First Take SA

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) has called on the Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize together with provincial Health MEC's to swiftly deal with issues of safety and security at health facilities in the country. This is after a patient was shot and killed inside a ward at the Witbank Hospital in Mpumalanga.

Last night, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive council confirmed that fourteen people have died from the heavy rains and natural disasters since OCTOBER. In a statement, the council says about seven hundred and ninety-eight houses were affected across the province. As the province enters day six of extremely inclement weather conditions, the end is not yet in sight, with weather authorities is...

South African Airways has advised its customers to contact its call centre or their travel agents to make alternate flight arrangements - or request a refund. This after the South African Cabin Crew Association and NUMSA announced that their members will embark on industrial action tomorrow morning over a wage dispute. SAA has cancelled all its domestic, regional and international flights schedule...

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter says the office of the Public Protector and SARS -- with an endorsement by the court -- have agreed to hold in abeyance the implementation of the subpoena -- which requested the revenue service to provide Busisiwe Mkhwebane with former president Jacob Zuma's confidential taxpayer information.

The South African Police Service has dismissed weekend reports which claim that the death of former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Senzo Meyiwa was a murder cover up. Meyiwa was shot and killed back in 2014 at the house of Kelly Khumalo's mother in Vooslorus, Ekurhuleni. The Sunday Independent claims that Meyiwa was accidentally shot by one of the people present at the house of the...

The National House of Traditional Leaders has submitted its report to the Limpopo High Court declaring Toni Mphephu-Ramabulana ineligible as head of the Venda Kingdom in Limpopo and proclaiming Princess Masindi Mphephu as the rightful heir to the throne. The House of Traditional Leaders says it is now upto the High Court to decide on the matter.

he Gauteng Health Department is concerned by the high number of unnatural deaths in the province. This as close to five-thousand people have been killed in the 2018/19 financial year through gunshots, being stabbed and through motor vehicle accidents. Assault cases have also resulted in the death of over a thousand people while nine-hundred and seventy committed suicide. Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Ban...

The Black First Land First movement has officially been de-registered as a political party. This after the Electoral Court yesterday rejected the BLF's application to appeal its de-registration. In June, the Independent Electoral Commission ruled in favour of the Freedom Front Plus to have the movement officially scrapped from the list of the country's political parties. The IEC says this was base...

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says it welcomes Mboweni's announcement that State owned Enterprises will no longer get bailouts, but loans repayable with interest. Outa has also reacted to government's decision to retain the e-tolling system in its current form.

The South African Growth outlook has been revised down by government. It now expects the economy to grow at 0-point-5 percent this year compared to 1-point-5 percent that was predicted in February this year. Growth is projected to slowly pick up to 1-point-7 percent in 2022. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has blamed weaker investment, lower business activity and declining global growth as some of t...

The City of Johannesburg has admitted that they have yet to ascertain what information cyber attackers have gained access to when they hacked their ICT systems. The attack is understood to have breached the city's network and resulted in authorised access to its systems. Those claming responsibility have demanded that the City of Johannesburg pays four bitcoins valued at approximately 500-thousand...

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's 2019 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement will be tabled on tomorrow. The minister is expected to outline government's revenue and expenditure plans for the next two years. The minister is experiencing huge challenges which are mainly political in a slow growing economy. Revenue collection has been very low and economists predict a revenue shortfall as South African...

Newly elected DA parliamentary leader, John Steenhuisen says there still remains hope for change in South Africa through the Democratic Alliance. Steenuhisen was elected unopposed to replace former party leader, Mmusi Maimane after he resigned from the party and all its political positions. Steenhuisen, who had also stepped down as party chief chip following Maimane's resignation says his main pri...

The South African National Editors Forum - SANEF - has implored Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to reveal the names of the journalists he says he paid to make a story about an alleged relationship with a young woman disappear. In a story carried by Sunday World newspaper YESTRDAY, Mantashe, when contacted by the paper to comment on allegations that he was involved in an affair with a you...

Springboks have booked themselves a place in the finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. This follows a nail biting win against Wales yesterday. The narrow win by the green and gold sent shockwaves across the country as Bok supporters now look ahead to a clash with England at the weekend. President Cyril Ramaphosa will also be making his way to Japan where he will be hoping to follow in the footsteps...

A number of opposition leaders say they are not surprised at the dramatic developments within the Democratic Alliance. Wednesday (23/10) witnessed the resignations of party leader Mmusi Maimane and Federal Executive Chairperson Athol Trollip. Earlier this week, Herman Mashaba announced his resignation as Johannesburg Mayor and his official exit from the party. While some party leaders believe this...

Results of Botswana's general elections are expected later today after counting and verification of ballots continued overnight.. Scores of people flocked to voting stations across the country to cast their ballots yesterday (Wednesday). The Independent Electoral Commission says voting began without any major incidents. Some political analysts say the elections are expected to be the first genuine...

Tensions are rising between e-hailing taxi operators in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, after taxi owners entered the market with the launch of a new operation called YoTaxi. There have been reports that the new kid on the block has warned Uber and Bolt drivers to stop their operations in the province and be incorporated into their service. In a video that has since gone viral on social media, a man believ...

Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula has urged passengers to not panic over yesterday's grounding, promising that operations will return to normal by no later than the end of this week.

Commitment to a pro-poor agenda and patriotism, are some of the reasons outgoing Joburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba has given for his resignation as both Mayor and DA member. Mashaba made the announcement at a media briefing at the Johannesburg council chambers on Monday. This follows the election of Helen Zille to the party's powerful Federal Council Charperson position on Sunday. Two weeks ago, Mashab...

Helen Zille has once again beaten Athol Trollip in a leadership contest becoming the Democratic Alliance's Federal Council Chairperson. Zille, who came ahead of two other senior DA members, takes over from James Selfe who served for 19 years. Zille's new position, is said, comes with an incredible amount of power and influence within the party. Speaking to the media shortly after the results annou...

The residents of Makhanda Eastern Cape, formerly known as Grahamstown, are taking government to court over the raw sewage that continues to flood the town. The residents say the municipality has failed to respond to reported incidents. The town has also been facing a water shortage crisis.

The Democratic Alliance is expected to have a new Federal Council chairperson occupying the seat of its highest decision making body between congress by Sunday. The party will hold its highly contested council election at the weekend, with former party leader, Helen Zille as one of the front runners to replace James Selfe

Negotiators from the UK reached an agreement with officials in Brussels on Thursday that could pave the way for Britain to finally break 46 years of ties with the EU. For both sides, the agreement is a chance to move their political agendas on and to start focusing on their future trading relationship. The European Union said that they believe the deal can be ratified by the end of October and cal...

Drugs seem to be highly accessible in prisons across South Africa. In August a search of the Pollsmoor prison found drugs, cellphones and dangerous weapons in prisoner cells. The light is also on prison wardens following the arrest of a warden at the prison who was in possession of mandrax pills. In the latest incident, the issue of illicit substances in prisons also came to the fore when the now...