First Take SA

Some children across the country have expressed concerns over returning to school next week. The scholars have asked about the safety measures that they can practice in their schools. This as the Department of Basic Education announced that learners in Grade 7 and Grade 12 might return to school on the 6th of May. This as the country also moves to Level 4 - with the gradual reopening of the econom...

The Department of Social Development will begin paying out the unemployment grant on May 15th. South African nationals who have no source of income, registered permanent residents and refugees who are unemployed are encouraged to apply for the 350 rands which is part of government's COVID-19 relief efforts. Minister Lindiwe Zulu briefed the media on the roll out of this temporary measure as well a...

Unemployed doctors who are eligible to work for the state will be placed by provinces soon. This is according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. Provinces such as Gauteng, Limpopo and the Northern Cape are recruiting to fill vacant positions of doctors. This week, government came under fire following the arrival of the more than 200 health experts from Cuba to assist with the COVID-19 outbreak - man...

Five weeks into the national COVID-19 lockdown - workers who are not registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), are among the hardest hit financially. For those registered with the UIF - under the Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme provision - the fund will pay employers the cost of employees' salaries for up to three months. This was announced earlier by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Howev...

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has some reservations following the arrival of more than 200 health experts from Cuba to help with the battle against the coronavirus. The medical brigade that arrived from Cuba YESTERDAY includes epidemiologists, physicians and biotechnologists. SAMA says government should first exhaust all the skills available locally before seeking outside assistance...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says as the country celebrate 26 years of freedom, the 1994 dream of a better life for all can no longer be deferred. He used his Freedom Day address to urge South Africans to work together to fight inequality, poverty and unemployment. South Africa celebrates 26 years of freedom since its democratic elections on the 27th of April in 1994. It was for the first time that t...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says from the first of May, the country's current nationwide lockdown will be lowered from Level Five to level Four. He says some economic activities will be allowed to resume subject to extreme precautions to limit transmission. The president was speaking at the Union Buildings in Pretoria last night following his meeting with the National Command Council and some leader...

Political parties have welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement of a gradual easing of the nationwide lockdown in curbing the spread of COVID-19. Addressing the nation on Thursday, Ramaphosa said that on May 1st 2020 the country will enter alert level four of the lockdown, which means some activities will be allowed with extreme caution.

We had expected Level 3 lockdown but welcome the president's decision. We are calling on government not to sideline small business when open companies in similar sectors.

The Competition Commission has referred pharmaceutical company, Dis-Chem to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution. This after the commission established that the company had excessively inflated pricing for essential hygienic goods during the State of National Disaster which came as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. The commission says it received several complaints from the public against sev...

The South African National AIDS Council, SANAC, wants HIV and TB screening to be incorporated into the testing and screening for COVID-19. It says it does not want to see a reversal of progress made in the country's HIV and TB response due to the emergence of the corona virus. The issue was raised during SANAC's panel discussion on the impact of COVID19 on people living with HIV and TB.

Social grant recipients and the unemployed say the grant increases announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night is better than nothing as it will help supplement the meagre cash they receive currently. The President announced that child support grant beneficiaries will receive an additional 300 rand at the end of this month; and an extra 500 rand from June to October. All other grant re...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government will only be guided by scientific evidence before re-opening the country for economic activities. The number of Coronavirus infections has risen to 3 635 with over 133 thousand-tests conducted countrywide. President Ramaphosa will THIS EVENING (thursday) address the nation on measures aimed at easing the lockdown and lift the restriction on economic activi...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a massive 500 billion Rand (or ten percent of the GDP) economic and social package to help curb the effects of the corona virus pandemic. The money will be raised from re-directing 130 billion Rands from other government's departments while the rest will come from local and international institutions. Government says its priority will be to intensify health...

Clashes between police and residents of Lawley, South of Johannesburg led to the arrest of thirteen people for public violence. This after a City of Johannesburg operation carried out by the Red Ants and the JMPD led to the demolition of several shacks in the informal settlement for the second time in a week on Tuesday. Residents responded by pelting officers and Inyalas with rocks. Last week Thur...

Political parties have reacted positively to the social and economic relief plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The President announced a five hundred billion rands plan which seeks to stimulate the economy, protect jobs and alleviate hunger

Analysts have welcomed the 50-billion-rand Covid social relief measures of the total 500-billion-rand economic support packages announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa announced that Government will implement a six month Coronavirus special grant to curb food insecurity and to assist distressed communities through increased social grant funding over the next six months. The President fur...

As the COVID-19 death toll edges closer to 41-thousand in the United States with 765-thousand cases, small protests have sprung up in several states against stringent lockdown or stay-at home measures. Despite issuing new guidance on measures to reopen economies in a systematic step-by-step basis, President Donald Trump has cheered on protests against social distancing measures in some states run...

Corruption and ill discipline may cost Kenya 28,000 (TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND) lives, the country's Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned. From holding private house parties during the designated curfew period to bribing police officers manning the quarantine institutions, Kagwe warned that a section of Kenyans have not internalised the seriousness of COVID-19 and their seeming reckless be...

Residents of Eersterust, East of Pretoria, have appealed to government to speed up the process of delivering food parcels, as the number of families going to bed hungry continues to grow. Some members of the community say despite submitting their names early this month, no assistance has come from the City of Tshwane municipality.

Residents of Lawley in the south of Johannesburg have taken to the streets in anticipation of being addressed by Gauteng Human Settlements MEC, Lebogang Maile and City of Johannesburg Mayor, Geoff Makhubo. The pair are expected to visit the area this afternoon after community members were allegedly evicted during the course of the week despite the country being under national lockdown.

Increasing the child support grant for six months is a quick and effective measure to ease the plight of vulnerable South Africans that have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the view of various NGOs and academics, who have suggested alternative ways in which government can provide immediate relief to citizens battling with a loss of income and food shortages during the ex...

The Eastern Cape Health department has conducted a mass screening and testing campaign at Majola village in Port St Johns. This after six people tested positive for Covid-19. It's alleged that they were part of more than hundred people, who attended a funeral at the village, over three weeks ago. One of those who tested positive for Coronavirus is a female prison warder from East London's Correcti...

The Gauteng Social Development Department has been inundated with calls and requests for food parcels from hungry citizens. According to media reports - at least 7,000 requests for food parcels have been received in a day. The demand and high call volumes resulted in the call centre shutting down. The department has, however, emphasized that there is a strict criteria in place for allocating food...

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has conducted door-to-door Covid-19 screening in Ermelo, Mpumalanga. Accompanied by the MEC for Health, Sasekani Manzini, Mkhize interacted with volunteers conducting the screening, health workers and also visited a Covid- 19 ward at Ermelo hospital