The Weekend View

South Africa's National Defence Force has so far deployed only 500 of the 10 000 troops earmarked for emergency, relief and reconstruction operations in flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal. Joint civilian and military search teams were this week still recovering bodies from the debris more than a week after the disaster struck. There have been claims that deep and serious SANDF budget cuts are delaying w...

Relief efforts for flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal residents are also being stepped up with the help of ordinary citizens and humanitarian organisations. Among them is South Africa's Red Cross Society whose KZN provincial manager, Siyabonga Hlatswayo

Following the suspension of the COVID 19 emergency, companies across South Africa are now rapidly demanding a return to work of all employees. While corporate leaders might consider it their prerogative to get all hands physically back on deck at the office again, a leadership expert is cautioning that they should be aware of the consequences of a top-down, inflexible approach. Advaita Naidoo, MD...

Deputy City Manager for Economic Development and Planning in the eThekwini Metro, Phillip Sithole and  Spokesperson for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in Kwazulu-Natal, Senzelwe Mzila

The state of the North West provincial capital, Mahikeng, continues to deteriorate as the existing infrastructure is not being maintained and new ones are not built. The town also continues to slide into a state of decay and cannot not attract potential investors as most provincial capitals would. Sellwane Khakhau compiled this report ….

45 Chinese cities are either under complete lockdown or partial lockdown. Shanghai with a population of 25 million is one of those cities reported to be hardest hit with new daily record infections of Covid-19 being reported on a regular basis. South African couple Elmien and Wesley Gerber are caught in the hard lockdown of Shanghai in China.    

As a water-scarce country, South Africa is facing many complex water problems and studies have shown that the country will not have enough water supplies to meet demand by 2025. Challenges affecting our water include the amount available, the unequal distribution and access to clean water, the quality and state of water infrastructure, droughts causing towns to run dry and corruption that has affe...

Operation Dudula's launch in Kwazulu-Natal has been postponed. This comes as reports emerged LAST NIGHT that the meeting had NOT been sanctioned by police...  The postponement comes at the back of the City of Ethekwini raising concern about possible violence that may arise during the launch. It's leader Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini is behind bars facing charges of house breaking, theft and malicious...

Civil society group, Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia will THIS MORNING hold a march against what they call Xenophobia after being initially denied by the police. The group had planned to demonstrate on Human Rights Day this past Monday. However this was stopped by the Johannesburg Metro Police after threats by Operation Dudula members. The anti xenophobia group had to turn to High Court to over...

Fraud prevention experts have warned that consumers need an extra layer of protection on their identity against criminals who will turn their lives upside down without a second thought. They say over the past two years, South African companies have been victims of cyber attacks and data breaches and its growing daily. They say Protective Registration is just one of the effective ways to safe guard...

Tshegofatso Pule's family says there is no sentence that can bring her back to life.   Ntuthuko Shoba the father of her unborn baby -- was found guilty of premeditated murder in the Johannesburg High Court YESTERDAY. In handing down his verdict, Acting Judge Stuart Wilson said phone calls Shoba made to Muzi Malepane was for no other reason than to arrange Pule's killing.

David Ansara, the Chief Operating Officer at the Centre for Risk Analysis   Rob Rose, the editor of the influencial Financial Mail 

The City of Tshwane says it will take on review the decision by the local government bargaining council to reinstate over 600 waste management workers whose contacts were not renewed in 2020. The workers say they were promised they would be made permanent after 12 months, but the city didn't follow through. The council found that the city dismissed the workers unfairly and ordered their reinstatem...

Sex  workers may be operating freely in South Africa in the near future. This as the Deputy-Minister of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is expected hold consultative meetings on the issue of decriminalisation of sex-work in South Africa. The Commission for Gender Equality has welcomed the decision and says this step marks a significant progress towards exploring the p...

The United Nations says it is not aware of any biological weapons programmes in Ukraine. This was revealed in a Security Council briefing convened at the behest of Russia that alleges the United States is supporting Ukraine in military biological research - a claim Washington has dismissed as preposterous. Moscow says its military had uncovered evidence and documents of U.S-funded military biologi...

Energy experts say due to ageing infrastructure and Eskom's waning capacity to provide coal based power, consumers are set to pay 300% more for electricity over the next five years. They say the Eskom increases will hit consumers harder as municipalities will be passing cost on to consumers in their mid-year adjustments. They say this coupled with rising cost of fuel spells disaster for consumers...

With just over two years left in his term of office, much is expected from the newly appointed Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo, who will assume his role next month. Several quarters, including the Judicial watch dog group, Judges Matter, have outlined their expectations from Zondo and have called for a reform of the Judicial Service Commission. Whilst most political parties have welcomed Zondo's appo...

Whilst obesity and being overweight has nearly tripled since 1975 around the globe, in South Africa it has been no different. Health experts say Obesity is not just a cosmetic concern and a proper diet can help fight the condition. Experts furthermore say Obesity is a medical problem that increases the risk of many other serious diseases and health problems, such as coronary heart disease, stroke,...

The Road Accident Fund says it is operating in a highly litigious environment wherein it has experienced push back from law firms, medical institutions and individuals who seek to unjustifiably secure large payments from the fund.  RAF says the push-back comes from firms which have enjoyed fixed allocation payments which went up to as much as 100-million-rand per month.   The Road Accide...

The South African women's proteas got off to a winning start in the ICC women's ODI world cup in New Zealand. They beat Bangladesh by 32 runs yesterday to set their tournament up perfectly. I reached out to SABC cricket Anchor Natalie Germanos who is at the tournament as one of the world feed commentators. I began by asking her if South Africa's batting unit did enough in scoring just 207 runs in...

The number of Ukrainian refugees is expected to reach one-point-five-million TODAY. This as Russia continues its attack 11 days after invading Ukraine and Kyiv presses for further Western action, including more sanctions and weapons. Moscow and Kyiv are trading blame over a failed ceasefire plan that would have let civilians flee Mariupol and Volnovakha, two southern cities that Russian forces hav...

Ukraine's foreign ministry has reportedly called on the international community to take decisive action after Russian forces in Ukraine seized Europe's largest nuclear power plant, a move the ministry says risked nuclear disaster. Officials have said Zaporizhzhia plant in South Eastern Ukraine is operating normally after it was captured by Russian forces in fighting overnight. The capture of the n...

eThekwini Municipality says they are also embarking on collecting debt owed to the metro by citizens, businesses and some government departments. However the city says it's approach is different to that of Johannesburg and Tshwane Metro. In the past few weeks the City of Johannesburg has been hard at work cutting off the utilities to businesses, citizens and government buildings that have electric...

As consumers are facing increasing hardship compounded by WEDNESDAY's unprecedented fuel prices at the pumps, labour union Solidarity has put forward an alternative petrol price model. The proposal is contained in a draft petition sent to Parliament THIS WEEK.  Economists have warned of even higher fuel prices in April - with international crude oil prices spiralling above the $100 a barrel m...

About only 28.8%% of young people between the ages of 18 and 34 have vaccinated against Covid-19. The "KeReady" Campaign Vax Squad in conjunction with the Health Department have embarked on an initiative to get more young people fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The Vax Squad says there has been some sort of hesitancy amongst young people when it came to Covid-19 vaccination