Update@Noon

The World Health Organisation has warned that the high number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa must be taken seriously. WHO's Emergencies Chief, Dr Mike Ryan earlier this week said he is very concerned that there is an acceleration covid-19 in South Africa, he says until recently, South Africa had remained relatively unscathed by the pandemic compared to the rising numbers seen in other parts of...

A 21-year old mother who was seen on a social media video feeding her two-year old son alcohol and dagga is today appearing before the Dzanani Magistrate's court. The woman was arrested on Saturday with another woman who cheers the child on in the video. The video - which shows two women giving the child a bottle of cider and urging him to finish it, as well as giving him dagga, went viral over th...

The Department of Social Development is discussing a possibility of a universal basic income grant for South Africa's poor. Speaking during a government social cluster briefing on Monday, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, says the Covid-19 pandemic, had spurred discussions on how the poor will continue accessing support once the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant is discontinued. T...

The Democratic Alliance has filed an urgent application to interdict Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's authorization of funds for South African Airways' (SAA) restructure using his emergency powers under Section 16 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). This comes after the Department of Public Enterprises confirmed that the government had met the business rescue practitioner's July 15 deadlin...

Students' organisation COSAS in Mpumalanga will today embark on a process to shut down all public schools in the province. This as teachers' unions intensify their call for schools to close down in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The Congress of South African Students in Limpopo says it also plans to shut down schools at Seshego outside Polokwane on today. COSAS says it is not satisfi...

The Human Rights Commission has come out in support of South African schools staying open and more children returning, saying it supports findings from Unicef that more damage is done to children by not returning. The commission says it had become aware of studies that showed children were suffering more while at home, having lost between 20% and 50% of their scheduled schooling since the start of...

The Congress of South African Trade Unions says it intends to submit a Section 77 application at Nedlac following the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to allow the taxi operators to fill their taxis to full capacity. The Federation is pursuing the Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act which covers a viable protest action to promote or defend socio-economic interests of workers. We spoke to C...

The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has welcomed the commitment by National Treasury that government will support and source funding for a business rescue plan for South African Airways (SAA), which will result in the emergence of a new viable, sustainable, competitive national airline. On Tuesday, 86% of SAA creditors voted in favour of the proposed business rescue plan. A 75% vote was nee...

More and more teacher unions are calling for schools to close. They want schooling suspended until after the COVID-19 peak has passed. Over 1,500 pupils and teachers have contracted COVID-19 since schooling resumed. The World Health Organisation has also warned against the re-opening of schools while local transmissions of the coronavirus are on the rise. However,The Council of Education Ministers...

SAA and its associated business rescue practitioners are today in a meeting with creditors and employees as the debate surrounding liberation versus liquidation rages on. In the lead-up to today's meeting, the Department of Public Enterprises, led by Minister Pravin Gordhan, has called on both unions and creditors to support the creation of a new national carrier. Today, the business rescue plan -...

Zindzi Mandela, the youngest daughter of South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela and anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, has died at the age of 59...we spoke to ANC veterant Tokyo Sexwale who pays tribute to her.

Corruption continues to contaminate the Sekhukhune district municipality. In the latest supply chain scandal, some of its employees are under investigation. This is after eight companies were irregularly awarded contracts worth 26 million rand. According to an internal memo seen by SABC News, the service providers were given appointment letters for Covid-19 related water and sanitation projects. W...

Mpumalanga Health Department has suspended two men arrested for being possession of human parts in Elukwatini. They were found with a placenta, leg and knee. It is not clear where the body parts came from. One of the accused is employed at the Ermelo Hospital and the other at Lothair Clinic. We spoke to our reporter Motsebi Monareng ..

INTRO: Parents are de-registering their children from school to avoid paying school fees. While on the other hand, some schools are reporting that parents are defaulting on paying fees because they have lost their jobs. Others are refusing to pay because their children have not been going to school. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in most learners losing half of the school year and parents ques...

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga says she is surprised that parents are not rushing to register for home schooling. The minister says she expected that parents would take up this option following the outrage against the decision to open schools. Thousands of learners have gone back to school and more are expected to do so at the end of the month. But parents say home schooling is not vi...

The South African media fraternity is the latest industry to suffer the results of the COVID-19 pandemic with the looming threats of widespread job losses and the closure of a number of publications. Yesterday publisher Media24 announced plans to lay off more than 500 staff members and shut down some of its newspapers and magazines. This comes in the wake of the SABCs planned retrenchment of 600 p...

A KZN primary school learner was allegedly raped after she was sent home from school for not wearing a face mask. The incident allegedly occurred on the way home in the Bulwer area. Our Reporter Nonkululeko Hlophe went to the area...

Code 14 qualified truck drivers are calling for the total shutdown of the country, saying government must intervene in the employment of foreign nationals in most sectors for a lower wage. In Eastern Cape alone, there are over 500 qualified truck drivers who are currently unemployed while the industry employs over 90% of foreign truck drivers. Over 1000 truck drivers nationally have downed tools f...

Hundreds JMPD trainees are disgruntled with the ANC-led government in Joburg and are speaking out against the alleged continued ill-treatment by Public Safety MMC Mally Mokoena. This is after they were allegedly recalled by the MMC stating that they are poorly trained and have been back to the police academy to be retrained. Some see this as the consequence of the ANCs on-going strategy to purge t...

There has been an outcry over an incident in Khayelitsha yesterday where law enforcement officers manhandled a naked man during an anti land invasion operation. We spoke to our Reporter, Thandiswa Mawu and Yonela Diko, head of communications for the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation who gave more details on the story.

The urgent case brought by Equal Education (EE) and two Limpopo schools to ensure that meals are provided to all nine million learners who would ordinarily benefit from the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), will be heard in the North Gauteng High Court tomorrow. Equal Education and the schools are asking the court for a declaratory order that there is a duty on government to ensure that...

Westbury residents in Johannesburg have called for the deployment of the military after three people were shot and killed in the area in renewed gang violence this past week. They fear for the safety of their children. In the latest incident, Kirsten May, a popular barber in the area, was shot and killed while on his way home with a friend. Maagaketla Mohlabe and Thabile Mbhele compiled this repor...

More than 180 learners at the Makaula Senior Secondary School in Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape have tested positive for the corona virus. Teacher Union Sadtu in the Eastern Cape has called on the Provincial Basic Education Department to close all schools in the province saying they're not prepared to deal with corona virus pandemic. We spoke to Eastern Cape's Health Department's spokesperson Siz...

Thousands of taxi commuters are without transport this morning, following a total shutdown by the SA National Taxi Council - SANTACO. This is in protest against the Covid-19 relief package as announced by Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula on Friday. Mbalula says government has allocated more than one-billion rand to the taxi industry to mitigate the devastating economic effects of the coronavirus...

The department of public enterprises says it will oppose a court application to have SA Airways placed under provisional liquidation. The department said it was notified of a court application by SA Airlink aimed at interdicting the business rescue practitioners of SAA from convening a creditors' meeting to vote on a business rescue plan for SAA. The application by SA Airlink also seeks to have SA...