Update@Noon

Department of Public Enterprises director-general, Kgathatso Tlhakudi says eight Eskom employees have been suspended following an explosion at the newly completed Medupi Power station. Tlhakudi is briefing the committee on a range of governance and financial challenges relating to state-owned companies. This comes as worker Union NUMSA has cautioned ESKOM to stop what it called, pre-empting the ou...

The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance says the extent of pollution along the Umhlanga River is still unkown. The public is warned not to fish or collect any dead fish along the beaches north of the Umgeni River following a chemical spill in KwaZulu-Natal. The United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) chemical plant was set alight on 12 July during the public violence. The alliance is demanding t...

Eskom has announced that Unit 4 at the Medupi powerstation in Lephalale, Limpopo exploded last night.  The power utility says no injuries have been reported and all employees at the plant have been accounted for, however emergency services have attended to seven employees for shock. In a statement, Eskom says Unit 4 has been on a short term outage when the incident occurred and all the work o...

Zimbabwean police say they are investigating the circumstances arround the death of a 14-year-old girl who lost her life while giving birth at a church shrine in  Marange, east of the country. Activists have accused government of turning a blind eye to the alleged child abuse practiced in the country's Apostolic Church, which the late Memory Machaya belonged to. It is alleged church leaders f...

Motorists are urged to renew their licences before the grace period deadline at the end of August. The national lock down imposed on the country last year forced licencing centres to close, resulting in a backlog of expired licences. All learner licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving licences that expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 December 2020 were...

The latest cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa has been met with mixed reactions. On Thursday night, Ramaphosa announced, among other changes, that he had appointed the chair of the Development Bank of South Africa, Enoch Godongwana, as the new finance minister and collapsed the State Security department into the Presidency. Deputy Health Minister, Joe Phaahla has been promoted to lead...

Members of Section 27, Equal Education and Michael Komape's father, James Komape, have gathered outside the High Court in Polokwane. This as proceedings get under way after Section 27 brought the case against the Basic Education Department. The case relates to the department's plan to eradicate pit latrines at schools. Equal Education and Section 27 are challenging the department's plan to complet...

The EFF is currently marching to Phoenix police station north of Durban. Security has been beefed up  on the route around the Ghandi Luthuli Park where the march is expected to start. The march is said to be aimed at addressing the racial attacks that led to the death of 36 people in the area at the time of the unrest. KZN EFF chairperson Vusi Khoza says they are puzzled by the large number o...

The Good Party says it has approached the Hawks with 26 names and evidence of people who are alleged instigators of the recent violence seen in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The civil unrest left 330 dead and thousands of businesses looted or destroyed in both province. The party's secretary-general, Brett Herron tells Sakina Kamwendo that the evidence was gathered from three WhatsApp groups which we...

The Electoral Commission has reiterated that it will file an application this afternoon for the Constitutional Court to allow the local government elections to be held by the end of February 2022. The polls were scheduled for the 27th of October - however, the Moseneke Inquiry has recommended that the date be postponed to February next year due to the Covid19 pandemic. IEC Chairperson Glen Mashini...

Many unemployed South Africans have reached out to the Update@Noon team for clarity on the latest round of government's R350 social relief grant which is expected resume soon. Government had introduced the grant for all unemployed citizens last year in an effort to fight the economic impact of Covid-19. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Social Development minister, Lindiwe Zulu...

Many schools report that they are unable to comply, as classes are overcrowded. Primay school learners have returned to full-time attendance, but the major condition to returning to school which is the ability to social distance seems to a huge challenge for many schools. As many as 500 township schools could not open yesterday because they could not comply. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Executive Dire...

The matter involving Trade unions at Mango has been adjourned to Friday by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg for heads of arguments to be heard. This after unions fight for the low-cost airline company to be placed under business rescue. The Mango Pilots' Association says it is optimistic that the court will rule in favour of the airline's workers. Much of the South African aviation ind...

The South African Association of Freight Forwarders says disruptions to the country's supply chains over recent weeks has resulted in the loss of trust, reputation damage, decreasing investor confidence, companies choosing to avoid using South Africa's ports. SAAFF says a recent cyber-attack on Transnet resulted in a virtual standstill for 12 days and has affected the jobs of many. This comes afte...

Basic Education Department says it will not force educators to be vaccinated against their will. This comes as the department announces the start of the third school term with all primary school learners allowed back to class today. But in some schools there are capacity challenges. According to the Basic Education all provinces have reported that they will not be able to accommodate primary schoo...

Eskom says the Medupi power plant project  has finally been completed. This 14 years after construction started on the Medupi power plant. Eskom says the  last unit  at Medupi has achieved commercial operation, marking the completion of the project. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Eskom's Spokesperson Sikonathi Manthantsha..  

A WhatsApp group has emerged as the focal point for the eight days of riots and looting that claimed more than 300 lives and ripped R50bn out of a struggling economy. Two prominent suspended ANC members are part of the main WhatsApp group formed to plan protests when former president Jacob Zuma was jailed. We spoke to Ferial Haffajee - associate editor of the Daily Maverick.  

Street trade should not be regulated. This according to Free Market Foundation (FMF) Founder and President, Leon Louw, in his submission to the City of Johannesburg (COJ) on its latest Draft Informal Trading Policy. The Submission proposes a Public Space Management Bylaw. The Free Market Foundation has offered to assist COJ with this adaptation. We spoke to FMF president, Leon Louw. 

Leader of the DA in Mpumalanga, Jane Sithole says they are concerned about the continuing culture of pouring millions into projects that never come to fruition. She says the DA in the province is concerned about the construction of the Mpumalanga Parliamentary Village which began in November 2017 and had an estimated completion date of April 2020.The project has been plagued by delays and is not c...

The Apartheid-era Victims Family Group (AVFG) has welcomed a decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Directorate for Priority Crimes to collaborate efforts in the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. This follows the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal to refuse former apartheid policeman, Joao Rodrigues' application for a stay of prosecution for h...

While the health ministry pushes for vaccination of the elderly, those behind bars are not left behind. The department of correctional services (DCS) says its vaccination processes for prisoners who are sixty and above is going according to plan with more than 500 prisoners vaccinated to date. The prisoners are receiving their jabs alongside prison healthcare workers and guards. We spoke to Logan...

Despite not securing the environmental green light for its gas-to-power ships to operate in three of the country's major industrial ports, Karpowership South Africa says it remains fully committed to South African projects. The company says it strongly disagrees with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE)'s decision not to approve its projects and will take appropriate re...

The Basic Education Department says those who plan to disrupt the vaccine rollout which kicks off today, will face the full might of the law. Over the weekend, Minister Angie Motshekga announced that all employees of the department, across the country, including teachers, admin staff and cleaners will receive the Johnson and Johnson single-dose jab, over the next two weeks. Motshekga and Gauteng E...

The financial state of municipalities in South Africa has continued to deteriorate as a lack of accountability and poor governance continues to dog the country at a local government level. Presenting to parliament's standing committee on public accounts yesterday, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke said that the country was effectively facing two main issues: there is not much money going around and...