First Take SA

Government leaders should take the Covid-19 vaccine in public to demystify myths surrounding the vaccine and to show citizens that it is safe. This is a call by Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane as the province gears itself up to vaccinate three-point-seven million people to achieve the mountainous task of defeating Covid-19. Chairperson of the Health Department's Ministerial Advisory Committee...

Disaster management teams in Limpopo, Mpumalanga & KZN remain on high alert as parts of central Mozambique were flooded after Cyclone Eloise struck near the port city of Beira with wind speeds of up to 160km/h. The cyclone, which has now been downgraded to a tropic storm, has hit Zimbabwe and northern parts of South Africa. For the latest on the storm, we are joined on the line from Pretoria by So...

The Pretoria High Court has reserved judgement in former Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Bandile Masuku's application to have the findings of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) against him declared irrational, illegal and unlawful. In October last year, Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, fired Masuku after the SIU found that he failed in his duty to conduct oversight on Personal Protective Equipment tenders...

The Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, says she plans to challenge perjury charges against her. Mkhwebane briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court where the matter was postponed to the 25th of March. She believes the charges are frivolous and should be withdrawn. The charges relate to her handling of the controversial ABSA/Bankorp report where she allegedly lied about the nu...

Tributes continue to pour in, following the death of Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu. Mthembu succumed to Covid-19 related complications yesterday. He was admitted to hospital last week, following abdominal pains and tested positive for Coronavirus. He was 62 years old.

Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Ndzimande has announced that the 2021 academic year will start between March and April. The minister briefed the media yesterday in Pretoria on plans to reopen tertiary institutions.

The DA says its lawyers have written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to set out Covid-19 vaccination issues that the party says are not in line with the Constitution. Party leader John Steenhuisen says they are giving the President seven days to respond, and if his response lacks details, they will take the matter to court. Steenhuisen says they want, among other things, disclosure of the budget for...

Messaging service WhatsApp has sought to reassure users following concerns sparked by its controversial privacy policy changes. The Facebook-owned service says there has been a lot of misinformation about its update to terms of service, where users are now requested to agree to allow Facebook and it's subsidiaries to collect user data from their devices. The move has raised eyebrows and unleashed...

Both the Eastern and the Western Cape have briefed Parliament's Health Committee on their strategies to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine. This as the country is preparing to receive the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine by the end of this month and February.

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...