First Take SA

!!!Please be warned that the following story contains details that might offend sensitive listeners!!!. First witness Andisiwe Dike has given chilling details on how she was sexually abused by controversial pastor, Timothy Omotoso, in his church house in Durban.

SABC reporter, Pimani Boloyi reports on the family of a two year-old boy whose body was found floating in the Letsitele river, outside Tzaneen, in Limpopo believes he had been mutilated and killed before being dumped in the river. Meanwhile, 57-year-old man has allegedly beaten his four-year-old daughter to death in the Dlamini Township in Soweto. It's alleged that the man took his daughter to the...

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's Budget Speech is expected to look at innovative ways to boost economic growth, create job opportunities and alleviate poverty. As different sectors of the economy continue to lobby Finance Minister Tito Mboweni ahead of his budget speech on Wednesday, the South African Liquor Brand Owners Association has called on Mboweni to consider an inflation only increase to th...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has apologised to the Malema family following accusations of domestic violence that were raised during two seperate occassions in joint sittings of Parliament. During the State of the Nation Address and again during the debate that followed SONA, ANC MP, Boy Mamabolo, accused Malema of abusing his wife, Mantoa. Responding to the debate, Ramaphosa called the allegations un...

South Africa's parole system is once again in the spotlight following yet another young girl child that has been murdered, allegedly by someone on parole. The body of 8-year-old Tazne van Wyk from Elsie's River in Cape Town was found in a stormwater pipe outside Worcester in the Boland, two weeks after she went missing. A 54-year-old suspect is due to appear in court today.

The United States Secretary of State's remarks that land expropriation without compensation would be disastrous for the South African economy are just the latest comments from the US Government casting aspersions on the process. Addressing Ethiopian business leaders in Addis Ababa, Mike Pompeo criticized centralized planning in economies pointing to failures in Zimbabwe and Tanzania among others b...

The war of words between ANC MP Boy Mamabolo, and EFF leader Julius Malema in Parliament has raised concerns over the use of Gender Based Violence to score political points. On Tuesday during the SONA debate, Mamabolo claimed that Malema had abused his wife. And in response, Malema shocked Parliament when he claimed President Cyril Ramaphosa used to beat up his late wife. Now, the fight between Ma...

The City of Cape Town has started the process of identifying suitable venues for the verification of the status of foreign nationals living outside the Central Methodist Church in Green Market Square. On Monday, the High Court granted the City an interim order to remove the group that has been living on pavements in the area. The court also ruled that the Department of Home Affairs should do the v...

The debate of the State of the Nation Address in a joint sitting of parliament descended into chaos when accusations of women abuse were flung around. It led to the EFF leader Julius Malema being asked to leave the house. As is convention, all parties in the House convened to debate the SONA delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week. But when Ramaphosa was accused by Malema of having beaten...

After being booed in KwaZulu-Natal in 2006 following political tensions with his then fired deputy, Jacob Zuma, the province is warming up to former president, Thabo Mbeki. In less than six months, he has been invited twice by the ANC in the province. Last year, he was invited to address the memorial lecture of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. This past weekend, he addressed the ANC Po...

The Cape Town High Court has granted the City of Cape Town an interim interdict to remove a group of foreign nationals living on the street outside the Central Methodist church in Green Market Square. Acting judge Daniel Thulare has ruled that the City has the right to uphold its by-laws. The City applied for an interdict last year after more than 600 foreign nationals moved into the church. Many...

The FW de Klerk Foundation has withdrawn its statement that apartheid was not a crime against humanity. Various political parties, NGOs and members of the public called on the foundation and the last apartheid president, FW de Klerk to withdraw the statement. Some have suggested that De Klerk be stripped of the Nobel Peace prize.

Gauteng Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko says the time to talk is over and decisive action is needed to combat crime in the province. Mazibuko was speaking at a Safety Summit in Bramfisherville, Soweto, south of Johannesburg. This is the first of the 33 summits that the MEC will hold across the province aimed at promoting community participation in crime prevention and to promote safety. MEC Ma...

Police Minister Bheki Cele says the continuous killing of members of the South African Police is an attack on the state. Cele was speaking at a funeral of the late Galeshewe Lloyd Poonyane in Viljoenskroon, in the Free State. Poonyane died in the line of duty near Orkney, in North West. He was shot dead by suspects and declared dead on the scene. Cele says it's concerning that many SAPS members wh...

As expected, President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address put emphasis on measures to stimulate economic growth. He addressed the challenges of electricity supply shortages, government spending which he described as misdirected towards consumption and debt-servicing rather than infrastructure and productive activity, and the state owned companies which continue to drain the national fis...

President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address was delayed by more than and hour and a half last night. This is as the EFF objected to the presence of former President FW De Klerk in the house and demanded that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan be fired. After about an hour of points of order, the Presiding officers temporarily adjourned the house. When the house resumed the EFF...

Adam Catzavelos says he is deeply ashamed of his racist rant and has asked South Africans for forgiveness. He was testifying YESTERDAY (13 February) during sentencing proceedings in his crimen injuria case in the Randburg Magistrate's Court. The case follows a self-recorded video of Catzavelos in which he utters the K-word multiple times, while on holiday in Greece in August 2018. In the video, he...

Figures released by Statistics South Africa indicate that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 29-point-1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the third of last year. The results further indicate that the number of employed persons increased by 43-thousand to 16-point-4-million, while the number of unemployed persons decreased by 8-thousand to 6-point-7-million in the fourth qu...

On Thursday (13 February) President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his second State of the Nation Address since last year's general elections. Ramaphosa came into office promising to reverse the damage caused by over nine years of Jacob Zuma's presidency. He has, however, faced serious challenges in this regard, not least being his government's seeming inability to arrest the spiralling economic dec...

President Cyril Ramaphosa is TODAY expected to deliver the keynote address during the 30th anniversary of the release date of former statesman Nelson Mandela from prison. Mandela was released from the then Victor Verster Prison 30 years ago after serving 27 years behind bars. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the apartheid government. The day also marks the 13th anniversary of the unbanning...

No identity documents, no proof of residence, no viewing of property. This is just one of the measures estate agents have had to adopt to try and protect themselves from criminals posing as buyers. However, unsuspecting people have also been defrauded of their monies by people posing as estate agents.

Former Head of procurement at SAA technical Nontsasa Memela has denied all allegations labelled against her including bribery and wrong doing in which she had been implicated by two witnesses last week. She told Justice Zondo she did not see a conflict of interest when a bidding company paid 2.5 million Rands towards the purchase of her property in Bedfordview. She has also denied she supplied bid...

The EFF has vowed to disrupt the State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The party says it wants to see the back of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan before the day of the SONA. Malema addressed the media in Centurion, Pretoria yesterday following the party's Stategic Meeting, the Plenum that seek to pave a way forward for the EFF in the year 20...

The Endangered Wildlife Trust has welcomed the announcement by the Chinese to enforce the ban on illegal wildlife trade and increase regulation of wildlife markets. It is believed that the Coronavirus originated in a food market in China, which was illegally selling wildlife. More than 500 people have died of the virus in mainland China, and thousands infected.

Germany has vowed to work with South Africa and help it overcome its energy crisis. The Germans will also provide vocational training to young people in the country. This came out during Chancellor Angela Merkel's working visit to the country yesterday. In his response, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised the need to increase investment by over 600 German companies operating in the country.