First Take SA

Should Transnet be placed under business rescue? Well NT55 Investments, operator of the Port of Gauteng seems to think so. This as the state-owned logistics company struggles with backlog issues with more than 70 000 containers anchored at the Port of Durban. Transnet says the congestion may be cleared by the end of February next year. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to Sibusiso Nduna, a Bus...

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Free State Province says it disagrees with ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula after he ordered the suspension of the mayor of Kopanong Local Municipality - Xolani Tseletsele. Mbalula directed the immediate recall of Tseletsele as Mayor and suspension of his ANC membership, after a video went viral of Tseletsele threatening a resident of Jagersfonte...

Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande had dismissed calls for the scrapping of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and rather distribute funds directly to higher institutions of learning. NSFAS has been rocked by a series of scandals including leadership instability and the irregular awarding of four fintech companies to disburse student allowances. Funding applications for the 2024 a...

The National Assembly has voted in favour of a motion by the Economic Freedom Fighters for government to shutdown Israeli Embassy in South Africa, pending a ceasefire as the war ranges on between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The motion was passed following an amendment by the African National Congress which resulted vote supported by 248 members of parliament from the EFF, ANC, Al Jama ah, NFP, ATM a...

Former Eskom CEO, Matshela Koko has accused the state of pursuing what he calls a hate crime against him and his family. Koko's remarks follow a decision by the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court which struck the corruption case against him and 18 co-accused off the roll on Tuesday afternoon. The court found that there have been unreasonable delays in the case involving alleged corrupt...

National Treasury has announced that the government of South Africa has signed loan agreements with the World Bank, the German government and the African Development Bank. According to a statement released by the department, the loans will be provided below market rates in order to support South Africa's just Energy Transition. The World Bank is set to provide a R1-Billion loan for a duration of 1...

The South African human rights NGO Africa4Palestine has welcomed Israel's decision to recall its ambassador to South Africa for consultations. This ahead of a parliamentary motion calling for the Israeli embassy in South Africa to be closed. The Israeli Foreign Ministry recalled its Ambassador Eli Belotserkovsky to Jerusalem for consultations due to recent comments from South Africa on the ongoing...

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) in KwaZulu-Natal will today hold a picket outside the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate High Court. They are aggrieved about the continued killings of South African Police Service officers. In the latest incident in the province, two police officers were killed in a shopping mall robbery at the weekend. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to POPCRU sp...

Elvis Presslin takes a look at the current top African economic stories with Victor Kgomoesoana, author of  "Africa Is Open For Business" and "Africa Bounces Back". Victor is also the Executive Director for Marketing and Communication at the University of Limpopo

A University of Fort Hare director will today join nine other murder suspects In the dock, at the Alice Magistrates' court in the Eastern Cape. The Institution's Director for Investigations and Vetting Services was arrested last week and appeared before the same court. He has been added as the tenth accused in the spate of killings of Fort Hare employees. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke to...

Public Interest South Africa says harsher punitive measures need to be imposed against senior executives of banks that manipulate the bank exchange rate. London-based Standard Chartered Bank is among 28 local and international banks accused by the Competition Commission of manipulating the RAND/DOLLAR exchange rate between 2007 and 2018. To discuss this further Elvis Presslin spoke to Public Inter...

The Electoral Commission will today host a media briefing on the outcome of the first voter registration weekend. The first registration weekend saw various voter registration stations being affected by service delivery protests in some parts of the country. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to IEC Commissioner Janet Love and a professor of Political Science at Unisa, Professor Dirk Kotze

Two voter registration centres were disrupted in Soweto, Johannesburg following protests over electricity. This as the IEC conducted its voter registration at the weekend. Last week, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi promised Soweto residents who have not had electricity due to the power crisis in that area, that they will soon have lights. Lesufi was speaking at the Kopanong Community Hall where he...

Several voter registration stations in Mpumalanga were disrupted after disgruntled residents staged protests over the appointment of teachers as Voter Registration Agents. The protests took place over the weekend as the Independent Electoral Commission was registering citizens to vote in next year's general elections. To further discuss this Elvis Presslin spoke to IEC Mpumalanga Stakeholder-Liaso...

A woman alleged to be behind the murders of her relatives to benefit from insurance claims will appear in the Mmabatho Magistrate's court, in the North West today. The 49-year-old suspect was arrested in Centurion north of Pretoria yesterday. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to National police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe

Elvis Presslin takes a look at the current top African economic stories with Victor Kgomoesoana, author of  "Africa Is Open For Business" and "Africa Bounces Back". Victor is also the Executive Director for Marketing and Communication at the University of Limpopo

The Communication Workers Union, CWU has declared a wage dispute against the SABC at the CCMA. The dispute comes after the SABC rejected a revised wage offer of 9% brought forward by CWU. The union has accused the SABC of not having any regard for ground workers as they have instead rewarded middle management with 5% and executive staff with 3% wage increases. To discuss this further Elvis Pressli...

Health experts say only a concerted multi-disciplinary collaboration and research will stem the tide of diabetes and diabetes-linked cardiovascular disease (CVD)They say diabetes linked Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death locally and worldwide, claiming 17,9 million lives a year. They also say globally, CVD takes more lives than TB, HIV and malaria combined, while 215 So...

The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum says South Africa's decision to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court, ICC is futile, misinformed and bias. This after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the government submitted a referral to the ICC to investigate Israel's attacks on continued bombardment of Gaza. Speaking to our Senior Producer Ronald Phiri, Hassan-Nahoum says South...

Another bank reached a settlement with the Competition Commission for colluding in currency trades to manipulate the value of the rand-dollar exchange rate. Standard Chartered joined Citibank in a settlement with the local competition authorities. Yesterday, the Commission reached a settlement agreement with the UK-based, Standard Chartered to pay an administrative penalty of R42.7 million.  Stand...

Some 300 mine workers are on strike at the Blyvoor Gold mine in Carletonville, on the Westrand. The workers are unhappy that the mining company would not be able to give them their 13th cheque and other allowances. They also want the mine to grant other unions rights to represent them. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the Carletonville region says it does not represent any workers at the...

The Media Development & Diversity Agency (MDDA) will today conclude its three-day Elections Coverage training for community media journalists in preparation for the upcoming 2024 National Elections. The training, held in Johannesburg, is aimed at capacitating community media to improve their coverage of elections and related issues. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to MDDA Acting Executiv...

Questions have been raised around the legality of the Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens. Experts say Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi erred by appointing and deploying under trained 6,000 peace officers to combat crime across the province without legal authorisation. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to Mark Heywood, Editor of Maverick Citizen, who has written extensively and conducted investigat...

The Department of Correctional Services says it has a handle on the Diphtheria outbreak at the Pollsmoor Correctional facility in Cape Town. The national commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale, says an epidemiological investigation is underway to determine how and where the disease was contracted, which includes contact tracing. A 19 year old detainee died nearly 10 days ago after testing positive for...

Transport unions SATAWU and UNTU have threatened a full blown strike if the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa does not meet its wage demands. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, Satawu and the United National Transport Union, Untu plan to lodge a labour dispute with the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration, CCMA to compel the state-owned enterprise to...