First Take SA

New Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's Medium-term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) is expected to give clarity on Government's intention to reprioritise 50 billion rand of funds to stimulate the economy and create jobs. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the stimulus package in September. Economists say re-prioritising funds is the better option rather than increasing taxes. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke t...

Students at the Tshwane University of Technology have welcomed the arrest of two police officers believed to be linked to the death of 3rd year LLB student, Katlego Monareng. Monareng was shot and killed in August during a protest over SRC election results at the Soshanguve campus, north of Pretoria. Its alleged the police fired live ammunition at the students as warning shots. The arrested police...

The Giyani municipality in Limpopo, which invested 161 million rands in VBS, has initiated legal processes to recoup some of the monies linked to the mutual bank's scandal. Municipal spokesperson, Steven Mabunda says former chief financial officer, Hitler Maluleke, has been fired while the former technical services director - Precious Mathebula - resigned after their involvement in the VBS scandal...

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has lamented the public sector salary bill ahead of his maiden Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday. Using Eskom as an example, Mboweni says the power utility will probably need to shed over 30-thousand jobs as it is bloated. He was speaking at the second annual Kader Asmal Memorial lecture at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology's Mowbray Campus in...

The Jesus Dominion International Church (JDI), of which controversial rape accused Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso is the founder, has been the target of furious protesters this past weekend. Various political parties and members of the public joined forces in a protest to have the church closed. Yesterday (sunday) they gathered in front of the church in Port Elizabeth while a service was underway...

Siyabonga Gama has been dismissed as chief executive of Transnet. The company had given Gama until October 15th to give reasons why his contract should not be terminated after he was implicated in misconduct and maladministration in the acquisition of locomotives from a Chinese rail company in 2012. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Transnet non-executive board member Mpho Letlape

The Port Elizabeth High Court has postponed the case against the controversial pastor, Timothy Omotoso, to Monday. This is after witness Cheryl Zondi, told the court that Omotoso allegedly raped her at various places, when they travelled for church events. During cross-examination, Zondi told the court that she thought of approaching the police in Durban, but alleges that she decided against it be...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has set up a Commission of Inquiry into allegations of impropriety at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). The inquiry will be headed by former president of the Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Lex Mpati. The president has given the inquiry six months to complete the investigation. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader, Bantu Holomisa

The Passenger Rail Agency - PRASA - has put the cost of yesterday's damage to the trains in Germiston, east of Johannesburg at 6 point 5 million rand. Two Metrorail trains were burnt at the Germiston train station. Another train travelling from Germiston to Springs was also torched damaging only the seats. No injuries were reported in all the incidents. Over 5-thousand commuters were affected by t...

TALKING POINT: *** Liberian government attracts major investments for the country's fishing industry *** The World Bank Group says financial technology (fintech) companies are key pillars in supporting sustainable growth and poverty reduction *** Conflicting death toll reports following last Friday's Osisioma pipeline explosion in Abia, Nigeria

The Gauteng department of transport says it is considering removing abnormal freight vehicles off the road during peak hours to help reduce traffic congestion. Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC, Ismail Vadi held discussions with Road Freight industry on various issues including damage to road infrastructure due to truck overloading among other things. Tsepiso Mkawetla spoke to Gauteng Roads and Tran...

Author and investigative journalist, Jacques Pauw has called on both former Sunday Times senior journalists, Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter to name and shame their sources which led to false reporting by the two. Pauw was reacting to the news that the Sunday Times will return all awards and prize money received for now-discredited reports on the Cato Manor "death squad", the SARS "rogu...

About 10 000 members of NUMSA are gearing up for a strike in the plastics sector and is calling for a total national plastics shutdown. NUMSA has reassured members who work in the plastic sector that today's strike will be protected. NUMSA spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola discusses the aim of the strike with Tsepiso Makwetla...

The search for the bodies of two people who were reportedly swept away in the Apies river in the north of Pretoria over the weekend will resume this morning. Tshwane emergency services suspended the search as the flow in the river was too strong for rescue personnel to continue working. The city's emergency services spokesperson Johan Pieterse spoke to Tsepiso Makwetla about the situation there th...

The Hawks says it has assembled a strong, well-resourced team to investigate the looting of funds from the Venda-based VBS Mutual Bank. The Hawks spokesperson says the team will be guided by the National Prosecuting Authority. This follows the release of a report commisioned by the Reserve Bank into the troubled VBS bank. The report found that around 53 people and entitites unjustifiably and illeg...

TALKING POINT: *** Cameroon's long wait for election results as social media claims unverified winners *** African billionaire, Mohammed Dewji kidnapped in Tanzania *** Nigeria to take foreign loans at higher cost due to the interest rate hike in the US

The DA has been battling without any success to get an answer from the SABC Board on how much the COO, CFO and CEO are earning. DA member of Parliament's Communications Committee Veronica van Dyk described the board's conduct of not answering the question directly as a " Hlaudi culture". The SABC Board was presenting its 2017/2018 financial statement. They were accompanied by Communications Minist...

An investigation has revealed that there's no prospect of saving VBS Mutual Bank -- and analysts say depositors could lose most of their money. A final investigation report -- into large-scale fraud at the bank -- indicates that about two-billion rand in depositor's money was looted. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to One of the founder of VBS Mutual Bank, Madambi Muvhulawa

A showdown is looming in Zimbabwe TODAY (thursday) as labour unions have vowed to go ahead with a planned protest against a new government tax and price increases despite a police ban on the march. The police say authorities are still trying to contain a cholera outbreak and a ban on large public gatherings still stands. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called on people to join street mar...

Labour union NEHAWU is to meet striking SASSA workers to decide on the way forward following the suspension of the Biometric Enrolment for grant beneficiaries. This follows a meeting between Social Development Minister Susan Shabangu, NEHAWU representatives and senior SASSA officials in Johannesburg yesterday. SASSA workers have been on strike countrywide since yesterday, Wednesday. Tsepiso Makwet...

Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) says while former Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene's timing to resign is regrettable, the appointment of Tito Mboweni as his replacement does not spell an introduction of a new fiscal direction but rather a move to entrench stability at National Treasury. BUSA's CEO, Tanya Cohen has urged Mboweni to maintain commitments made in the February Budget as the country h...

Political pressure is building on Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene to step down. So far, several opposition parties including the EFF, DA, Cope and the UDM have called for Nene's head following his admission to the State Capture Inquiry that he had several meetings with the Gupta family during his first term as finance minister and before that while he was deputy finance minister. Tsepiso Makwetla s...

Trade union NEHAWU has warned it will shut down all SASSA offices on Wednesday. Social Security Agency workers affiliated to Nehawu are set to strike over the transfer of social grant payments from Cash Paymaster Services to the South African Post Office. Nehawu general secretary, Zola Saphetha, has accused SASSA of refusing to resolve challenges brought about by this move

President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the Framework Agreement of the Jobs Summit as revolutionary decisions. This came out at the two-day Jobs Summit, underway in Midrand in Gauteng, earlier this afternoon. Government, business, labour and civil society have agreed on a number of measures to stimulate the economy and create jobs. These include among others; avoiding retrenchments and helping strugg...

TALKING POINTS: *** Ethiopia turning off the internet as violence flares up *** Zimbabwean court ordereding illegal occupiers of a white farmer's property to vacate the land immediately *** Mining firms saying Zambia's tax hike plan would ruin the economy