First Take SA

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...

ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says members need to stop treating the party as a cash cow. Ramaphosa was addressing ANC members in Rustenburg, in the North West. The party's National Working Committee descended on the province to address a number of issues ahead of the Branch, Regional and Provincial Conferences.

The CEO of EOH Holdings, Stephen van Coller, says tender irregularities involving government contracts and poor financial controls were rife when he joined the company in 2018. He told the State Capture Commission of Inquiry that some workers in the company colluded with government officials to bypass the tender process and inflate prices. Van Coller says irregular tendering and lack of proper fin...

Former President Jacob Zuma has walked out of the commission of Inquiry into State Capture. This is after Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo refused to recuse himself from hearing Zuma's testimony. The Commisison has now adjourned until next week.

Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago says that monetary policy has eased financial conditions and improved the resilience of households and business amid the economic implications of Covid-19. The bank announced its decision to keep the repo rates unchanged at 3.5 percent as expected. Delivering the Monetary Policy Committee's decision, Kganyago says monetary policy on its own cannot improve the...

The SABC has decided to suspend the Section 189 process for a period of seven days. This follows a board meeting that went on into the early hours of this morning to discuss retrenchments. Hundreds of staff members at the SABC offices across the country have been holding lunch time pickets since Monday to protest against the retrenchments which will affect 400 workers. Today, Communication Workers...

The Right2KNow Campaign has called on the SABC to find other sources of funding rather than letting workers bear the brunt of mismanagement of the past administration. The organisation says it is concerned that the dispute between the public broadcaster management and unions has escalated to the point of a looming strike. This as the Communication Workers Union has served the SABC management with...

Communications and Digital Technologies Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana says SABC Board and Executive members should personally pay the costs of cases they lose in courts. Kekana made the opening remarks as SABC appeared before Parliament's Communications Committee. The SABC Board, Executives and the Ministry appeared before the committee last night. There was also tension between some board members.

The National Taxi Alliance says it will not recognise all decisions and resolutions taken at the recent National Taxi Lekgotla. It also wants answers on the non- payment of 1.35 billion rand Covid-19 relief funds to the taxi industry. The alliance has given Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula and the presidency, 14-days to respond to their demands. Members affiliated to the alliance marched to the...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to the international community and BRICS partners to support a comprehensive stimulus package for African countries so that the continent can rebuild its economies following the devastating effects of Covid-19. Ramaphosa was speaking at the opening of the virtual BRICS summit yesterday. Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the summit under the theme: "Part...

We end with this story, The leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) Church, Shepherd Bushiri, and his wife, Mary, will not be in South Africa on Thursday (19 Nov) as demanded by the Hawks. That's according to their lawyer. The couple fled to Malawi last week in contravention of their bail conditions. They were released on bail in the Pretoria Magistrates court where they, and three oth...

It is still unclear how the self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, left the country. Members of Parliament's Home Affairs Committee called Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, to account. But Motsoaledi could not provide any more information than what is already in the public domain. The couple have violated their bail conditions and have fled to Malawi. They are charged...

SABC Group Executive for News Phathiswa Magopeni says she will stop issuing retrenchment letters to her staff. She also committed to retracting letters already received by some workers. This after newsroom staff demanded a meeting with top management to address the retrenchment process. BUT...unions representing workers at the SABC have described the partial withdrawal of retrenchment letters by S...

The State Capture Commission yesterday heard arguments about what constitutes bias. The Commission was hearing the recusal application brought by former President Jacob Zuma against Deputy Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo. In his application, Zuma has claimed that he and Zondo are friends - a claim rejected by Zondo. Zuma has also claimed that he would not recieve a fair hearing given Zondo's statemen...

The Commission for the promotion and protection of the rights on Culture, Religion and Linguistic Communitities- the CRL has heard that some church leaders go to West Africa to get initiated in order to get supernatural powers. Apostle Makhado Ramabulana has told the Commission siting in Johannesburg, that he also did this and has now turned his back on the secret society that he was a part of. He...

Supporters of ANC secretary-general, Ace Magashule, have vowed to stand by him. Magashule is among eight people and five companies that face multiple charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering which relates to the multimillion rand asbestos roofing audit contract. He's currently out on 200-thousand rand bail. Magashule's stay as Free State ANC chairperson and premier was not without controv...

The Enlightened Christian Gathering church leader, Sheperd Bushiri has instructed his lawyers to urgently interdict the Pretoria Magistrates' Court from revoking his 200-thousand rand bail. Bushiri and his wife, Mary have contravened their bail condtitions, following their unlawful departure from SA. The couple was recently granted 200-thousand bail each in a theft, fraud and money laundering case...