First Take SA

A man has been arrested following a fire that gutted parts of the parliament precinct on Sunday. President Cyril Ramaphosa called the incident a  "terrible and devastating event". But vowed parliament's work would continue. For an update here is our Parliamentary Correspondent Mercedes Besent

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to formally receive the first part of the interim report into allegations of State Capture on Tuesday. This after Deputy Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo applied for yet another extension last month and sought to release the findings of the report in three parts. Zondo hopes to deliver the second part of the report at the end of January and part three at the end of February. Independent Researcher and Author, Dr. Dale McKinley weighs in on this...

The KwaZulu-Natal government yesterday commemorated the 1838 Battle of Blood river or the Ncome River battle in Nquthu north of the province.  The battle between the AmaZulu nation and the Voortrekkers on 16 December 1838, saw the Ncome River turn red with the blood of thousands of AmaZulu warriors. However, Premier Sihle Zikalala, expressed disappointment after it emerge that another group observed the same event, commemorating only the Voortrekkers. For a more in-depth look at whether South Africans fully grasp the concept of reconciliation and what it is meant to achieve, here is Themba Zweni, the Founder and CEO of the Tolerance Education Awareness Movement - TEAM. The organization, which was established 3 years ago by survivors of political intolerance, focuses on the promotion of tolerance and democracy.

Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) general secretary Zolani Mkhiva says those behind bogus initiation schools should be treated as human traffickers. This as the number of initiates that have died during the summer initiation season now stands at 23. The Eastern Cape government however says that the 23 young men occurred at both legal and unlawful schools. Dehydration seems to be the common factor although post-mortem investigations are still ongoing. For more on this Contralesa's general secretary, Zolani Mkhiva

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has written to the party's highest decision-making body, the National Executive Committee, asking for permission to become friends of the court in former president Jacob Zuma's appeal over his re-incarceration. This follows the North Gauteng High Court ruling which ordered that Zuma should be sent back to prison to serve out his 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court. The ruling has led to mixed reactions while the government's security cluster has been beefing up security deployments in KwaZulu Natal, fearing violent outbursts similar to the ones witnessed in the July unrest. The ANC's KZN secretary-general,  Mdumiseni Ntuli

It's now time to take a look at the current top African economic stories.....Victor Kgomoesoana, author of  "Africa Is Open For Business" and "Africa Bounces Back".

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday announced that London will remove all 11 Southern African countries from its COVID-19 travel red list from today because there is now community transmission of the Omicron variant. The British government added the southern African countries - including South Africa, to its red list in late November. Javid says Britain will maintain its temporary testing measures for international travel. The UK travel ban has already caused a lot of damage to South Africa's tourism sector. To find out  how the sector is receiving the news of the scrapping of the red list here is Tourism Business Council of South Africa CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa

Eskom spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha says the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) is fully aware and is in support of the work to be done at Koeberg. Mantshantsha says the other unit of the plant will also undergo the same maintenance work, effectively meaning the Koeberg plan may run at half capacity for almost the entire year in 2022. Energy expert and advisor at the Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) Chris Yelland

Power Utility, Eskom has confirmed that extensive maintenance work will be undertaken at the Koeberg Power Station from early January in order to extend the operating life of the plant by another 20 years. This has prompted the Koeberg Alert Alliance to embark on a planned protest march on Thursday at Bloubergstrand Beach, Cape Town. The Alert Alliance says the protest is in order to raise safety concerns at the Power Station and the further dangers of extending the plant's 40-year lifespan which should end in 2024. Spokesperson, Peter Becker says this comes with a lot of dangers

Women are still underrepresented in the judiciary. This is according to the Annual Judiciary Performance Report which covered the period from April 2020 to March 2021. Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo released the report virtually yesterday (14 December 2021) It states that 44 percent of judges and 49 percent of magistrates are women, despite the fact that women make up 53 percent of the country's population. Research and Advocacy officer at Judges Matter, Mbekezeli Benjamin gives us his reaction...