First Take SA

As expected, former DA leader Helen Zille beat sole rival Mike Moriarty to be re-elected as the chair of the party's federal council. By retaining this role Zille will continue to have significant influence over the day-to-day running of South Africa's official opposition party. Zille clinched 69% of the votes cast, making this the tightest race of the congress.

The DA will hold its virtual elective conference this weekend facing a number of challenges. This year alone the official opposition party has lost three provincial leaders with one saying it's no longer the party he joined twenty years ago. This was preceded by the exiting of some senior party leaders including Mmusi Maimane, Herman Mashaba and Athol Trollip among others. The party has also lost the appeal of voters after losing ground in the 2019 and 2016 local government elections.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is ready and committed towards the formalisation, regulation and empowerment of the taxi industry. He was giving a keynote address virtually at the National Taxi Lekgotla underway in Boksburg on Gauteng's Eastrand. The three-day event has brought together various stakeholders within the taxi industry and government to discuss ways of supporting and transforming the industry into a modern, professional and efficient public transport system.

Labour union BEMAWU has approached the Labour Court seeking an interdict to stop the SABC from going ahead with any retrenchments. The hearing relating to the application will be heard in the Labour Court in Johannesburg next Wednesday. The public broadcaster plans to retrench about 600 permanent staff and will not renew the freelance contracts of more than a thousand workers.

Thousands of public servants and 68 deceased people are among those who benefited from the Unemployed Insurance Fund's Temporary Employee Relief Scheme. That came out in ongoing investigations by the Special Investigations Unit. The SIU and the office of the Auditor General briefed Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, on the latest information on issues around the UIF financial management relating to Covid-19.

Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, has revised this year's economic contraction from the seven-point-two per cent estimate in June, down to seven-point-eight per cent. According to the National Treasury, the budget deficit will narrow from 15 per cent in this financial year to ten-point-one per cent in 2021/22. Mboweni, who tabled the medium-term budget policy statement yesterday, called for a shift in expenditure from consumption to capital investment.

Some of the opposition parties in Parliament have criticised Finance Minister Tito Mboweni for allocating 10.5 billion rand to SAA while public workers and representatives are expected to take pay cuts. The governing ANC welcomed the speech.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed rumours that the country is headed for a higher Covid19 lockdown level. He says while he is worried that many South Africans are not adhering to the prevention measures, there are no plans to bring back tougher restrictions. He was answering a variety of questions in the National Council of Provinces, including on the vandalising of rail infrastructure as well as PPE procurement corruption.

The family of footballer Senzo Meyiwa says they want to know who orchestrated his murder. Five men arrested in connection with Meyiwa's murder appeared in the Boksburg Magistrates Court on Gauteng's Eastrand yesterday. They are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The case was been postponed to the 27th of November where a formal charge sheet will be presented before court.

The Tshwane Metro is finally set to have a new mayor - at the latest next week. This is after the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein ruled in the DA's favour, dismissing the appeal lodged by the Gauteng Co-operative Governance MEC, Lebogang Maile. Maile had asked the court to suspend the implementation of a Pretoria High Court judgment which overturned the decision to dissolve the Tshwane Metro and place it under administration.