Update@Noon

The police have arrested the 22-year-old scholar transport driver who was involved in an accident that claimed the lives of 12 learners in Vanderbijlpark on Monday. Police say the driver was arrested after he was discharged from the hospital. He is expected to appear before Vanderbijlpark Magistrates' Court within 48 hours, facing charges of twelve counts of culpable homicide and reckless and negl...

The El Shaddai Christian School in the Vaal will today hold a prayer service for the 12 learners who lost their lives in yesterday’s scholar transport crash. 12 children died in the scholar transport crash in the Vaal on Monday, with one child still unidentified. The department of education in Gauteng says preliminary investigations into the cause of the scholar transport crash in Vanderbijl...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his sadness at the loss of life in a collision involving a scholar transport vehicle this morning. This as chaotic scenes are unfolding in Vanderbijlpark in Golden highway, where distraught parents are demanding access to the scene of a deadly scholar transport crash. Families are pleading to see the bodies of their children who died when a minibus taxi coll...

The flood-related death toll in Mpumalanga and Limpopo currently stands at 31. In Mpumalanga, 20 people have died, while 17 died in Limpopo.  Incidents of drowning continue to emerge from the Phalaborwa, Giyani, and Thohoyandou areas of Limpopo. Heavy rains have battered various parts of the provinces, damaging homes, roads, and bridges. For the latest, Sakina Kamwendo spoke to the Limpopo Co...

The South African Human Rights Commission has flagged deep-rooted failures in the scholar transport system, warning that overloaded and unroadworthy vehicles are putting learners at risk. The Commission has given provincial authorities 60 days to report on corrective action and 90 days to implement consequence management against officials accused of poor oversight. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to the pro...

Dr William Mpofu, Senior Research Associate at Good Governance Africa focusing on the SADC region, warns that elections in parts of Africa are steadily losing public trust. He says polls are no longer widely viewed as a credible or fair mechanism to negotiate and share political power, with opposition parties often facing a deliberately uneven playing field. His remarks come as early results from...

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni held a commanding lead in early presidential election results announced on Friday as conflicting accounts emerged of violence reported after the vote. Museveni , who is 81 and has ruled Uganda since seizing power in 1986, wants a decisive victory following a campaign marred by violence at opposition rallies. Results announced by the electoral commission from Thurs...

 Advocate Dali Mpofu, representing former President Jacob Zuma, making his oral submissions in support of a formal application for the recusal of retired Justice Sisi Khampepe. Mpofu argues that perceived bias arising from Justice Khampepe's previous roles makes her recusal necessary for the process to remain impartial. Justice Khampepe chairs the Judicial Commission of Inquiry investigating...

The South African National Parks, SANParks, says due to persistent and heavy rainfall affecting the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces, the park has taken a precautionary decision not to allow day visitors into Kruger National Park until conditions improve. SANParks says earlier this week, the park was faced with a challenging situation in which several day visitors were unable to exit the park afte...

The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court is expected to hand down a ruling at 2pm today, on whether video footage showing the murder of Warrick Stock known as DJ Warras may  be acquired. The State has relied on  CCTV footage obtained from a butchery across the Zambezi building where the media personality was gunned down. Victor Majola has been placed at the scene through CCTV footage as he wa...

The Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs in Mpumalanga says that, since the start of the summer rainfall season in November, the province has kept all disaster management teams and emergency personnel fully activated across provincial, district, and local municipality levels. The department says it has recorded 19 fatalities related to the heavy rai...

The South African Human Rights Commission reports receiving numerous complaints about learner placements, especially in Gauteng. The commission says it has been monitoring school admissions programmes over the years and has noted a systemic problem of learners not being placed or not being placed on time. The Commission says this amounts to a direct threat to the constitutional right of every chil...

Former Acting National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane is appearing before the Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption and political interference in the South African justice system. . He has told parliament that the order for him to step aside in 2017 by former Minister Fikile Mbalula was unlawful. He is the first witness to face t...

Minister John Steenhuisen, further says  several provinces have been affected, including Limpopo, the Eastern Cape, parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. He says the department will roll out immediate mass vaccination in hotspot areas, with repeat campaigns within three months. Feedlots and dairy herds will be fully vaccinated. SteenHuisen explains

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen says a foot and mouth vaccination programme has to go hand in hand with enhanced surveillance and movement control. Steenhuisen was briefing the media on the current status of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in South Africa. He says government has vaccinated 2 million animals. He says early detection and reporting are essential to limit the spread of Foot-and-...

Tensions continue to simmer between Washington in the US and the South African government. This as the Will for Peace 2026 maritime exercise officially launched over the past weekend. This year's week long naval exercises are led by the People's Republic of China, with South Africa acting as host nation. The collaborative action by BRICS countries has however hit a snag with Iran and India both pu...

The Competition Commission says its is looking at developing a new national digital monitoring tool in order to track and monitor exorbitant school uniform prices. This as the commission seeks to curb the exclusive supply agreement that force parents to buy school uniforms from single and often high priced outlets. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to senior analyst at the Competition Commission, Sithabiso Bu...

As South Africa's schools prepare to reopen tomorrow, thousands of learners in Gauteng still remain without school placement for the upcoming academic year.  This is despite government assurances that the crisis is under control. Last week, the  Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) reported that 4,858  Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners are unplaced. These are learners whose school appli...

The rights group SECTION27 has gone to the Limpopo High Court on behalf of 50 former matric pupils accused of group copying. The group from Baphutheng Senior Secondary School, are accused of copying Business Studies Paper 1 and Economics Paper 2 in the 2024 NSC exams. According to SECTION 27 the learners' results have been withheld for over a year, despite no evidence of cheating. SECTION 27 argue...

Residents of the Kouga Municipality in the Eastern Cape have been urged to remain vigilant and report any flare-ups to emergency services. This as mop-up operations continue in Zwartenbosch. In St Francis Bay the fire has been contained. Firefighting crews are monitoring the area for possible flare-ups. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to SABC reporter Nandipha Plaatjie.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube says the National Senior Certificate exams remain one of the biggest and most complex national operations in the country. Gwarube says the 2025 National Senior Certificate exams, written by over 900-thousand learners, were largely conducted smoothly across more than 7-thousand centres. Gwarube was addressing delegates at the MTN Innovation Centre in Johannes...