First Take SA

The Gauteng government is to start deploying unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to infrastructure sites to monitor delivery, safety compliance and identify blockages. It's hoped this will help minimise corruption and ensure that projects are delivered on time. Previously, it has been found that some project managers give wrong information that projects have been completed only to find that they ar...

The United Nations's health Agency has partnered with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to launch an Ebola vaccination programme in a bid to curtail the spread of the latest outbreak in the country's northwest. The World Health Organisation will attempt to vaccinate high-risk populations with close to 8-thousand doses of the vaccine shipped to the country. The organisation also sa...

Twenty-three year old, Henri van Breda, has been found guilty of the murder of his father, mother and older brother at their De Zalze home in Stellenbosch in 2015. He's also been found guilty of the attempted murder of his teenage sister, and of defeating the ends of justice. The Cape Town High Court on Monday found there was no evidence that an intruder entered the home three years ago at the lux...

The Right2Know campaign says it welcomes changes promised by the Minister of State Security Letsatsi-Duba, to reform the State Security Agency, and improve oversight over the 'spooks'. R2K says such changes are long overdue, alleging that South Africans have seen securocrats run amok, spying on activists, whistleblowers and journalists, while hiding behind secrecy, and engaging in widespread corru...

The ANC dialogue on land expropriation without compensation continued late into Sunday night as senior party members held a two-day land summit in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. On Saturday, party president Cyril Ramaphosa told the summit that land is about dignity, identity and security adding that its expropriation is the only way to alleviate poverty in South Africa. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to...

Kimberley's upcoming artists took audiences on a musical journey of the Life and Times of the founder of the Pan African Congress (PAC), Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. The cast consists of pupils and unemployed youth. Reginald Witbooi reports...

Judgement is expected to be handed down in the Cape Town High Court in the trial of triple murder accused, Henri van Breda. The 23-year-old is accused of killing his family at the De Zalze Estate in Stellenbosch, three years ago. Carmel Loggenberg Roberts reports..

Scores of disgruntled ANC members and supporters in KwaZulu-Natal are demanding the disbandment of the party's Provincial Task Team. They accuse it of having failed to address their concerns. They held a rally at Curries Fountain Stadium in Durban. The Provincial Task Team was set up early this year after court had declared the outcomes of the elective conference null and void. The team, led by Mi...

A young girl from Matatiele continues to live a tortured life after her face was severely scarred four years ago. After surviving the brutal crime she is now a victim of discrimination from fellow learners because of her disfigurement. Reabeletswe Jabare was disfigured when she was allegedly sold by an aunt to a foreign national who removed parts of her face to make traditional medicine. She was o...

Burundians voted on Thursday in a referendum on constitutional reforms that, if passed, will enable President Pierre Nkurunziza to rule until 2034. Activists say the campaign period, like the preceding three years of unrest, has been marked by intimidation and abuse. Witnesses have told human rights groups that 26 people have been killed, including 11 children. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Human Righ...

Cash-in-transit heists are now said to have not only increased dramatically in South Africa, but criminals are also becoming more violent. In the majority of incidents‚ heavily armed robbers using stolen or hijacked vehicles, use commercial explosives and strike with military precision, with AK47s‚ R4 and R5 rifles. Five suspects were arrested on Thursday, after two cash vans were attacked in Boks...

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC has honored it's first South African Aids Activist for her work. An exhibition of Yvette Alta Raphael in the fight against HIV/Aids was launched yesterday. Raphael is a trusted globally renown advocate on effective and efficient education to the general community regarding new and developing research for medications that treat and...

KwaZulu-Natal police will be closely monitoring some of Durban's northern townships after a local business association issued an ultimatum to foreign shop owners to pack up and leave. The Northern Region Business Association - which operates in Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu - accuses foreign nationals of unfair business practices and making it difficult for South African shop owners to do business....

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) says it is intact and financially stable, despite the negative media reports. The union says it is able to pay salaries to its workers, even though it has a loan agreement with the controversial VBS Bank that is currently under curatorship. President of the union, Pule Molalenyane, says they don't have a bond with VBS Bank but an 11 million rand ph...

Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga's chief of staff, Marietha Aucamp, has resigned. Aucump, who had been placed on special leave, announced last night that she will quit her position at the end of May. She had been embroiled in a qualifications scandal after it emerged that she allegedly lied about having a B-Tech degree to get the top job in mayor Msimanga's office. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Marietha A...

The Democratic Alliance says the Western Cape High Court judgment is not in the best interests of the people of Cape Town. This after the court ruling that embattled Cape Town mayor, Patricia de Lille, will remain in office for at least the next two weeks until it makes a final ruling on her urgent application to challenge the party's decision to terminate her membership and subsequently remove he...

Former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke says South Africa needs to renew debate the transformation agenda, and has urged citizens to resist being lazy in coming up with solutions to find common ground. Speaking during a graduation ceremony to honour him and singer Yvonne Chakachaka, he said South Africa has made progress in certain sectors but that more needs to be done to ensure harmony in t...

Police in Kwazulu Natal have launched a manhunt following an attack at a mosque in Verulam, north of Durban. One person has been killed and two critically wounded. According to reports, three Egyptian Nationals stormed into the mosque, attacked people with knives and set it alight. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Reaction Unit South Africa's spokesperson, Prem Balram

Former Western Cape Police Commissioner will spend the next six years in prison. Arno Lamoer and three co-accused, two of whom are also former high-ranking police officials, were sentenced to direct imprisonment in the Cape Town High Court yesterday. Tow truck company owner, Saleem Dawjee, was given an effective six years in jail. Police brigadiers; Darius van Der Ross received a two-year jail ter...

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane has promised the people of Elsies River on the Cape Flats good governance and service delivery. Maimane addressed residents at Leonsdale Civic Centre on various issues including he current situation in the City of Cape Town. He spoke on the eve of the court case in the Cape High Court where ousted mayor Patiricia de Lille is challenging her dismissal from t...

Victor Kgomoesoana, author of "Africa Is Open For Business" speaks to Tsepiso Makwetla on this week's top African economic stories including University of Nairobi engineers who have developed the first nano-satellite in the region at a cost of about Sh120 million

Some companies are now considering retrenching workers as the crippling bus strike has entered its fourth week. The CCMA and the Bargaining Council have proposed an eight-point-seven-five percent salary increase for the first year and eight-point-two-five per cent for the second year. However the unions are now demanding nine percent for this year and eight percent for next year. SABC reporter, Wi...

The North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has now been asked to take leave, after the Provincial Executive Committee yesterday refused to accept his resignation as Premier. Mahumapelo has appointed Finance MEC Wendy Nelson to act in his position, as he takes leave of absence. Nelson will act until the ANC's national leadership decides his fate. Tsepison Makwetla spoke to Political Analyst, Professor...

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, NEHAWU says it is going ahead with its planned mass action next week in the North West province. The union says this is in solidarity with provincial health and social development workers who have been on a go-slow, demanding the resignation of premier Supra Mahumapelo, among other issues. Tsepiso Makwetla to Nehawu's national spokesperson K...

A faction opposed to the embattled North-West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has vowed to intensify efforts to unseat him. This follows an about-turn by Mahumapelo who reneged on his pledge to resign from high office. The Premier's fate and the fragile security situation in the North-West was subject of cabinet discussions in Cape Town. On Wednesday, Mahumapelo took leave from office and appointed Finan...