As South Africa battles the COVID-19 pandemic, law enforcement officials are battling to bring criminals – who are brazenly land grabbing and then selling that land – to book. This week Carte Blanche investigates this and more. You can watch the show on Sunday 12 July in South Africa on DStv Now or stream it […]

Due to an increase in plant breakdowns, Eskom has begun implementing Stage 2 load shedding since midday on Friday. “The load shedding has been caused by an increase in plant breakdowns exceeding 3000MW of capacity. While five generation units were taken off the grid last and this morning, a breakdown at the Matimba power station […]

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has called for strong and immediate action to be taken against individuals, who are preventing people from being moved into their new homes in the City of Cape Town. This follows reports that a group from Cape Town informal settlements has been demanding job opportunities. Demands from […]

The population of South Africa stands at 59.6 million, according to Stats South Africa, with more than a quarter of it in Gauteng. StatsSA said that in the period 2016 – 2021, Gauteng and Western Cape showed the largest inflow of migrants, 1,553,162 and 468,568, respectively. StatsSA said Gauteng has about 15.5 million people (26 […]

Eskom has warned residents of possible load shedding in South Africa on Thursday evening, which is also likely to persist throughout the weekend as demand for electricity peaks during a cold front. The power utility has since urged the public to reduce electricity usage. “While Eskom is working hard to return generating units to service, […]

There isn’t enough clinical research being done in Africa. Less than 2.5% of all clinical trials in the world are done on the continent. This is why South Africa’s involvement in one of the COVID-19 vaccine trials is so important. The country’s effort is being led by Professor Shabir Madhi. The Conversation Africa’s health and […]

A partnership between the Department of Social Development has resulted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in South Africa donating $1.4 million that will go towards the procurement of 20 000 food relief packages. The contribution comes as the global Coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on the most vulnerable across the […]

Clearing one last major hurdle in the creation of a new South African Airways, all but one labour union, representing the pilots, have agreed to accept voluntary severance packages for up to 2,700 people, which will cost about R2.27 billion, according to a statement by the Department of Public Enterprises. The business rescue plan put […]

A corner restaurant in Johannesburg well known for its brunches and its name, Pablo Eggs-Go-Bar, has become the latest victim in the food industry of an economy devastated by the COVID pandemic. Other well-known restaurants, especially in Cape Town, like the popular Jason Bakery on Bree Street, Karen Dudley’s very popular The Kitchen in Woodstock […]

Over 622 youth from around the world have signed a letter calling on the South African Government to phase out captive predator breeding in South Africa. To commemorate Youth Day in South Africa, leading conservation organisation Blood Lions and Youth For Lions sent a letter on Friday to various Ministers of the South African Government […]

The Competition Tribunal has slapped pharmacy group, Dis-Chem, with a R1.2 million fine for excessively overpricing surgical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes after the company was found guilty following complaints registered by the public. The Tribunal found that Dis-Chem contravened the Competition Act for charging excessive prices for three types of surgical face […]

South Africa’s Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has called on unions to convene their own bilateral meetings to finalise the South African Airways (SAA) restructuring plan. In a statement issued on Monday, the department said after withdrawing from the Leadership Consultative Forum (LCF), the department has had bilateral discussions with all unions, and is now […]

The eighth suspect arrested over allegations of the R2 billion fraud at VBS Mutual Bank, Phillip Truter, appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes court today to face 47 charges of fraud, theft, money laundering, corruption and racketeering. Truter, the former Chief Financial Officer of VBS, was in quarantine when the other seven, including […]

On 18 July a virtual tournament using the South African-developed Android app BOATS, will kick off with prizes and incentives of over R30000.00. While having fun, learners will be educated on coding, marine pollution and COVID-19. Background Using mainly the award-winning TANKS mobile application, Prof Greyling and his team from Nelson Mandela University and Leva […]

The National Treasury has reiterated its stance that it will not bail out South African Airways, apparently in direct conflict with Pravin Gordhan, who seems hell bent on saving the airline from liquidation. In its response to public submissions to the Supplementary Budget, the treasury today released a brief programme on what the next steps […]

An analysis of financial inclusion in South Africa shows that affordability limits poor households’ access to formal financial services. In our study, which looked at people’s use of financial goods and services between 2008 and 2015, we found that there was a general increase in use. But this was severely skewed to households with higher […]

Four South African Airways unions and staff representatives have expressed an intention to sign voluntary severance packages offered as part of the airline’s business rescue and restructuring process. The three main unions, however, have so far not accepted the packages. These are the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the SA Cabin Crew […]

MTN South Africa has made a donation of R500,000 to a newly started relief fund to help journalists whose livelihoods have been devastated by COVID-19, and has exhorted other businesses to also help. A newly released report by the non-profit South African National Editors’ Forum, COVID19 Impact on Journalism, has highlighted the havoc that the […]

South Africa’s Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu says the SA government cannot afford to lose money because of neglect, inefficiencies or poor decision making. Makwetu said this when he released the report on the audit outcomes for municipalities for the financial year that ended in March 2019. “The levels of fruitless and wasteful expenditure have also increased. […]

As the squandering of money by most municipalities went up yet again – from R25.2 billion to R32 billion – Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu in his latest report of the country’s municipalities singled out the Western Cape and Gauteng for having developed characteristics of good governance. Makwetu said many municipalities were spending money “in ways that […]

A nearly complete R281 million forensic pathology facility at Groote Schuur Hospital could help reduce South Africa’s high number of unsolved crimes and cold cases. The Observatory Forensic Pathology Institute will be more than just a mortuary, the University of Cape Town’s Department of Medicine says on its website, but will allow pathologists to be […]

With moviehouses across the country ready to open soon, the well-known Labia Theatre in Cape Town has announced that it will also start streaming a curated selection of movies that one can watch at home, in addition to those that will be available on its four screens. The Labia Home Screen offers six video-on-demand movies […]

KLM has announced two more flights in July that South Africans in Europe can catch if they would like to be repatriated home to SA. KLM said today that on the flights from Amsterdam, it is able to bring South African nationals and permanent residents back home.   If you would like to be booked […]

The supplementary budget tabled last week by South Africa’s finance minister, Tito Mboweni, whose primary objective was to make more money available for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, sheds no light on the relative prioritisation of prevention over treatment for COVID-19. Alex van den Heever reports. The required health system response to COVID 19 […]

As many as two dozen ships at a time could be seen lying anchored in Table Bay the last few weeks, while berths in the harbour were almost empty. The Western Cape government said it has requested a meeting with Minister Pravin Gordhan to deal with the challenges facing Cape Town harbour that are losing […]