First Take SA

GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille has welcomed Pretoria High Court judgement which set aside the findings of the Seriti Commission into the arms deal. Judge President Dunstan Mlambo found that the commission failed to probe certain pieces of crucial evidence. De Lille who blew the whistle on the controversial arms deal 20 years ago, says the ruling is important as it demonstrates that no one is...

SABC Board Chairperson, Bongumusa Makhathini, says the public broadcaster is preparing court papers, and will not comment further on the SIU Report until the papers have been lodged in court. The board says it will support the application by the Special Investigating Unit to have the contract between the public broadcaster and Mafoko Security Patrols reviewed and set aside. In a report released ye...

DA leader Mmusi Maimane is threatening to go to court to halt the processing of the National Health Insurance Bill in Parliament. The Bill was tabled in Parliament last week and it has now been referred to the Health Portfolio Committee.

New mayors for eThekwini and uMsunduzi municipalities as well as other ANC political office bearers will be announced within seven days. This follows a decision by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to overhaul its entire political leadership in the two municipalities. Among those axed are embattled eThekwini mayor, Zandile Gumede, and Themba Njilo - mayor of KwaZulu-Natal's capital city, uMsunduzi. The ANC...

Police Minister, Bheki Cele, together with International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr. Naledi Pandor, have urged people to stop confusing the fight against crime with xenophobia. This after more than 600 foreign nationals were arrested during police raids in the Johannesburg CBD - some, allegedly, for selling counterfeit goods.

COSATU says government has also contributed to unemployment with its back door retrenchments. The labour federation says government and business must not use Fourth Industrial Revolution as an excuse for rising unemployment.

The ANC NEC also resolved that Gauteng road users should pay for E-Tolls. This despite Premier David Makhura's insistence that the call to scrap E-Tolls was not an electioneering gimmick.

Representatives of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) and the City of Tshwane are still locked in a meeting over a wage dispute. Hundreds of protesting municipal workers gathered outside Tshwane House in Centurion demanding an 18 percent salary increase, which the union claims was granted to group heads but excluded lower-level employees. The protest brought some areas in the capita...

KhoiSan Revolution Party's Stanley Peterson says they are preparing to approach the courts to get Khoisan land back that was taken before 1913. Peterson says they want part of the Eastern Cape, part of KZN and the whole of the Western Cape

Agriculture body, AgriSA, says there are political reasons behind government's reasoning for land expropriation without compensation. This as the public is being invited to comment on the report that contains a number of recommendations - including the amendment of the constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation in some circumstances. It also recommends the reconfiguration of...

Embattled asset management company, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), has appointed businessman Reuel Khoza as its first non-political chairman. Introducing the interim board, finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the tradition of employing the deputy finance minister to the chairman's position was "bad practice". Sindi Mabaso-Koyano, a chartered accountant with experience on several boards in...

Members belonging to the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) and the United National Transport Union (Untu) are expected to embark on a nationwide strike this morning. Both unions say their members will march in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban as part of what they call a 'total shut down' of commuter train services across the country. They are demanding improved rail services includin...

The South African National Parks believes it is turning the tide in its fight against poaching in the Kruger National Park. This follows the arrest of nine alleged poachers in different parts of the park over the last three days. The sections where the arrests were made have been the hardest hit areas of rhino poaching over the years. SANPARKS rangers say the poachers were in possession of heavy c...

Hundreds of social housing tenants in various parts of Johannesburg may find themselves homeless from next month. The Johannesburg Social Housing Company - JOSHCO - has issued those owing rent with eviction notices. The notices also inform residents that their electricity will be switched off and that access to water will be limited. The affected areas include Kliptown, City Deep and Fleurhof. Las...

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has tabled a Special Appropriation Bill in the National Assembly, which paves the way for power utility Eskom receive a 60-billion-rand bailout from the current financial year to 2020/21 financial year. Mboweni has also announced cash injections for South African Airways, the SABC and Denel. He says the money will be handed over in chunks, as these entities will be re...

The high court in Pretoria is today set hear an urgent application by public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan to interdict the implementation of the remedial action from public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's report into the so called SARS rogue unit. Mkhwebane found the unit, which was allegedly aproved by Gordhan, was in violation of the constitution, and has directed President Cyril Ramaphosa...

The associate professor at the Wits school of governance, Ivor Sarakinsky, has warned of a constitutional crisis in South Africa if the court rules against President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to take the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's report on an urgent judicial review. Ramaphosa confirmed his decision to approach the courts in a media briefing in Pretoria last night. Mkhwebane's report f...

South Africans must brace themselves for a busy day as hundreds of activities are expected to take place around the country in celebration of the annual Nelson Mandela International Day today. A businessman from the O R Tambo region has contributed positively to change the lives of the children at Mzomtsha Children's Home in Ngqeleni in the Eastern Cape. Ludumo Mjanyelwa who owns a road constructi...

A survey commissioned by Tyme Bank has revealed that most South Africans run out of money before the end of the month. According to the report, while many do have a budget 76% of those surveyed still go broke before their next pay. Women are said to be the hardest hit and this is because they take care of their children and families

Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of the spaceflight Apollo 11 that landed humans on the moon 4 days later. Apollo 11 was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on July 16, 1969 and was the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo programme. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, landed the Apollo Lunar Module, Eagle, on July 20, 1969. To look at the signi...

Former Communications Minister General Simphiwe Nyanda says Former President Jacob Zuma is clutching at straws in a bit to deflect attention from the damaging corruption allegations he is facing. Nyanda says if he was a spy why did Zuma deploy him to important positions in his cabinet.

Former President Jacob Zuma is expected to appear at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture today. Several witnesses have accused him of overseeing mass looting of state funds during his nine-year reign before Cyril Ramaphosa replaced him last year. Zuma has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers have described the inquiry as an attempt to humiliate him.

Violence continued in some areas of the Cape Flats this past week-end despite a strong police presence in Phillipi East. One of the latest victims is EFF branch chairperson in the Western Cape, Xolani Jack, who was shot 14 times and killed in Khayelitsha. Three alleged gang members have also been injured in a shootout with the police in Grassy Park.

Commercial farmers in the North West province are concerned over the increase in the number of invasions into their farms. Agri North West is alleging that some local small-scale farmers living adjacent to large commercial farms have been forcefully accessing their properties seeking grazing land for their own livestock.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has filed an urgent application to suspend and interdict the remedial actions in a report released by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. In a statement, Gordhan's lawyers say he wants to review and set aside the report and have it declared unlawful, unconstitutional, irrational and invalid. In her report Mkhwebane found Gordhan guilty of maladministrati...