First Take SA

Many people have resorted to steaming using hot water, herbs and mixtures of western medicine and oils to fight Covid-19 infections. Some believe this could cure or kill the virus, while on the other hand, medical practitioners have warned of possible adverse outcomes in some cases.

Government leaders should take the Covid-19 vaccine in public to demystify myths surrounding the vaccine and to show citizens that it is safe. This is a call by Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane as the province gears itself up to vaccinate three-point-seven million people to achieve the mountainous task of defeating Covid-19. Chairperson of the Health Department's Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 vaccines, Professor, Barry Schoub tries to allay fears.

Disaster management teams in Limpopo, Mpumalanga & KZN remain on high alert as parts of central Mozambique were flooded after Cyclone Eloise struck near the port city of Beira with wind speeds of up to 160km/h. The cyclone, which has now been downgraded to a tropic storm, has hit Zimbabwe and northern parts of South Africa. For the latest on the storm, we are joined on the line from Pretoria by South African Weather Service forecaster, Lulama Pheme...

The Pretoria High Court has reserved judgement in former Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Bandile Masuku's application to have the findings of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) against him declared irrational, illegal and unlawful. In October last year, Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, fired Masuku after the SIU found that he failed in his duty to conduct oversight on Personal Protective Equipment tenders worth 125-million rand. Masuku had been tasked with fixing the dysfuntional health department which was rocked by corruption and procurement irregularities.

The Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, says she plans to challenge perjury charges against her. Mkhwebane briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court where the matter was postponed to the 25th of March. She believes the charges are frivolous and should be withdrawn. The charges relate to her handling of the controversial ABSA/Bankorp report where she allegedly lied about the number of times she met with former President Jacob Zuma, the contents of the meeting and also discussed the final report with the former president. Mkhwebane is currently on sabbatical leave until the end of March

Tributes continue to pour in, following the death of Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu. Mthembu succumed to Covid-19 related complications yesterday. He was admitted to hospital last week, following abdominal pains and tested positive for Coronavirus. He was 62 years old.

Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Ndzimande has announced that the 2021 academic year will start between March and April. The minister briefed the media yesterday in Pretoria on plans to reopen tertiary institutions.

The DA says its lawyers have written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to set out Covid-19 vaccination issues that the party says are not in line with the Constitution. Party leader John Steenhuisen says they are giving the President seven days to respond, and if his response lacks details, they will take the matter to court. Steenhuisen says they want, among other things, disclosure of the budget for the acquisition and rollout of the vaccines.

Messaging service WhatsApp has sought to reassure users following concerns sparked by its controversial privacy policy changes. The Facebook-owned service says there has been a lot of misinformation about its update to terms of service, where users are now requested to agree to allow Facebook and it's subsidiaries to collect user data from their devices. The move has raised eyebrows and unleashed many questions about the invasion of user privacy, causing some people to migrate to rival services like Telegram and Signal.

Both the Eastern and the Western Cape have briefed Parliament's Health Committee on their strategies to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine. This as the country is preparing to receive the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine by the end of this month and February.