First Take SA

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has urged Transport minister Dipuo Peters to take cognisance of damning findings against the Passenger Rail Agency. Madonsela has found evidence of widespread maladministration and impropriety in the awarding of tenders worth almost three billion rand at Prasa. Releasing her report in Pretoria, Madonsela said transactions revealed a culture of systematic failure to...

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA, PRASA, has suspendend seven staff members who organised, what it considered , an unauthorised gathering in support of the reinstatement of former CEO Lucky Montana. PRASA's Acting CEO, Nathi Khena says the affected staff members have been peddling a number of untruths which have become matters of public discourse. Khena says they intend to provide the actual facts...

The ANC Women's League wants the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, not to apply the general parole regulations to Oscar Pistorius, citing the sensitivity of the case. About 300 members of the ANC Women's League, from across the country, marched to the offices of the minister in Pretoria and handed over a memorandum to a representative of the minister. Aphiwe Honono sp...

Gauteng Hawks boss Shadrack Sibiya is to be dismissed. Three weeks ago a departmental hearing found him guilty of misconduct for his role in the arrest and rendition of a group of Zimbabwean murder suspects in 2010. However, he had denied the allegations saying he was targeted for leading the investigation and arrest of former crime intelligence head, Richard Mdluli. The Hawks national head, Anwar...

The Go George bus service is expected to resume operations this afternoon on selected routes around George in the Southern Cape. Services were temporarily suspended on Wednesday, following widespread violence, which saw several Go George buses set alight. One person has been arrested after taxi owners tried to prevent a police roadblock at the entrance of Thembalethu earlier today.

The South African Council of Churches has just hosted a media briefing to air their views on the recent spates of church related incidents, in which church members were made to eat grass, drink petrol and eat human hair, snakes and mice. Meanwhile, a nationwide investigation has been launched into the commercialisation of religion, as well as the mushrooming of charismatic churches. The investigat...

The Albinism Society of South Africa, ASSA, has expressed outrage over the brutal killing of a 20-year old albino woman in Kwazulu-Natal. Thandazile Mpunzi's body was found in a shallow grave on Sunday after she was reported missing by her family early this month. A preacher and a traditional healer are amongst the four men charged for Mpunzi's murder. The community refuses to allow her body to be...

The NGOs Sonke Gender Justice, the TAC and Section 27 say they are confident that the South Gauteng High Court will accept their application to be friends of the court in the class action against the entire mining industry. The lawsuit pertains to the mine workers who are suffering from silicosis and tubercolosis as a result of working in the mines.

As a wise man once said, “Existing customers are a goldmine to your business.” This is the reason why Manneko Nkabinde from Gauteng felt disappointed when, after four years of loyalty to Altech Autopage, they wouldn’t resolve a query she had.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa has defended its action of issuing some of its senior managers notices of suspension. The managers held a press conference yesterday calling for among others the reinstatement of former CEO Lucky Montana. The employees also protested outside Prasa's offices in Pretoria - claiming the company is in chaos since Montana's dismissal.

It seems there is no legal justification for the Justice and Correctional Services minister, Michael Masutha, to postpone the release of Oscar Pistorius on correctional supervision. Masutha indicated he will get legal opinion after the Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa handed a petition to him asking him to postpone Pistorius' release until the end of August, which is women's month. Pis...

At least 14 people have been killed in an accident involving a minibus taxi and a train at Shakaskraal near KwaDukuza on the Kwazulu-Natal north coast. It's believed that the taxi lost control and veered off the R102 onto the adjacent railway line, where it was hit by a moving train. EMRS spokesperson Robert Mackenzie says police are investigating

Two of South Sudan's warring factions have signed a peace agreement in the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa, hours before the expiry of a deadline for them to do so. Lead mediator Seyoum Mesfin says only the rebels and the SPLM, part of South Sudan's opposition signed the agreement. The government declined to sign, citing reservations to some of the clauses, but said it would sign in the next 15 days...

At least 27 people, including foreigners, are reported to have died after a bomb exploded close to the Erawan shrine in the centre of Thailand's capital, Bangkok. Reports say a second bomb has been found in the area and made safe. The Thai government says the attack was aimed at foreigners due to the Hindu shrine being a popular tourist destination. One of the witnesses, Richard Srikurecha, was ne...

The World Bank's report on South Africa's economy says the country should address its current power crisis and labour relations as a matter of urgency. The report has also warned that South Africa will need to do a lot more to achieve the five percent annual growth envisioned in the National Development Plan. The report recommends that the country train the majority of its unemployed working age p...

ESKOM's profits fell from 7.1 billion Rands the previous year to 3.6 billion Rands this financial year. The company says the losses were as a result of debt owed by municipalities, loss of industrial customers and delays in commissioning of the power plants. The utility also plans to borrow 20-billion Rand from the domestic market and international bond markets.

Filling stations in Gauteng will continue to run dry in the next few days, while the rest of the country remains unaffected by the fuel shortage. Fuel Retailers Association CEO Reggie Sibiya says unleaded petrol and diesel are affected. He says over 100 service stations have reported running dry. Sibiya says over and above the planned shutdown at the Engen Refinery in Durban, disruptions have occu...

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. Unicef has found that breastfed babies have a six times greater chance of survival in the early months than formula-fed children. However, many women around the world face prejudice and stigma in public and work places in a bi...

The government is meeting with labour unions and mining companies in Pretoria to find a way of saving jobs. Mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi says the meeting will carry on until something is committed on paper. Ramatlhodi says he hopes to lift the suspension imposed this week on Glencore's Optimum coalmine if the mining giant meets government directives over jobcuts. The talks come as the Nationa...

Economic Freedom Fighter leader Julius Malema is a free man for now. This after his fraud and corruption charges were struck off the roll in the high court in Polokwane. Judge Billy Motlhe ruled tha the case has dragged on for too long and rejected an application for another postponement by accused number five Kagiso Dichabe.

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has denied that she has allowed herself and her office to become a political football in the battle against the ANC and some opposition parties. She was responding to questions at a media briefing called to clarify what she says is the confusion regarding whether or not in her remedial action she requested President Zuma to ask Police Minister Nathi Nhleko...

Many people do not think that a verbal agreement is binding. However, the laws of our country state very clearly that both oral and written agreements are legally binding. Thembikhaya Zama from Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape found this out the hard way after he spoke to a sales consultant from Standard Bank.

Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane says the re-introduction of specialised police units will help in fighting violent crimes in the province. Gauteng has recently experienced a spate of violent crimes and at times communities have been forced to take the law into their own hands. Nkosi-Malobane has condemned the murder of two officers in Gauteng in just 24-hours, saying this may...

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been re-admitted to a Cape Town hospital after compaining of discomfort. His family says the 83-year-old popular cleric has been put on bed rest while doctors obeserve his condition. Chris Mabuya reports...

National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega strongly disagrees with some of the findings of the Marikana report released by President Jacob Zuma last month. Phiyega has released a detailed statement in reaction to the findings and recommendations of the report. She says the insinuation that police management went to work on August 16, 2012 with murderous intent has no substance. For more on this we...