Update@Noon

The family of Leigh Matthews, who was killed in July 2004 held a press conference in Johannesburg earlier today after allegations that her killer; Donovan Moodley may be eligible for parole consideration. The family says it was called by Correctional Services for mediation ahead of a parole hearing with a possibility of an early release for Donovan Moodley. The Department of Correctional Services...

Gift of the Givers says it's overwhelmed with calls for oxygen concertrators in Gauteng hospitals. It says Covid-19 infections are ripping through the population at an unprecedented rate. The NGO says it is inundated with calls of desperation from medical professionals, families and patients for oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders and oxygen, or bed availability at hospitals. Both private and p...

The Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, has raised concern about the impact of illegal mining on communities. He says it is an attack on the country's economy and must be dealt with decisively. Mantashe was speaking during his visit to the China Africa Precious Metals (CAPM) mine in Orkney in the North West. This follows the discovery of 20 bodies believed to be those of illegal miners....

The City of Joburg is facing a deepening power crisis, with electricity problems leading to more blackouts that take days to repair. The problems extend beyond just outages, with delayed maintenance, tampering and illegal connections now putting lives at risk. Newlyweds Zaheer Sarang and Nabeela Khanwere buried in a joint funeral on Monday after being electrocuted in their Crosby, Johannesburg, ov...

The Gauteng government wants stricter restrictions imposed on the province to curb the rising number of Covid-19 cases. Some hospitals have had to divert patients to other facilities due to constrained bed capacity. One Gauteng public hospital say it may have to re-purpose more wards for Covid-19 patients to accommodate the rising number of admissions. Nurses are also feeling the pressure due to t...

The CCMA has issued Public Servants Association (PSA) with non-resolution certificates. This means the union could embark on a protected strike after giving an employer 48-hours notice. The PSA, representing more than 235 000 public-sector employees, says despite having declared a dispute, it had made every effort to engage with Government as the employer during the conciliation process regarding...

The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (Saapa) says the introduction of stronger alcohol laws in South Africa will help reduce crime in South Africa, especially the maltreatment of children. The lobby group is calling for the passing of the Liquor Amendment Bill, which it says will help change the country's drinking culture. We spoke to Maurice Smithers, director for The Southern African Alc...

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gorhdan has announced Takatso Consortium as the new strategic equity partner for SAA. Takatso will own 51% of the restructured airline while government will hold a 49% stake into the new SAA. Government says it will not be putting any money into the new consortium. Gordhan says Takatso will invest just over 3 billion rand into the new airline. Gordhan says after...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that private investors and companies will be allowed to generate (and sell) up to 100 MW in electricity. The move, which includes the ability to sell excess capacity into the grid, is expected to take pressure off state-owned electricity utility Eskom, However not immediately. Energy experts have weighed in on the president's move to allow up to 100MW of pri...

Soweto residents protest outside Eskom's Megawatt Park. Residents complain of electricity problems and poor service delivery by the power utility. They say they have been without electricity for a about year now. We spoke to our reporter Maageketla Mohlabe, some of the protesting residents and energy expert,Ted Blom.

The Free Basotho Movement wants South Africa- Lesotho borders to be removed. The movement is calling for an election referendum to allow citizens to vote on the removal of the borders separating Lesotho and South Africa. The Free Basotho Movement says it has written to SADC to intervene. We spoke to the President of the Free Basotho Movement DR Letsema Morolong and got more context from Senior Res...

South Africa is DITCHING the 'herd immunity Covid 19 vaccination plan, because herd immunity is no longer practical in the country. South Africa was aiming to immunise 41-million people by the end of this year in order to reach herd immunity. Health experts working for Bhekisisa confirmed that the government is now rethinking its plan and moving towards a containment strategy to reduce strain on t...

Further investigations into the Department of Health's irregular Digital Vibes contract have revealed that minister Zweli Mkhize's son scored a Land Cruiser bakkie from the Digital Vibes. Previous investigations found that the minister's son also had money paid to his company, while the maintenance work on the minister's house was also paid for by the group. Digital Vibes is owned by Mkhize's long...

Independent business community Sakeliga has instituted court proceedings to reverse municipal decline throughout South Africa, proposing a new form of municipal administration, with independent control over electricity and other service charges. In court papers served, Sakeliga has asked a judge to appoint a special master to handle payments for water, electricity and repairs in two of the failing...

Housing activist organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi has condemned the City of Cape Town for attempting to compile complaints from the public against homeless people. A document that recently surfaced on social platforms, urges members of the public in the City of Cape Town to "add their voice" about how homeless people ("street people" as referred to in their document) impact them, and to send these to J...

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) is currently being briefed by the National Treasury and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) on allegations of maladministration, mismanagement and corruption. These were brought by the President of the United Democratic Movement, Bantu Holomisa. Last year. Scopa resolved to develop a framework that would guide investigations into allegat...

In line with the approved the Self Sufficiency and Sustainability Strategic Framework, Correctional Services is today launching a prison project at Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo. The vision is for the inmates to produce their own food for government to save money. Inmates will also gain practical skills and qualifications through the project. We spoke to our reporter Sagree Chetty.

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) says it has assessed the extent of vandalism of its infrastructure across the country and has instituted a recovery plan, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has joined PRASA Management in visiting some of the damaged stations in and around Johannesburg and to provide details of the recovery plan. We also spoke to Prof. Jackie Walters, Director for the I...

The ANC has retained 27 of the 40 wards it contested in yesterday's by-elections. The governing party has also lost one ward and won three new wards. The DA which contested ten wards, has retained six wards but lost four, while the Patriotic Alliance has won two new wards. The IFP has retained one ward and won another. The Better Residents Association in Mpumalanga has lost a ward. According to th...

At least sixty seven Palestinian including children have been killed since Monday. Heavy Israeli air strike and Palestinian rocket fire have continued through the night. The Israeli military says it is targeting Gaza including intelligence buildings, a bank and the Hamas navy squad. Palestinian militants have launched ways of rockets towards Israeli cities. Suhair Zakkout is the Spokesperson for t...

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Cape Town says it is formulating a Parliamentary Bill to force the South African government to implement sanctions against Israel. This as conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate. Meanwhile, the Pro-Palestine protest is continuing in Cape Town against the continued clashes in the Middle East. The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) is leading the march with...

The Modjadji Royal Council in Limpopo has veered off from the long held history of matrilineal lineage by appointing a male leader. The Balobedu nation has not had a male monarch in 200 years. Balobedu are known to be led by Modjadji queens who are famous for rainmaking customs. The royal council has appointed the late Queen Makobo Modjadji's son, Lekukela, as the king of Balobedu people. It was a...

National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole received a tongue lashing from police minister Bheki Cele yesterday. In a letter demanding a retraction of appointments of senior managers by Sitole, Cele was critical of the commissioner for effectively defying him and going over his head. The commissioner was given until 4pm yesterday to retract the appointments. We spoke to Head of Justice and...

The Head of ANC Presidency, Sibongile Besani, says the suspension of the ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule is a decision of the party's national executive committee (NEC) to fight corruption and also unite it. On the other hand suspended Magashule wrote a letter to party President Cyril Ramaphosa, suspending him. In a letter circulating on social media last night, Magashule says he used powers v...

It has emerged in the Auditor General's findings on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme's (NSFAS) annual report that the entity allegedly incurred R50.1 billion in irregular expenditure and that "ghost students" had allegedly received funding. According to the NSFAS 2019/20 annual report there were some 440-thousand "irregular" student records that had been picked up and an undisclosed numbe...