First Take SA

The government of Lesotho and the opposition have signed an agreement to open Parliament to legislative reforms. The agreement was signed yesterday during President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the mountain kingdom. While the agreement is being hailed a bold step to stabilise the political tensions in Lesotho, the opposition is not making guarantees about the motion of no confidence in Prime Ministe...

The Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU) says it will request an urgent meeting with the SABC and the Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams to discuss the current empasse around the financial crisis at the public broadcaster. Yesterday, Ndabeni-Abrahams told the Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications that National Treasury had rejected the SABC's...

Professor Ivor Sarakinsky of the Wits school of governance says there are fears that some people that the ANC has sent to chair Parliament's portfolio committees might attempt to manipulate agendas. They include former ministers Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane, Bongani Bongo, Tina Joemat-Pettersson and former North West premier, Supra Mahumapelo. The five were elected to chair Co-operative Governa...

EFF leader Julius Malema has dropped a bomb-shell saying his party will no longer be voting with the DA or even the ANC across all municipalities. The EFF had given the DA in Tshwane Metro an ultimatum to make sure that they make way for an EFF person to be the mayor in the Metro by June

Equal Education says it welcomes the withdrawal of Zukisa Faku's nomination by the ANC Parliamentary caucus to be chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on basic education. The organisation had made a public demand for the withdrawal of Faku's nomination, citing her previous sentence to three years' house arrest on nine counts of fraud

The minister of police Bheki Cele is today expected to meet with various Community Policing Forums affected by gang violence in Cape Town, Western Cape. The CPF members have called on the minister to take immediate and proper action to address the violence that has terrorised their communities. This as police in the province search for suspects after two men were killed in a shootout believed to b...

The South African Communist Party says no threat against it will reverse its call for parliament to institute an inquiry into the fitness of the Public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane. This after Mkhwebane's office released a statement demanding that the SACP's Deputy General Secretary Solly Mapaila, retracts and apologise for alleging that Mkhwebane, is a "hired gun of the fight back agenda that is...

Director of Media Monitoring Africa William Bird, says they hope Lebashe has a plan to make the acquisition of Tiso Blackstar a success and create a sustainable media house.

Information Communication and Technology Union Thabang Mothelo, says the Tiso Blackstar Group was growing steadily and they don't understand why it was sold. The union has also lambasted the manner in which the sale was handled by the companies.

Cape Town's Mayco Member JP Smith, says yesterday's meeting in the Cape Flats gave them a clear picture that they have an extremely dire situation where almost ten people are killed a day.

The South African Municipal Workers' Union says it intends to take the Auditor General's reports to the Public Protector for investigation - after it was revealed that 239 out of 257 municipalities have not received clean audits. Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu, addressed the media yesterday on the local government audits for the 2017/18 financial year - saying that pervasive control and monitoring...

The high usage of consultants and lack of Chartered Accountants has been pointed as some of the issues that contributed to Limpopo province being one of the worst three financially run municipalities in the AG's report.

EFF Leader Julius Malema has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to come clean about the allegations of money laundering which Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is reportedly investigating. Malema was taking part in a debate on the state of the nation address which President Ramaphosa delivered last week. Meanwhile, political analyst Ralph Mathekga says Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's deci...

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan says Denel employees will receive their full salaries. He was speaking in the National Assembly during the debate on the State of the Nation Address. Earlier reports indicated that the arms manufacturer notified its employees that they would receive 85 percent of their salaries yesterday ( Tuesday) and the balance will be paid in a week's time. Gordhan...

COSATU says it expects President Cyril Ramaphosa to show bold leadership and take decisive actions to deal with the challenges that South Africa is facing. Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation Address today. The labour federation says the president needs to act speedily to execute policies to save the ailing economy. Cosatu's Parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks speaks to us about what t...

Today (Thursday) is World Refugee Day. Aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says there are now over 70 million people forced out of their homes around the world-more than at any time in modern history. The organisation says these are people who have fled extreme danger including relentless bombing, gang violence and other life-threatening circumstances. Liesbeth Schockaert, Southern Afri...

The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools has called for a CODESA type of forum in decisively dealing with social ills plaguing our school. Its CEO, Paul Colditz...

The North Gauteng high court has ordered Gupta-linked consultancy Firm Trillian to repay almost 600 million rands to power utility Eskom. Executive Director at Corruption Watch, David Lewis gives us his reaction...

The Alexandra Shutdown Committee says it is going ahead with its total shutdown of the township today. This, following Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba's promise to rebuild illegal structures which were demolished in the township earlier this month. The committee has indicated that it is against the City of Johannesburg's decision. The mushrooming of illegal dwellings in Alexandra, sparked what h...

In his testimony yesterday at the Zondo Commission, former NPA boss Mxolisi Nxasana, said he was forced out of his job in 2015. Nxasana told the commission he had recordings of former head of NPA Nomgcobo Jiba running a campaign to dig-up dirt on him to get him removed from office. However Jiba's lawyer expressed concern about evidence being heard at the commission that she had not seen and not in...

Former president, Kgalema montlanthe, together with former speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Frene Ginwala will form part of an independent team which will probe whether ANC members were involved in the setting up of smaller parties ahead of the 2019 general election. The decision to establish the team was taken by the ANC's National Working Committee on Monday after allegations that the party'...

An unconfirmed number of SAPS and JMPD vehicles have been damaged following an attack on law enforcement officials in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. The police were conducting raids, targeting counterfeit goods when they were hurled with stones by a group of people believed to be foreign nationals that trade in the area.

The High Court in Pretoria will today hear an application by civil society organisations, Corruption Watch and Right2know - to review and set aside the findings of the Seriti Commission. The Commission was set up in 2011 by then Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe to investigate allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity in the Strategic Defence Procurement Packages. In 2016, the comm...

A survey by the Institute of Internal Auditors South Africa has revealed that one-in-four Chief Audit Executives working in State Owned Enterprises fear for their lives due to the nature of their job. The institute has called for greater protection for its members following what it calls alarming increases in reports of intimidation, harassment and violence against them. This follows the attempted...

Tributes continue to pour in for the veteran journalist and former Rand Daily Mail and Sunday Times editor, Raymond Louw. The Professional Journalists Association of South Africa (ProJourn) has described Louw as a wordsmith and one of the best journalists. ProJourn administration secretary Michael Schmidt says Oom Ray as he was affectionately known, was always at the fore-front of defending people...