First Take SA

Health Minister - Doctor Zweli Mkhize - has dedicated International Nurses Day to the healthcare workers fighting COVID-19 and the nurses in South Africa who have paid the ultimate price. Mkhize was leading a virtual commemoration from the King Edward Hospital in Durban. Nurses' selfless work has been honoured across the country with candle lighting ceremonies

UNICEF has warned that an additional six-thousand children globally under the age of 5 years could die daily from preventable causes, due to a diversion of resources to the covid-19 pandemic. The agency, which is tasked with saving children's lives and protecting their rights, says countries which already have fragile health systems may see disruptions in medical supply chains as financial and hum...

Seven lions that escaped from a private farm in Alladays, outside Louis Trichardt have been recaptured. which include two lionesses, The lions escaped on Monday night as they were last spotted by community members roaming the surroundings of Alldays policing area on Tuesday morning. The police, together with the farm owner and Limpopo's Tourism department have dispatched teams to locate the pride.

Unemployed South Africans can now apply for the South African Social Security Agency's (SASSA) special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant. The application for the 350 rand grant is open to unemployed South Africans over the age of 18. Eligible applicants will receive the money from May until October. The grant is part of the 500 billion rand COVID-19 relief package announced by President Cyr...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africans must be prepared for a new reality in which the fight against COVID-19 becomes part of citizens' daily existence, for the coming year or more. In his weekly letter to the nation, Ramaphosa says with many more people gradually going back to work during Level 4, there will be an inevitable increase in infection numbers as well as demands on the health ca...

Industry experts have warned thousands of Small and Medium Sized (SMEs) enterprises will go into liquidation after COVID-19 lockdown because they cannot afford the cost of a Business Rescue Practitioner. Prof Markus Pretorius a business recue analyst says the fees to hire a rescue practitioner can go up to 150-thousand Rands. He has also warned that 95 percent of businesses that will apply for Bus...

The South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) says the Department of Basic Education is not ready to re-open schools. The union says the department has failed to meet the minimum requirements to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The Department of Basic Education is set to meet with teacher unions today to discuss its readiness for the re-opening of schools. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on the 30th of last month that Management Teams across the country should report for duty today to start preparations for the re-opening of schools in a phased-approach. However, some provincial departments have advise...

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says cluster outbreaks of COVID 19 is one of the reasons for the increase in the infection rate of the Coronavirus in the Western Cape. He was briefing the media following a meeting with the Western Cape Premier, Medical experts and the MEC for Health Nomafrench Mbombo on Saturday.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa or Prasa has reported an estimated total revenue loss of over seven-hundred-and-fifty-million-rand for the year as a result of the national lockdown. Prasa has indicated that almost two-hundred-million-rand in revenue was lost in one month from April to May 2020. Prasa's Administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo was presenting the company's financial statement in a...

Africa's economy could only start recovering from the impact of the Coronavirus in 2022. This is according to Amit Thakker - Chairman of Africa Health Business. Speaking at a joint briefing by the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organisation - Thakker says the next two years will see economies shrink due to decreased production and activity. He says strong leadership will be needed to pu...

Are the conversations between Former President Jacob Zuma and his son Duduzane a political strategy to elicit public sympathy or simply an opportunity to tell their story as they see it? These are the questions that have been asked on social media following the dialogue between the two men on a new youtube channel titled Zooming with the Zumas. The conversations between father and son earlier this...

Over a hundred South Africans stuck in Vietnam say they are losing hope of ever being repatriated back to South Africa. One of these is Marc Dumont who remains stuck in Hanoi together with his partner. He says that they are running out of money for food and medical supplies while the cost of extending their visas is also becoming unbearable.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says his department will introduce systems that will separate patients with respiratory symptoms from those with non-respiratory symptoms. He was speaking during a media briefing at the Job Shimankane Tabane Hospital in Rustenburg in the North West. Mkhize says the introduction of the systems will be in preparation for the expected increase of cases of Corona virus as...

The Traditional Healers Organisation says it's currently working on finding a possible cure for the corona virus, with the help of several local universities. The organisation is not pleased with the World Health Organisation's position on traditional medicine, accusing it of sending out confusing messages. This after the WHO warned against the use of Madagascar's untested medicine, which the coun...

Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi has warned of consequences for security company Enviromongz after thirty seven undocumented migrants escaped from the Lindela Repatriation Centre outside Krugersdorp on Gauteng's West rand. Motsoaledi says the escape, which happened on Sunday, was an inside job allegedly by security personnel. He says those who escaped were waiting to be repatriated to their...

The South African Revenue Service has warned that revenue collection will continue its downward trajectory because of the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter has warned that revenue performance will be lower than the February budget announcements, by between 15 and 20 percent. This means there will be a revenue collection shortfall of 285 billion Rands this year. The Commissione...

Uncomfortable, but necessary! That's how some Gauteng residents have described their experience of wearing a mask. This comes after government announced that everyone is required to wear a mask in public. Meanwhile, the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry says it is manufacturing 14-million fabric face masks a week in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call for...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised Co-operative Governance Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for her leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is despite some opposition parties saying Dlamini-Zuma is law unto herself, and accusing her of undermining the president. The president also lauded Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize for his excellent work in helping the country to adequately respond...

Although advised to stay home as they are susceptible to contract the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of elderly persons and people with disability were on the streets to collect their monthly social grants. SASSA has set aside Monday and Tuesday to pay grants to the most vulnerable section of our society. The SABC caught up with the 56 year old Beauty Citha who is on a life support due to a lung pro...

A group frustrated with the ongoing national lockdown has taken to social media, demanding that government lift the COVID-19 lockdown. The group -calling itself the 'End the lockdown Mzansi' - wants the lockdown to be lifted within 3 to 5 weeks. End the Lockdown spokesperson - Michael Southwood - says if the lockdown is allowed to continue, it could lead to thousands of people going to bed without...

Government says the provisional costs to accommodate people in private owned establishments who have tested positive to Covid-19 virus will be to the tune of about R28 million. The Department of Public Works says it has identified more than 700 privately owned properties including four star hotels nationwide for quarantine purposes. Briefing both the Public Works and the Select Committees on Publi...

South African non-profit organisations have called on the government to offer them more support. The organisations, which have been providing essential services during the Coronavirus pandemic, say their financial wellbeing is even more uncertain as the economic crisis persists due to the Covid-19. The Smile Foundation and other NPO partners, who include the South African Depression and Axienty Gr...

The Minister of Employment and Labour - Thulas Nxesi - has urged employers to implement the return-to-work measures to protect the health and safety of their employees. The minister was addressing the media in Pretoria yesterday on the country's back-to-work readiness. This is after the country moved from Level 5 of the Lockdown regulations to Level 4 which will result in more businesses and indus...

Co-operative Governance Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says people will now be allowed a once off opportunity to move to provinces of their workplaces or to move back home during the new Level Four Lockdown regulations. The minister also stressed that once people have moved they will not be allowed to commute back to another province until the end of Level Four. She was speaking in Pretoria la...