Update@Noon

The City of Mbombela has described as misleading claims made by the DA in Mpumalanga that 1 billion rand is being returned to the coffers of Treasury while there are service delivery problems. The party revealed this week that the municipality only spent 13 percent of its allocation for the 2017/18 financial year. It claims that the City underspent on amongst other things, its infrastructure and e...

Formers SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane says he will appeal today's decision by the High Court in Pretoria to dismiss his application to get his job back. Last week, Moyane attempted to have his dismissal overturned and prevent the appointment of of a new commissioner at SARS. President Cyril Ramaphosa fired Moyane following the recommendation of the Nugent commission. Judge Hans Fabricius dismissed...

Judge Mandela Makaula will continue to preside over the rape and kidnapping trial of Ngerian pastor Timothy Omotoso. The Supreme Court of Appeal sitting in Bloemfontein dismissed Omotoso's application to have Judge Makaula of the High Court in Port Elizabeth recuse himself from the case citing bias on the judge's part as the main reason for his application. He and his two co-accused are facing num...

The former Mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality Florence Radzilani has denied any involvement in the investment of municipal money into the coffers of the embattled VBS Mutual Bank. Radzilani resigned earlier today. Vhembe is one of the mucinipalities that were implicated in the VBS scandal where officials deposited money despite the law stating clearly that they should not do so. Sakina Kamw...

The Human Rights Commission says although there has been much improvement in the entrenchment of human rights in South Africa, there is still much inequality. This comment follows the release of the commission's annual report on trends in human rights violations in South Africa. The commission says equality rights violations as well as economic and social rights complaints are what dominated their...

Officials from the Gauteng government are expected to meet their counterparts from the Master of the High Court in order to seek assistance in establishing which family members have a right to receive compensation for the victims of the Esidimeni tragedy which saw 144 people die when the provincial health department moved mental patients to unfit NGOs in a drive to cut costs. The government says s...

The Heart and Soul Foundation is urging the business sector to assist people living in informal settlements - by contributing towards painting their dwellings with a fire retardant. This as people continue to donate supplies to a community in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, after a fire swept through hundreds of informal settlements last night. It's alleged that a man started the fire after havi...

Uber is calling all local citizens to band together, to help those affected by the Alexandra fires through uberCOMMUNITY. They have made available temporary vehicles called uberCOMMUNITY which will allow Johannesburg locals to request a car that will collect donations for the people of Alex currently trying to rebuild their lives.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has arrived in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, following a fire that swept through hundreds of informal settlements. It's alleged that a man started the fire after having a fight with his girlfriend. He was allegedly attacked by community members - and later died in hospital after succumbing to his injuries. Police are appealing for anyone with information to come f...

The presidency has confirmed the resignation of 4 SABC board members

The seven ANC mayors in the North West Province who have been recalled by the party's provincial task team, are intending to challenge the move in court. The provincial task team recalled the mayors this week. Four of them are from municipalities implicated in depositing municipal funds in VBS Mutual bank. The other three mayors, have been recalled as their municipalities are said to have collapse...

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has visited Lewisham Primary school on Gauteng's Westrand after a video surfaced of a learner insulting an educator went viral. In the video; the learner can be seen insulting his teacher and refusing to be restrained

A representative of a group of people, who lost their belongings which they had kept in safety deposit boxes at two FNB branches during a robbery, says the bank has been treating them with arrogance. The bank has apparently offered to pay back as little as 5% of the value of their goods after the heists in Randburg and Parktown, in Gauteng. The group's spokesperson Kelly Fraser spoke to Sakina Kam...

The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) says it has not written off any money. It reported on its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2018 this morning in Johannesburg, saying its investments portfolio has grown by 8.3% from R 1.6 trillion in 2017 to R1.8 trillion despite the sluggish economy. This follows reports that the fund wrote-off R7.4 billion in investments in Steinhoff. Sak...

Farmers Association Agri SA says it is not necessary to change the Constitution in order to address the issue of land expropriation. The organisation held a media briefing this morning in Centurion, Pretoria. Executive Director Ombri van Zyl says expropriating land without compensation will threaten food security and adds that they will not allow the Constitution to be amended.

The residents of Westbury in Johannesburg say they will intensify their protest action if two community leaders arrested on charges public violence and incitement, are not released. They are currently at Sophiatown police station. The community took to the streets after the release of two suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Heather Peterson in what is suspected to be gang violence....

The ANC has joined the family of the struggle stalwart, Mendi Msimang, in mourning his passing. Msimang succumbed to cancer, five days before his 90th birthday. The former ANC treasurer-general joined the then liberation movement in exile in 1961. Mbali Thethani reports.

Both parties involved in the Tom Moyane court case will make representations in the North Gauteng High Court tomorrow. This after Judge Hans Fabricius rejected the claim that advocate Wim Trengove has a conflict of interest, as claimed by former SARS boss Tom Moyane's legal defence. The former SARS Commissioner wants to reinstatated seeks to interdict the appointment of his successor. Moyane was f...

A witness in the rape trial of Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso, says the public should stop expecting victims of sexual abuse to walk around feeling sorry for themselves. Cheryl Zondi who herself was abused, allegedly by Omotoso, was speaking in Johannesburg during the launch of her foundation. Her initiative has received support from other organisations seeking to end violence against women and c...

The Department of Higher Education says it is happy with the progress made in addressing problems in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. This comes as it prepares for the 2019 funding cycle. The department held a media briefing this morning in Cape Town. Minister Naledi Pandor says the scheme has received more than 400 000 applications for funding for next year. She says a high percentage o...

Discussions about journalism and the media continue today at the Highway Africa conference in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape. This is the 22nd year of the annual meeting of minds. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to various speakers including Siyabonga Africa who is programme officer at the South African Media Innovation Programme, who talked about entrepreneurial journalism.

The EFF says it is considering legal action against the Investigative Journalism Centre, AmaBhungane. This relates to a story that a fleet company that won the City's of Joburg's one-billion-rand contract made payments to a company linked to EFF leader Julius Malema. Ntebo Mokobo reports.

Parties in Parliament have welcomed today’s ruling by the high court in Cape Town which dismissed Afriforum’s application to urgently halt next week’s sitting of the National Assembly and the NCOP to start the process of amending Section 25 of the Constituin which deals with the expropriation of land without compensation. The lobby group went to court to argue that close to 180 000 written submiss...

One of the topics that speaks to this year's theme at Highway Africa Conference currently underway in Makanda is - Radio and the digital Sphere. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to the moderator, Kwami Ahiebenu;Executive Director at PenPlusBytes and one of the panelist, Alette Schoon who is the researcher documenting the daily mobile practices..

This year, The Highway Africa Conference taking place at the Rhodes University, Makhanda focuses on focuses on the impact of digital technologies on journalism and the media and, by extension, society. The theme for 2018 is Digital Citizenship: the changing relationship of media and society. We spoke to the organizer of the event Tatenda Chatiboko...