Update@Noon

The Rock of Hope, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex organisation could make history by hosting Eswatini's first LGBTI Pride celebrations in Mbabane this weekend; Saturday 30t). An event of such magnitude has never been held in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The history-making event will coincide with other Pride marches worldwide this month. Molebogeng Sebidi spoke Communications & Adv...

Thousands of artists and visitors are flocking to the 44th National Arts Festival which has officially opened its doors in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Festival goers will certainly be spoilt for choice as organisers have arranged a line-up of 2400 performances covering artistic performances including theatre, poetry readings, comedy to jazz and classical music. The festival is also an economi...

Long queues and prolonged waiting at Home Affairs offices will soon be a thing of the past. Home Affairs, minister Malusi Gigaba has met all senior managers across the country to come up with solutions. Never-ending queues, constant crashing of the online system have been plagueing the department. Minister Gigaba's spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete provided more information on the meeting.

The investigation into the controversial appointment of Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga's former chief of staff Marietha Aucamp, has found that her appointment was irregular. Aucamp resigned from her job in May after it emerged that she lied about her qualifications. City Manager Moeketsi Mosola released the findings which cleared Mayor Solly Msimanga of any wrongdoing saying it's clear that the huma...

The High Court in Pretoria has ruled that the decision to classify the controversial film, Inxeba - The wound, as X18, be set aside because the movie is not hardcore porn. Judge Joseph Railinga found that the Film and Publications Appeals Tribunal flagrantly disregarded the rules of PAJA - an Act of Parliament that states that both parties must have a fair opportunity to make representations to a...

More witnesses at the SARS Commission of Inquiry have told of how they worked in fear and under intimidation, after Tom Moyane took over as the revenue collector's Commissioner in 2014. Some say they were marginalised because they were seen as being aligned to Moyane's predecessor Pravin Gordhan. Moyane suspended eight senior executives shortly after taking over, following revelations by a KMPG th...

The Eastern Cape Roads and Transport department has vowed to uncover the cause of the delay in the completion of a 224 million rand road construction project, between Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall at Mqanduli. Motorists complain that they are forced to pay thousands of rands evey year as their tyres wear out quicker, due to the pothole-ridden 26 kilometres stretch of road. Nkululeko Nyembezi vis...

Various unions have called for the Sibanye-Stillwater Mine in Drefontein to be shut down. This follows the death of yet another mine worker yesterday. According to mine management the mine worker died after he entered a scraper path and was caught by the scraper. Two weeks ago, Five mine workers died at Sibanye's Kloof Ikamva Mine near Westonaria, making that incident the seventh tragedy at a Siba...

The City of Johannesburg has warned it's running out of space for rubbish and it risks hitting an ultimate disaster point in six years if nothing is done. The city is concerned that if drastic measures are not taken, household refuse will have to be transported by train to a landfill site in Mpumalanga and ratepayers will have to shoulder the costs. From July 1st, Joburg residents will be compelle...

The DA says it will be appealing the judgement handed down at the High Court in Cape Town, which ruled in favour of Mayor Patricia de Lille in her application to have the DA's decision to strip her of her membership and remove her as Mayor, set aside. The court found that the DA's Federal Legal Council acted illegaly, according to the party's own constitution, because the FLC, the legal body withi...

Now during the World Cup the likes of Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi might be grabbing your attention, but a new team has arrived in Moscow, keen to show that football is for everyone. And their team line up might just surprise you, as SABC's Dan Ashby found out.

As we commemorate youth month, this afternoon we feature 31-year-old Munene Khoza, who wants to lead the pack of strategic communicators across all industries in South Africa. This feisty and creative young woman has used her love for languages to start her own communications consultancy company, which already plays in the space of established agencies. Our Executive Producer, Krivani Pillay, caug...

European Union leaders are reportedlly preparing to take more steps to keep migrants out of their countries. According to the reports, talks planned for the next week, EU leaders will affirm their intention to stop migrants leaving north African shores by paying countries like Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia to hold people until their eligibility for asylum can be established. This come...

Three initiates have died at Libode in the Eastern Cape - a week after the official opening of the winter initiation season. The initiates were allegedly underage and were at an illegal initiation school, known as 'amabhuma'. Libode is one of the areas that is known to have illegal initiations schools and where initiates die in numbers. Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance spokesperson Mamkeli Ngam...

This weekend's ANC provincial conference may not go ahead. A group of the party's members are seeking an urgent court interdict that will prevent the conference from taking place. The complainants argue that processes as stipulated by the ANC's Constitution, were not followed. Yesterday the party's Secretary-General Ace Magashule told the media during a press briefing that it was all systems go af...

The new premier of North West province, Professor Job Mokgoro, has committed him to getting rid of the province's ills. The 70-year old Mokgoro has been sworn in as a member of the provincial legislature and elected premier of the province. He succeeds Supra Mahumapelo, who resigned last month following violent protests in the province.

What will South African society look like in 2030? Will we have moved towards a cohesive nation or will existing fault lines grow into wider chasms? This is the questions that is currently being discussed by various thought leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa. For the past year a diverse group of researchers, thought leaders and representatives from all spheres of society participated in t...

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has ruled that political parties are obliged to disclose to the public who their funders are. The "My Vote Counts" organisation initially approached the Western Cape high court in Cape Town on the basis that certain provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) should be declared constitutionally invalid. Chief Justice Mogoeng al...

The police are investigating a case of attempted murder after the son of a Durban petrol station owner allegedly poured petrol on an employee and set her alight, causing severe burn wounds. The 31-year old woman, who is the breadwinner in her family, has not been able to return to work due to the injuries she sustained a month ago. Fanele Mhlongo reports.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is today expected to unveil far-reaching proposals aimed at bringing about universal health coverage in the country. Motsoaledi is set to spell out details of the National Health Insurance Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill at a media briefing in Pretoria. On the back drop of that, A group of general practitioners tasked with overseeing the National Health...

The ANC has confirmed Professor Job Mokgoro as the new premier of the North West rovince. This comes after a special NEC meeting as well as an NWC meeting this past week. Supra Mahumapelo resigned from the position last month. 70-year old Mokgoro was the North West Director-General. ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule made the announcement.

Today marks World Refugee Day. The United Nations says more than 60 million people have been forced to leave their countries due to war, fear of persecution and natural disasters. The UN says those displaced are mostly from poor countries. It has urged people of the world to treat refugees with compassion. My colleague Anita Visser spoke to Darius Kwigomba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, wh...

A website and a Facebook page have been launched to assist former mine workers and their dependents who may be entitled to compensation if they worked at one of the six gold mining companies that have made provisions for a trust to pay workers who contracted silicosis and/ or TB at work. The historic settlement was made last month after 3 years of extensive negotiations. The gold mine companies in...

Service delivery protests have spilled over to neighbouring areas of Thembalethu in George (in the Southern Cape). Residents of Lawaaikamp, Borcherds and Parkdene have joined in on the action, and are being kept at bay by police. Earlier, two trucks were set alight and looted on the N2 between the Garden Route Mall and Pacaltsdorp. The road remains closed to traffic. Our reporter in Cape Town, Tan...

The embattled South African Weather Services has failed to appear before the Environmental Committee to explain the appointment of Julia Mphafudi as Executive of Corporate and Regulatory Services. This follows an anonymous tip-off about alleged irregulaties. 18 months ago former CEO Linda Makuleni was fired, leaving behind allegations of corruption and tender fraud in the organisation. Our parliam...