The Zondo Commission of Inquiry investigating allegations of state capture has spent about 700 million rand since its inception in 2018. This was revealed by the Department of Justice during its briefing to the oversight committee yesterday (Wednesday) when it was presenting its budget. Acting Director-General, Adv JB Skosana says about 18 million rand per month is spent on investigations. Is this money well spent? Former chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and leader of the African People's Convention(APC), Themba Godi....

Gauteng has officially overtaken the Western Cape as the epicentre in the country of the coronavirus pandemic with 75,015 cases compared with the Western Cape's 73,292. The cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in SA is 224,665 with 8,810 new infections. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the COVID-19 storm that he's been warning South Africans about had arrived. Professor Wolfgang Preiser, the head of division of medical virology at the Department of Pathology at the University of Stellenbosch breaks down the increase of positive cases in the country...

More than five hundred workers at industry giant, Media24, are likely to lose their jobs in the coming weeks. The company has announced that it is considering down-sizing, as a result of the impact of C0VID-19. The organisation says it could close five magazines and two newspapers and reduce the frequency of its remaining monthly magazines due to a drastic drop in sales since the start of the lockdown. They also intend moving two newspapers onto the digital platform. This as the SABC has also announced it is going ahead with its planned job cuts, which could see about 1800 employees losing their jobs. In May 2020, Caxton Publishing, also said it would exit the print media business, a decision that would affect ten of its well-known publications. Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird explains the impact this will have...

Some parents and learners say it is not a good idea that Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga is phasing in more grades from today. They say with more learners going back to school, exposure to the coronavirus is very high. They say some schools do not have enough space to adhere to the COVID-19 regulations. Yesterday, Motshekga announced that grades R, 6 and 11 will go back to school. CEO of the Federation of School Governing Bodies of South Africa, Paul Colditz...

The Gauteng government convened a meeting over the weekend to draft proposals to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) to allow for stricter enforcement of lockdown regulations. This in an attempt to curb the soaring Covid-19 numbers in the province. The meeting came as the SA Medical Association, SAMA, claimed that Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg hospitals have the lowest number of Covid-19 beds available, a clear problem when considering Gauteng has recorded the second-highest infection rate after the Western Cape. To discuss this is Gauteng Government spokesperson, Thabo Masebe...

The Basic Education Department has blamed its failure to provide meals to over nine million learners nationwide on logistics and lack of infrastructure. Equal Education approached the Pretoria High Court on an urgent basis to seek an order to compel government to provide meals to learners, regardless of whether they have returned to school or not. The programme which feeds nine million learners was suspended in March due to the lockdown. It resumed on June 8 when schools reopened, but Equal Education says seven and a half million children did not received meals on June 8, and close to 4 -million are still deprived of meals despite the programme being fully funded.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa urges South Africans not to panic as COVID 19 infections rise rapidly -- some are calling for a return to higher levels of lockdown. South Africa has registered its highest number of infections to date within a 24-hour cycle. The number of confirmed cases has risen by over eight-thousand, bringing the national total to nearly 159-thousand-400. The number of COVID19-related fatalities stands at over two-thousand-700.

Four unions at the South African Airways have agreed to sign the voluntary severance packages offered as part of the national carrier's business rescue process. The Department of Public Enterprises announced yesterday that the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), the National Transport Movement, the Aviation Union of Southern Africa, Solidarity and representatives of non-unionised staff, have expressed their readiness to sign the deal. However, three other unions have not signed. SAA went into business rescue in December last year following years of losses and repeated state bailouts

Auditor General Kimi Makwetu has pointed that only 20 of the country's 257 municipalities received clean audits. Makwetu has blamed municipalities failure to adhere to prescribed regulations for the increase in irregular spending.

As millions of South Africans continue to bear the brunt of the of the Covid-19 economic lockdown, many medical general practitioners and private sector specialists are also feeling the financial pressure as numbers of patients in their practices decline. This is due clients' fear of contacting the coronavirus and limitations on hospital admissions and surgical procedures. Major representative organisations of the medical profession together with Progressive Health Forum, have tabled a proposal for medical schemes to pay private practitioners in order to guarantee their income for the next coming months.