Update@Noon

Former South African Airways Board Chair, Cheryl Carolus, has taken the stand at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Parktown, Johannesburg. Carolus and other board members resigned as board members of SAA in 2012. Carolus said at the time that her relationship with the then Public Enterprises Minister, Malusi Gigaba, had broken down irretrievably. In her testimony today, Carolus says...

11 million children in South Africa are at risk of developing a condition known as stunting because of poor nutrition. Stunting is when children do not develop at the same pace or level as their peers do. The high rate of child poverty and stunting has prompted the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to raise this as a priority for government. One of the ways in which...

Disability rights organisations have called on the government to do more to root out the problem of sexual abuse of children with mental disabilities. An investigation by the SABC 1 Current Affairs programme, Cutting Edge, has uncovered widespread sexual abuse of children with disabilities in special schools in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal. Parents that Cutting Edge spoke to, say their child...

ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe has started testifying before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Parktown, Johannesburg. This after GCIS head Mzwanele Manyi concluded his testimony by saying that his dismantling of the bid adjudication committee at government communication did not flout any regulations. Manyi previously testified that upon arriving at GCIS he found a "mini VBS...

The Special Investigating Unit says it has found that there were irregularities in the awarding of several contracts by the SABC. The SIU briefed Parliament this morning on its probe into public broadcaster's unlawful payments. SIU Head Andy Mothibi has outlined the progress of some of the investigations.

It has emerged at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry that former Finance Minister Des Van Rooyen and his advisor Mohamed Bobat only exchanged contact details shortly before Van Rooyen was sworn-in at the Union Buildings in 2015. This after Nhlanhla Nene was unexpectedly dismissed. Former Director of Communications at Treasury Phumza Macanda has told the commission that this happened in the wa...

The Global Citizen Festival heads to our shores next week with an all-star concert headlined by Beyoncé & Jay Z, Cassper Nyovest, D'banj, Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder, Femi Kuti, Pharrell Williams, Chris Martin, Sho Madjozi, Tiwa Savage, Usher, and Wizkid at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. Tittled "Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100", the festival will also be in celebration and honour of former pr...

Communications and Broadcast media workers unions CWU and BEMAWU have welcomed the appointment of Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams as new Minister of Communications, Telecommunications and Postal Services. CWU wants her to stand firmly against retrenchments at the SABC and Telkom. BEMAWU also wants her urgent intervention at the SABC. Our Parliamentary Correspondent Mercedes Besent reports.

There has been a low turn out again as members of political parties, religious and traditional leaders well as community members supporting AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo marched in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape demanding that he be released. The ''Free the King'' march started at the eNkululekweni to the Freedom Square in the city centre, where a petition will be handed over to a...

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng says the judiciary must receive funding and other support if it is to function optimally. Mogoeng presented the annual report on Judicial Functions for the 2017/18 financial year, at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg this morning. This is the first time the judiciary is taking the lead in accounting for its work.

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has ruled in favour of the Xolobeni Crisis Committee which represents the people of Umgungundlovu in Xolobeni in the Eastern Cape, who do not want mining in their area. Australian based Mineral Commodities has for years been making attempts to mine the titanium rich land saying there will be economic benefits for the community which some residents claim is...

Safety and security at schools is again under the spotlight after a grade one learner was stabbed to death allegedly by a grade eleven learner. The incident occurred at the toilets of the Dikeledi Makapan primary school in Makapanstad north of Pretoria on Wednesday. North West Education MEC Sello Lehari is at this hour meeting with the school authorities and other stakeholders to find out what rea...

KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwana has called for an urgent forensic investigation, after it emerged that the teacher accused of impregnating five learners at a high school in Manguzi was dismissed last year, for another case of sexual relationship with a learner. According to Dlungwana the teacher was dismissed after being found guilty by the department during a disciplinary hearing....

North West health workers are allegedly not impressed with the reinstatement of head of department Dr Thabo Lekalakala. Lekalakala was placed on special leave after he was accused of benefiting from the Gupta-linked Mediosa company. The Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council ruled that Lekalakala must be reinstated. Some health workers say they will only go back to work o...

Former National Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile on his 2nd day of testimony, has told the Commission of inquiry in State Capture that Des Van Rooyen "broke tradition" by not attending a formal handover with his predecessor, Nhlanhla Nene. Fuzile was relating how events unfolded during the short period that Van Rooyen was the Finance Minister.....

Civil Society groups have come under severe criticism for the way they deal with sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination of its employees. They've been accused of protecting perpetrators of sexual abuse and gender based violence over the victims. This emerged during a discussion on Confronting Abuse and Gender based violence in the civil society sector organised by Action Aid South Africa in J...

Lobby group Afriforum has filed court papers to interdict National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete over the process of the Constitutional Review Committee on the expropriation of land without compensation. This comes almost a week after the committee adopted the report which recommends that section 25 of the constitution be amended to facilitate the expropriation of land.

Economist Issac Mashego says South Africa should expect a good trade deal with the UK event after the Brexit deal has been finalised. This comes as EU Ambassadors meet in Brussels, Belgium today to consider the withdrawal plan, which British Prime Minister Theresa May is confident will work. Yesterday three British ministers and Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigned. Some MPs have made a formal r...

Former Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille remains cagey about whether she did send an SMS to DA councillor Xanthea Limberg suggesting that processes be bypassed during the appointment of a city manager two years ago. De Lille allegedly wanted Achmat Ebrahim to be given the job. Limberg has laid criminal charges against De Lille at the local police station, but the former mayor who has left the DA,...

South Africans should brace themselves for possible load shedding during the festive season. Eskom CEO, Phakamani Hadebe briefed the media on the state of the power system at the utility's head office in Megawatt Park in Johannesburg earlier today saying they're trying to minimise the risk of load shedding but urged consumers to use energy sparingly.

The National Treasury's forensic report has outlined corruption at Transnet and Eskom over the last six years. It pointed former Eskom executives Matshela Koko, Anoj Singh and Suzanne Daniels in wrongdoing at Eskom. The report also looking into the procurement of locomotives at Transnet has recommended that criminal charges be laid against a number of people including former CEOs Siyabonga Gama an...

The process to find the next National Director of Public Prosecutions is underway at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. In August, it was ruled that the appointment of Shaun Abrahams was unconstitutional and invalid. Acting NDPP, Silas Ramaite, is the first person being interviewed, and was asked about values that need to be upheld at the NPA. Meanwhile, DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach explains reasons wh...

The SABC Board and senior executives are back in Parliament to re-appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, SCOPA. The Board was sent back by the financial watchdog last week after presenting what Scopa found to be an ill-prepared presentation which lacked detail. The committee wants to question the board about multi-billion-rand irregular expenditure at the public broadcaster, incl...

There is still no schooling in Koffiefontein since protests that took place last month. Community members are allegedly still preventing learners from attending schools until their demands are met. They demand the mayor to step down. Some of their demands include: high rate of unemployment, that the mine and municipality hire people from outside, bad water quality, road conditions and demand title...

Former Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan has told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that she first learned that South African Airways would be cancelling its Johannesburg-Mumbai route while on a trip to India in June 2010 - at a time when she was minister . Hogan says she immediately contacted then SAA chairperson Cheryl Carolus, to verify the rumours.