First Take SA

VhaVenda King, Toni Mphephu-Ramabulana has been dealt a massive blow in the kingship battle with his niece, Princess Masindi Mphephu. This after the Constitutional Court dismissed, with costs, and declared as invalid, an application by King Mphephu-Ramabulana. He approached the apex court to have a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling, that Princess Masindi is heir to the VhaVenda throne, set aside. The battle has lasted for almost 13 years. To hear the views of Princess Masindi Mphephu here is her spokesperson, Lufuno Mphephu

Residents in eight municipalities across Gauteng will be affected by Rand Water's planned 54-hour  maintenance shutdown. The shutdown, which started at 5am, will see affected areas having little or no water supply as Rand Water embarks on the final phase of maintenance on some of its water pipelines. These pipelines supply water to various Gauteng municipalities which include Mogale City, Westrand, the City of Johannesburg, Merafong, Rustenburg, Madibeng, Metsimaholo, and Emfuleni. Rand Water COO Mahlomela Mehlo

 Almost 50% of South Africa's population receives social grants. That's one of the sobering revelations in yesterday's medium-term budget policy statement announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.  He also noted that the number of working people who contribute to the country's purse has significantly declined, further underlining the critical flaws in the country's economy. Economists have however criticised Godongwana for glancing over many critical policy points that were shifted to next year's main budget speech. For analysis of Godongwana's main points, political economist, Israel Mkhize from the Bukindaba Group

There continues to be mixed reactions to the passing of former Apartheid South Africa president, F.W De Klerk. De Klerk died yesterday morning at the age of 85 after he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He is survived by his wife Elita, two children and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced but the De Klerk Foundation had earlier this month released a video of a frail-looking De Klerk describing the address as his 'last words to the South African people'.

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 takes a look at current top African economic stories

Fresh off the local government elections, most municipalities will be looking at the Finance minister for some form of support and relief as they continue to face significant drops in revenue. Meanwhile, the South African Federation of Trade Unions, the second largest federation in the country, will also watching today's budget statement closely as it has called for the introduction of a one-thousand five hundred monthly grant for adults above 18 years who are without work. SAFTU general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi...

City Power has continued its call for power utility, Eskom to address City power outages in parts of Johannesburg. This comes after Eskom laid some of the blame for the recent stage 4 load shedding on municipalities that have not been implementing load shedding as required by the power utility. In an ongoing tussle between the city and Eskom, the City of Johannesburg earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with Eskom with a view for City Power to potentially take over electricity supply for 14 areas in Soweto and Sandton. For a look at how the latest developments affecting City Power's capacity, City Power Spokesperson, Isaac Mangena...

Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter says apart from breakdowns at power stations and capital inadequacies to perform plant maintenance, load shedding has been exacerbated by municipalities that have failed to implement load shedding as required by the power utility.  De Ruyter says letters have been drafted to all the affected municipalities to correct the situation with all future load shedding scenarios which may occur. Independent Energy Expert, Adil Nchabeleng...

A collection of human rights organizations, advocating for social justice in South Africa, have rejected the much talked about possible termination of the income support grants for adults expected to be announced in Thursday's budget. Esley Philander, spokesperson of Advocacy group, Black Sash....

Finance Minister Enoch Gondongwana is expected to deliver his maiden Mid-Term-Budget-Speech on Thursday. Gondongwana took over from the former minister, Tito Mboweni, in early August following President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet reshuffle. Gondongwana is expected to juggle the financial purse between support for ailing State-Owned Enterprises and possible further social relief grants for the most vulnerable in the country. For a closer look at what small businesses, most of which are buckling under power blackouts and lockdown regulations, expect from the Mid-term Budget, here is CEO of the Small Business Institute of South Africa, John Dludlu...