Update@Noon

The number of corona virus cases in South Africa have risen to 116.There's an increase of local transmissions. To date at least 14 people with no travel history have tested positive with the viral infection. To implement social distancing measures and help curb the spread of the virus within the country, social gatherings of more than 100 people have been prohibited. Large-scale celebrations of na...

Emfuleni municipality will pay Eskom R 50 million before end of business day today. MEC for Human Settlements, Urban Planning and CoGTA Lebogang Maile, and Mayors from all municipalities in Gauteng, held bilateral meeting with Eskom's CEO André de Ruyter to discuss electricity challenges experienced by municipalities and debts owed to Eskom by municipalities among other issues. We spoke to Eskom's...

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says safety measures have been greatly intensified at airlines.

Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi says the closure of some of the ports of entry in the country will have no impact on commerce. He says controls are being placed on human movement and not goods entry. He also says the Beitbridge border post will remain open because it is the only border to Zimbabwe and is the gateway for South Africa to the rest of the continent.

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says the declaration of a National State of Disaster due to COVID 19 will have huge implications for the Independent Electoral System. Dlamini-Zuma says the way which we are currently dealing with elections needs to change.

Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel says they are meeting with business and labour later today to chart a way forward....

Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni says funds have been set aside to deal with the virus, and we will have to spend more going forward....

The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga says they will be losing 10 schooling days and that should the closures continue beyond the stipulated time- the dapartment might have to extend the schooling year...

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande says there is an agreement in place that contact lectures have to be limited at the institutions of higher learning. However, they are yet issued a directive for universities to shutdown...

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has retracted earlier reports of a corona virus case in the Free State reducing the number of people infected in the country from 17 to 16. He has also announced that the 14 Limpopo students who returned from China recently have all tested negative for the virus. Mkhize was speaking at the Ranch Hotel and Resort during a joint media briefing of the inter-ministerial te...

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed an urgent application to the North Gauteng High Court to review the dissolution of the Tshwane Council. This follows a decision by the Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura to dissolve the Tshwane Council and place the Capital City under administration. We spoke to DA's Gauteng Provincial Chairperson, Mike Moriarty...

The Goodall family from Eldorado Park in the south of Johannesburg, says they are devastated after losing three young children. The children, aged between six and eleven all from one family, died on their way to school on Wednesday morning when the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a minibus taxi. The accident on the Golden Highway claimed twelve lives and left ten others seriously inj...

King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has been arrested at the Bumbane Great Place outside Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. This after an alleged attack on the palace in the early hours of today. His son and acting king, Prince Azenathi is believed to be among those assaulted. The king was put in a police van in full view of his subjects who had responded to the alarm. King Dalindyebo was released on parole in...

Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu has reassured South Africans that government is doing everything they can to ensure the safety of South Africans regarding the corona virus. Mthembu has also sent wishes to the South African repatriation team sent to Wuhan city, China, to repatriate more than 100 South Africans who want to return home, that team is expected to arrive back in the country t...

The DA in Gauteng is calling on Gauteng COGTA MEC Lebogang Maile to dissolve the Emfuleni local municipality in the Vaal. Municipal property including vehicles and furniture have been attached, as it owes Eskom 2.3 billion rand. In 2018 Gauteng Premier David Makhura announced that the municipality would be placed under administration but then Emfuleni mayor Jacob Khawe disputed this. Maile says th...

The High Court in Pretoria has found that President Cyril Ramaphosa was not obliged to disclose to parliament donations to his CR17 campaign donations. As there was no evidence that Ramaphosa financially benefited from campaign in his personal capacity. The case was brought before the court by President Cyril Ramaphosa, for a judicial review of Mkhwebane's report into the funding of his 2017 ANC p...

Some of the 16 Capricorn TVET students who returned from China on Friday have denied being tested for the Coronavirus and quarantined prior to flying back to South Africa. The Limpopo Health Department earlier said the students had tested negative for COVID-19 and that there was no need to quarantine them in a state facility. The 16 are among the 29 students from three TVET colleges across the cou...

Tracing teams searching for people who may have come into contact with South Africa's first officially diagnosed COVID-19 patient are expected to have arrived in KwaZulu-Natal. The man is in self isolation with his family in Durban. The health department, with the help of home affairs, is tracking down travellers who went through the Beit Bridge border post without being screened. We spoke to Depu...

There are reports that the members of the South African Defence Force (SANDF) are refusing to be deployed on a mission to repatriate South Africans from the Chinese city of Wuhan following the outbreak of the Coronavirus. The SANDF has been tasked with returning the 184 South Africans from Wuhan city which is the epicentre of the outbreak of the Coronavirus. We spoke to the Spokesperson for the De...

The Gauteng government has placed the City of Tshwane under administration. Premier David Makhura made the announcement this morning (Thursday 5 March) at the provincial legislature in Johannesburg. The decision comes as the City of Tshwane is currently facing a leadership crisis following the resignation of Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa last month. The entire executive which served under Mayor Mokgalap...

The University of Fort Hare has instructed students o leave campus and vacate their rooms in all university-owned and leased residences with all their belongings and return home. This follows a two week long protest over students who are not able to register due to historic debt. We spoke to SRC premier at Fort Hare university's Alice Campus, Zenathi Mbenya and Spokesperson for the university of F...

Learners in Tlakgameng village near Ganyesa in North West have not been to school since the opening of schools in January. Community members in the area have been restricting learners from attending school, in order to pressure government to address their service delivery needs, particulalry roads. We spoke to our reporter Mpho Lepedi who visited the area...

A Grade 3 learner from the Tsholetsang Primary School in Bloemfontein has died after allegedly eating a poisonous substance at the school. The eight-year-old died at a local clinic. Six learners have been admitted to the Pelonomi Hospital. Two of the learners are in the ICU and four are in the general ward. We spoke to Howard Ndaba, spokesperson of the Department of Education in the Free State..

Members of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, SCOPA, have heard that the Public Works and Infrastructure Department had resorted to getting cleaning staff to process invoices by service providers. Officials from the department briefed MPs on their 2018/19 annual report. The report states that that 11-thousand invoices were not paid within the stipulated 30 days. The Cape Town offi...

President of Black Business Council (BBC) Sandile Zungu says South Africa is in a crisis and turbulent times. Speaking at the opening of the 2020 Black Business Council Summit underway in Midrand, Johannesburg. He says the current political leadership should be honest and decisive. Zungu also lashed out at the notion that Black economic ownership equals corruption in the minds of many South Africa...