Update@Noon

The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) has welcomed the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal declaring the signal jamming during last year's State of the Nation Address unlawful. The court also ruled that Parliament's broadcasting policy and rules are unconstitutional because they violate the right to an open Parliament. We are now joined on the line by Sanef executive director Mathatha...

President Jacob Zuma is meeting with justice crime prevention and security cluster to discuss ongoing violent students protests at several universities in the country. Students at this institution have been protesting for two weeks over the 2017 fee increment, as announced by Higher education minister Blade Nzimande last week. President Zuma instructed the JCPS to deal with the mayhem at tertiary...

The ANC chief whip in Parliament, Jackson Mthembu, says the SABC board has failed spectacularly in exercising its fiduciary obligations towards the broadcaster. This follows an announcement that the board has reappointed the previous COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, as Group Executive: Corporate Affairs. Mthembu addressed journalists in Parliament. Zalene Merrington reports...

Zimbabwe's constitutonal court has dismissed an application by the country's former vice president Joice Mujuru on government's proposed surrogate currency. Mujuru had gone to court arguing that plans to introduce a local bank notes were illegal and infringed on citizens rights. The Reserve Bank has announced it will introduce local notes of similar value to the US dollar by the end of October. Sh...

Wits University students have called on government to offer mining companies incentives that will encourage them to invest more in tertiary education. This is contained in the student's demands handed over to the Chamber of Mines following their march to the chamber's offices in the Johannesburg CBD yesterday (Wednesday). About 5-hundred students marched ot the Chamber demanding financial support...

Grahamstown police have arrested several Rhodes University students during a violent protest over tuition fees. Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the protesting students for allegedly vandalising property and blocking roads. A video posted to Twitter by the Grahamstown based student publication Oppidan Press, shows police dragging one student into a police van while other st...

Most black-owned companies will soon benefit fully from government's Broad Based Economic Empowerment objectives. President Jacob Zuma says government has decided to repeal the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, called the triple-PFA law. He was addressing the Black Business Council gala dinner in Sandton north of Johannesburg last night. The triple-PFA law stipulates that when governm...

The University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape has called on all students who want to resume their academic programme to report for class this morning ( Wednesday 28 September 2016). In a statement, the university's management warned that failure by students to return will result in a shut down of all campuses and students will have to leave the residences. For more on this we are joined on the l...

Former SABC Chief Operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been moved back to his old position of Group Executive for Corporate affairs. SABC board chairperson Professor Mbulaheni Maguvhe made the announcement at a media briefing yesterday (tuesday 27 September ). The Supreme Court of Appeal recently dismissed Motsoeneng's application for leave to appeal a ruling that his permanent appointment as...

As World Green Building Week raises awareness around green buildings and the role they play in our sustainable future, green construction and renewable energy group STAG African has called on the construction industry to commit to building offices, homes, hospitals and schools that protect and preserve natural resources. The group says buildings consume one third of the world's energy and are resp...

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has explained its decision to back Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed President Jacob Zuma as leader of the ANC. NUM is the first Cosatu union to publicly pronounce on its preferred successor to head the governing party, which is due to hold an elective conference next year. Ramaphosa was the union's founding Secretary General in the early 1980s. To...

The South African National Blood Service is in need of urgent blood supply. The Blood services says the recent protest action at universities has negatively affected their drive to collect blood from students. Spokesperson for the South African National Blood Service, Vanessa Raju joins us on the line to tell us more

UDM President General Bantu Holomisa wants all Political Parties to meet urgently to review the structure of the IEC. This follows allegations that ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe and his Deputy Jessie Duarte have labelled IEC's Deputy Chairperson Terry Tselane an enemy of the ANC. General Bantu Holomisa joins us on the line to tell us more.

Out-going Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, says she will hand over at least two hundred high profile cases to her successor next month. This is when her seven-year non-renewable term comes to an end. Madonsela has been investigating the Gupta family, for their alleged state capture, and has also looked into into the controversial North West mining account, known as the D-account. Mining houses h...

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says he has a feeling something bad is about to happen in the country. Gordhan was speaking at a Heritage Day Dinner hosted by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation in Johannesburg over the weekend. Thandeka Gqubule-Mbeki reports...

Two staff cars have been set alight during a student protest at the University of Pretoria. It is alleged the fire was caused by petrol bomb that was thrown by an unknown person. This after the university management decided to close the institution until next month. Operations at Tshwane University of Technology all campuses, except Mbombela in Mpumalanga nd Polokwane in Limpopo, have been suspend...

Wits University students have accused the institution of planting three petrol bombs that were found on the Braamfontein campus in Johannesburg yesterday, to intimidate them. They say the university has threatened to shut down the students residences, a move which could lead to chaos. The students also say the university has been mum on their demand for free education. For the latest we spoke to s...

The ANC Youth League has challenged Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to divulge whether he has shares in private companies which do business with State Owned Enterprises. Speaking after its two-day National Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg, yesterday, the League lambasted Gordhan for acting as if he is the only member of government who is fighting crime. It urged him to account to the Ha...

SABC Non-Executive board member Krish Naidoo says he stands by his decision not to endorse any moves to re-appoint Hlaudi Motsoeneng as the public broadcaster's acting Chief Operating Officer. This follows media reports that the SABC board is considering a proposal to re-instate Motsoeneng in his original position as Acting COO. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein threw out his application...

ANC struggle veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela says the Freedom Charter's clause on free education needs to be revisited. Madikizela-Mandela was reacting to the country-wide protests by university students over possible fee increases for 2017 during a meeting with young people in Soweto. In 1955, the Freedom Charter promised that doors of learning shall be opened to all. And the ANC's 2007 Polokwa...

A call for the sharing of land among all South Africans, the removal of colonial statues from Parliament and tributes to Kwaito star Mduduzi Mandoza Tshabalala, were some of the issues that surfaced during the Heritage Day Debate in the Nation Council of Provinces today (thursday 22 September). Our Parliamentary Correspondent Mercedes Besent tells us more

The University of KwaZulu-Natal's Pietermaritzburg campus has been closed after a stand-off between the police and students. One student was seriously injured. The students threw stones at police and police retaliated with rubber bullets and teargas. Students went on the rampage to protest against the government's proposed fee increases for next year. They are demanding that education should be fr...

As global conservationists and policy makers gather in Johannesburg for the 'Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species' or CITES conference tomorrow (saturday 25 September), Embryo Plus has announced its success with the world's first Cape buffalo calf conceived through in vitro fertilisation. The calf was born in June on a farm in Limpopo. The organisation says this brings hope for...

43 people, 19 of whom are children, will be homeless if the court enforces an eviction order against them. An NGO representing 23 families from Bromwell Street in Woodstock in Cape Town, will be launching an urgent application in the Cape Town High Court today. They want to force the City of Cape Town to arrange temporary accommodation for the families. Mandisa Shandu, an attorney representing the...

Eskom CEO, Brian Molefe wants prepaid electricity to be standardised. He was addressing members of parliament yesterday and says introducing legislation on prepaid metering would solve Eskom's problems. But not all South Africans are in favour of this. Residents of Orlando in Soweto protested against prepaid electricity earlier in the week. We spoke to Seth Mazibuko, a representative from the Orla...