not return at work. This after Education minister Angie Motshekga announced that teachers will return to school today to prepare for the return of Grade 7 and 12 pupils on the first of June 2020. Schools across the country have closed f...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the whole country will move to Alert Level Three from next Monday. The president says this will allow for the further opening of the economy while government continues to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. He was addressing the nation at the Union Buildings in Pretoria last night.

The African Union had ambitious plans for the year 2020. The African Continental Free Trade Area was finally launched and a secretary-general elected. The end of 2020 was set as the goal to silence the guns -- restoring peace and security across the continent. But -- COVID-19 has complicated the continental body's programme -- adding an unanticipated burden. As the 57th Africa Day is celebrated to...

Eskom is now forecasting that there will be three days of load shedding during the coming winter period, from a previous forecast of thirty days before the lockdown. Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says Eskom's debt still remains high at 450-billion-rand and the company is still not able to generate enough revenue to meet its debt servicing costs. De Ruyter says loadshedding has had major cost implicati...

Besides fighting the spread of Covid-19, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro is also facing a fight against a looming Day Zero regarding the water supply. The supply dams have an average capacity of 22 percent, and there is no rain forecast for the near future. There is just over a months supply of water left. Weather experts say rainfall alone is not going to change the situation. It is a serious water cris...

International Relations and Co-operation minister, Naledi Pandor, says the department will NOT pay for South Africans, who were repatriated from abroad. The department has received requests from people, who intend going back overseas, and want the department to foot the bill. This, as lockdown restrictions are being eased in some parts of the world. Pandor held a virtual media briefing in Pretoria...

Medical aid scheme members have an option to take a payment holiday of up to three months as people battle financially as a result of the national lockdown. The proposed payment holidays vary with each scheme. Some say non-payment will mean no access to medical aid services for that period of time while others are offering lower packages.

Over 200 Soweto families could spend this winter out in the cold after the City of Johannesburg served them with eviction notices for unlawfully occupying incomplete and vandalised RDP houses. The houses were turned into drug dens and hidding spots for criminals after a contractor abandoned the project allegedly due to contractual dispute with the city. Most of the occupants have refurbished the p...

An investigation into the Covid-19 outbreak which led to the closure of Netcare St Augustine's Hospital in Durban has shown how the virus spread widely within the hospital, including a local nursing home. The investigation found that a single positive patient admitted into the emergency department resulted in the infections of 39 other patients and 80 staff members. Fifteen of those patients have...

The majority of provinces are not ready for the re-opening of schools on the 1st of June. That's the view expressed by teacher unions and school governing bodies. This is in reaction to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga's announcement that Grades 12 and Seven will be returning to class as part of a phased approach. However unions and school governing bodies are not convinced that all school...

The South African Informal Traders Alliance intends on approaching the Western Cape High Court in order to challenge the City of Cape Town's decision to refuse operating permits for certain informal traders during level four of the national lockdown. The Alliance, represented by the Legal Resources Centre alleges that the City has been inconsistent in the issuing of permits by not allowing trading...

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the delivery of essentials such as sanitisers, masks, water and sanitation is well underway ahead of the reopening of schools on the 1st of June. Addressing a media conference in Pretoria yesterday, Motshekga confirmed a phased re-opening of schools nationwide with Grades seven and 12 resuming classes from the first of next month. There has been concer...