First Take SA

More than five hundred workers at industry giant, Media24, are likely to lose their jobs in the coming weeks. The company has announced that it is considering down-sizing, as a result of the impact of C0VID-19. The organisation says it could close five magazines and two newspapers and reduce the frequency of its remaining monthly magazines due to a drastic drop in sales since the start of the lock...

Some parents and learners say it is not a good idea that Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga is phasing in more grades from today. They say with more learners going back to school, exposure to the coronavirus is very high. They say some schools do not have enough space to adhere to the COVID-19 regulations. Yesterday, Motshekga announced that grades R, 6 and 11 will go back to school. CEO of...

The Gauteng government convened a meeting over the weekend to draft proposals to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) to allow for stricter enforcement of lockdown regulations. This in an attempt to curb the soaring Covid-19 numbers in the province. The meeting came as the SA Medical Association, SAMA, claimed that Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg hospitals have the lowest number of Covid-19...

The Basic Education Department has blamed its failure to provide meals to over nine million learners nationwide on logistics and lack of infrastructure. Equal Education approached the Pretoria High Court on an urgent basis to seek an order to compel government to provide meals to learners, regardless of whether they have returned to school or not. The programme which feeds nine million learners wa...

While President Cyril Ramaphosa urges South Africans not to panic as COVID 19 infections rise rapidly -- some are calling for a return to higher levels of lockdown. South Africa has registered its highest number of infections to date within a 24-hour cycle. The number of confirmed cases has risen by over eight-thousand, bringing the national total to nearly 159-thousand-400. The number of COVID19-...

Four unions at the South African Airways have agreed to sign the voluntary severance packages offered as part of the national carrier's business rescue process. The Department of Public Enterprises announced yesterday that the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), the National Transport Movement, the Aviation Union of Southern Africa, Solidarity and representatives of non-unio...

Auditor General Kimi Makwetu has pointed that only 20 of the country's 257 municipalities received clean audits. Makwetu has blamed municipalities failure to adhere to prescribed regulations for the increase in irregular spending.

As millions of South Africans continue to bear the brunt of the of the Covid-19 economic lockdown, many medical general practitioners and private sector specialists are also feeling the financial pressure as numbers of patients in their practices decline. This is due clients' fear of contacting the coronavirus and limitations on hospital admissions and surgical procedures. Major representative org...

The Auditor General, Kimi Makwetu's report for 2018-19 has found that municipalities lost 32-billion-rand in irregular expenditure. This is an increase of 7-billion-Rand from the previous financial year. Makwetu says there continues to be a lack of financial management, accountability and wasteful spending among a number of municipalities in most the country's provinces. Makwetu was presenting the...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South Africans not to panic and be alarmed by the rising number of Coronavirus infections in the country. He was speaking during the virtual Presidential Imbizo on the Covid-19 pandemic last night. The president interacted with communities across the country through over 80 community radio stations and some SABC platforms.

The ACDP Leader Kenneth Meshoe says government should carefully examine and consider studies that have been conducted to investigate whether there is a link between Gender Based Violence , rape and pornography. Meshoe was participating in the Debate of National Importance on GBV during a hybrid sitting of the National Assembly.

The Federation of Trade Unions says negotiations are underway between government, organised business and labour to extend the UIF Covid- 19 'temporary employer-employee relief scheme' which ended YESTERDAY. The Labour Department and the UIF had earlier pronounced that the scheme, which has been running three months, will not be extended beyond the June 30th deadline. The fund has so far paid out r...

The Passenger Rail Agency, PRASA is expected to resume its train services today with strict capacity limitation and high hygiene standards. Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula says the train lines to resume operations include those in the Eastern Cape between Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, together with East London and Berlin. Four lines will open in Gauteng, including from Pienaarspoort down to Pre...

Board chairperson of Prasa Popo Molefe has told the commission of inquiry into state capture that the former administration under president Jacob Zuma failed PRASA. Molefe says irregularities and corruption at Prasa continued to thrive despite the board doing everything in its power to report malaise at the organisation. Molefe has accused the parliament portfolio committee on transport for failin...

In Mpumalanga, traffic was affected in the Mbombela CBD and surrounding areas yesterday following a standoff between the police and taxi operators. The taxi operators wanted to operate at 100 percent capacity in violation of the COVID-19 regulations which only permit taxis to carry 70 percent of their licensed capacity.

Taxi operators in various townships around Durban say they will continue loading 70 percent of their capacity in order to allow senior structures in the industry to negotiate with government. Yesterday some taxi ranks were defying the lockdown regulations and carrying 100 percent of their passenger capacity. But as the day progressed, they went back to 70 percent.

Battle lines have been drawn!...The South African National Taxi Council has warned that if any taxi is impounded for loading at 100 per cent capacity during alert level 3 Covid-19 lockdown, all taxis will stop operating nationwide. SANTACO and the National Taxi Alliance announced that they will be loading at 100 percent capacity starting THIS MORNING ( Monday), despite lockdown regulations restric...

The judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture - the Zondo Commission - will resume its hearings TODAY. The commission had suspended hearings in March due to the nationwide lockdown

Westbury residents in Johannesburg have called for the deployment of the military after three people were shot and killed in the area in renewed gang violence this past week. They fear for the safety of their children. In the latest incident, Kirsten May, a popular barber in the area, was shot and killed while on his way home with a friend.

As the number of COVID-19 infections increases across the country -- frontline workers are not only contracting the virus and dying from it -- they're also at a higher risk due to the physical and mental strain on them. This the case in private and public health facilities. Those who have recovered are now afraid to return to work. They fear re-infection and placing their lives at further risk.

Deputy President David Mabuza has once again called on South Africans to abandon the culture of non-payment for services. He says while this practice was employed to fight apartheid, it is no longer appropriate in the new democratic dispensation. He was replying to questions in the National Assembly that related to among others the financial problems faced by Eskom. He also added his voice to call...

Millions of workers who have come to rely on the UIF Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme or TERS, face a tough time ahead. The TERS benefit scheme is scheduled to come to an end at the end of this month.

Gauteng is working on implementing rotational and shift learning when learners return to school on July the 6th. Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, made the announcement when the province's Command Council updated the media on COVID-19 developments. Lesufi says 246 learners and educators have tested positive for the Corona Virus in Gauteng schools.

Government and parliament have told the SABC that they do not support its planned staff retrenchments. Deputy Minister for Communications Pinky Kekana told members of the portfolio committee that the department is opposed to the plan. The Department denied that the SABC had consulted it on this plan. The public broadcaster before the committee to explain the decision top lay off staff.

The supplementary budget delivered by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni yesterday has painted a bleak picture of the South African economy, as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic. It shows a deterioration in government finances with marked increases in debt, weak revenue collection and more spending pressures. The local economy is now expected to contract by 7.2% this year.