Update@Noon

Data contained in hard drives carrying Gupta-linked emails will be used as evidence in the State Capture commission. Chairperson of the Commission, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo made the ruling at the inquiry in Parktown in Johannesburg. An application was brought forward by the commission's legal team asking Justice Zondo to allow it to submit hard drives as evidence. The hard drives, obtain...

Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina insists that the city will expropriate land without compensation. Masina made the announcement yesterday saying the decision is aimed at serving the public interest and that this is their way of dealing with problems around the issue of housing. Parliament has held public hearings all around the country to hear the public's contributions on the expropriation of la...

The residents of Westbury in Johannesburg are accusing all police officers at the Sophiatown police station and they want all of them to be moved. They alleged that officers are colluding with criminals. At least two people have been injured after police fired rubber bullets outside the station in an attempt to disperse protesting residents. The protest follows widespread community outrage after a...

Human Rights lawyer Brian Currin has told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that before a decision was taken to release the data on the hard drives which has since been dubbed "the Gupta emails", Stan who was in possession of the information, needed to be assisted to first leave the country with his family. This was because they were concerned about their safety. Currin is currently tes...

The constitutional court has ruled that former Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini is personally liable for 20 percent of the legal costs in the court case linked to the SASSA grants debacle. The court says the Ngoepe Inquiry into the payment of social grants by CPS found that Dlamini had misled them in an attempt to avoid paying legal costs. The apex court also ruled that the NPA must l...

Employment in South Africa has dropped by 69 000 between March and June 2018. Statistics South Africa announced its latest Quarterly Employment Statistics this morning, which show that there has been a decrease in the non-agricultural formal sector largely due to decreases in community services, manufacturing, mining and quarrying as well as transport. Krivani Pillay spoke to Stats SA's Matlapane...

Stakeholders have agreed in their submissions to the Human Rights Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Vaal River that the crisis could have been avoided if authourities had taken action. Various non-governmental and environmental rights groups have told the HRC that they have been warning those in power of an impending disaster for more than a decade. Jamaine Krige was there.

The newly- formed ANC Provincial Task Team in the North West says its major task is to forge unity amongst party members in the province. The task team led by Premier Job Mokgoro as the convener, was established last month following the disbandment of the provincial executive committee, led by former premier Supra Mahumapelo. The team is expected to rebuild party structures and also deal with fact...

Following violent confrontations, between self confessed gangsters and residents at Boitumelong township in Bloemhof in the North West, the two opposing groups are now calling for a truce. Three lives have been lost and several people are hospitalised in a bloody fight that lasted several days. As fear continues to grip the area, minibus taxi drivers and some community members sleep in groups at a...

The Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department says it is doing the best it can with the resources available to it. It says the situation in Reigerpark is now calm following violent protesting in the area this morning. The residents took to the streets to highlight their anger over issues of lack of services delivery, the high crime unemployment rates. This follows a similar action by residents of Cape To...

A police officer on duty in Parliament at the time that a staff member entered the premises with a firearm he later killed himself, has been suspended. The South African Police Service says due process was not followed by the officer. The man committed suicide two weeks ago, and in a note cited bullying as the reason for the act. He said that he had been subjected to this for nearly two years and...

Hundreds of commuters using Passenger rail agency PRASA'S Metrorail were left stranded and forced to seek alternative transport this morning. Some commuters were seen going to their nearest taxi ranks to try and get transport to their various destinations. This after Metrorail suspended all its train services in KwaZulu-Natal because of an attack on train drivers. Nonjabulo mntungwa reports

South Africa will ease some immigration restrictions, in an effort to boost investment and tourism but the South African Tourism Association says it's a litle too late. The changes to immigration rules are part of a broader economic turnaround programme announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week. Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba, says minors travelling in and out of South Africa will be...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has re-assured the international community that his administration is working around the clock to put South Africa's economy back on track. President Ramaphosa addressed the council on foreign relations in New York on the side-lines of the 73rd UN General Assembly. The meeting was attended by academics and people with international business interests amongst others. The p...

SABC Chairman Bongumusa Makhathini says the public broadcaster's turnaround strategy is being guided by what is best for the corporation. Makhathini was speaking in Parliament this morning where the SABC is presenting a plan that will see the organisation become viable again. He says the salary bill has been increasing over the past five years and currently stands at 42 percent of the revenue. He...

A group of protestors are demanding the release of eight fellow protestors who were arrested this morning in Bonteheuwel in Cape Town. They have gathered at the Bishop Lavis police station. Earlier police used stun grenades to disperse those blockading the roads and arrested others. Residents are demanding among others, an end to gang violence, poverty and unemployment. Community members of Hanove...

The community of Mamelodi west in Pretoria says it seems one of the country's iconic historic figure Dr. Fabian Ribeiro is forgotten. Dr Ribeiro played a pivotal role during struggle for liberation. He is accredited for treating patients who were injured during stand-offs with apartheid police but couldn't go to the hospital. It is this role that turned him and his family enemy of the apartheid re...

As part of celebrating South Africa's heritage and preserving its history through stone and metal, Social activist and artist Professor Pitika Ntuli has unveiled his latest sculpture in Johannesburg. The 19-ton statue dubbed: QUANTUM PEOPLE took four years to complete and commemorates our heritage as a people and it is one of the 23 life sized statues by the same artist that depicts the 300 years...

Police Minister Bheki Cele says people who commit crimes against women and children should not pardoned. He was addressing the Phoenix community, north of Durban, that is still reeling with shock, following the discovery of the bodies of a mother and her two daughters. The bodies of 44-year-old Janelle Govindsamy and her daughters Rackelle and Denisha were found at their flat in Phoenix on Friday....

Deputy President David Mabuza has admitted that the indigenous Griqua community, Khoisans and the San communities have not been rightfully recognised. Mabuza was speaking at the unveiling of the statue of the 19th-century Griqua leader, Adam Kok the Third, located at the entrance of the Greater Kokstad municipal offices in Southern KwaZulu-Natal. Adam Kok the Third led the group of Griquas who mov...

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa PRASA, says it will do all it can to protect its workers. The Metrorail has suspeded its services in KwaZulu-Natal until further notice, following a violent unrest at the Umlazi station on Friday. Four cars were set alight and station buildings vandalised, when hundreds of frustrtaed commuters ran riots because trains were running late. Today the KwaZulu-N...

The Commissiong for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural and Linguistic communities (CRL), has highlighted the lack of accountability amongst religious and traditional leaders as a major concern. The commission is in dialogue with both traditional and religious leaders in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. It is believed that there are more than 200 000 traditional healers across the co...

Media Monitoring Africa says today’s ruling of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa which is in favour of the SABC, shows that the system is working. This comes after the DA claimed that the public broadcaster had contravened the broadcasting Act by allowing president Cyril Ramaphosa, to address the country in his capacity as ANC leader. Ramaphosa was giving an update on his part...

Senior Lecturer at School of Economics and Business Science of the University of the Witwatersrand, Lumkile Mondi, says president Cyril Ramaphosa's recovery plan annouced earlier today, brings hope that the economy will be revived. However, Mondi has warned that the ANC government will have to implement the plan successfully and not do as it has done with other failed ones before. Ramaphosa highli...

The Chairperson of the Commission Inquiry into State Capture, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, has dismissed the application by former Public Enterprises Minister, Lynne Brown, for leave to cross-examine witnesses. In his testimony before the Commission last month, former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said he was told by Ajay Gupta that the controversial family had worked closely with a...