First Take SA

Eastern Cape premier, Oscar Mabuyane is considering lobbying for the ban on alcohol sales to be reinstated under level 3 of the lockdown for the province. This follows a surge of trauma admissions and cases at various hospitals in the province which have strained facilities and measures to curb the spread of the covid-19 pandemic in the province. The Eastern Cape has been highlighted as one of the hotspots with almost 5000 confirmed positive cases of the corona virus. Mabuyane says alcohol based celebrations over this past weekend were concerning.

Most schools around the country are re-opening THIS MORNING with Grade 7s and 12s the first to return to class. While some of the teachers, learners and their parents may be excited, many have equal amounts of anxiety. With the prospect of contracting COVID-19 at schools remaning a real risk, levels of depression, anxiety and irritability have increased

Over 1 million grade 7 and 12 pupils are expected to return to school as the basic education department prepares to catch up after more than two months of NO schooling due to lockdown. Teacher unions, School governing bodies and other stake holders have finally given the department the green light following concerns over the department's state of readiness. The department says it used last week to improve its mop-up operations to ensure that learners and staff remain safe .This resulted in 95% of schools ready to commence with classes this morning. Basic Minister Angie Motshekga and a team of stake holders briefed the media in Pretoria on Sunday.

Grace Bible Church in Soweto is one of the churches that opened it's doors to congregants again yesterday. When announcing the level three lockdown, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared churches could re-open again, but only under strict conditions. These included having no more than 50 congregants and no singing. The service was only attended by church elders.

The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Senzo Mchunu, says government needs to employ more civil servants to improve service delivery in the country. At the same time, Mchunu says there is still a need to reduce the Public Service Wage Bill. When tabling the budget earlier this year, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said this needed to be cut by 160 billion rand over the next three years.

Village Main Reef mine in Orkney near Klerksdorp in North West has until next Wednesday to finalize consultations around restructuring and possible retrenchments. This follows over two months of sporadic workers' demonstrations at the mines operations. Mine management refuted claims that it had taken a decision to retrench workers without consulting workers' representatives

Government will appeal the judgement handed down in the North Gauteng High Court that lockdown regulations which kicked in for level 4 and 3 are invalid and unconstitutional. This was announced by Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu following a cabinet meeting specially convened to discuss the matter in Pretoria YESTERDAY

The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture may resume public hearings from the end of June if it can overcome a number of challenges. This is according to Commission Chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who briefed the media on the impact of the lockdown on the inquiry's work. Zondo says the Commission is determined to finish its work by the end of March 2021. Earlier this year, the commission was granted a final extension to enable it to complete its work.

Former Gauteng Judge President, Bernard Ngoepe says although no one is perfect, it is government's duty to protect lives and it should seek a second opinion on the Pretoria High Court's ruling. Judge Ngoepe made these comments after the High Court ruled that some of the alert level 3 and 4 lockdown regulations were unconstitutional and invalid. The court has given government 14 days to amend the regulations. The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs says it is studying the judgement.

The high court in Pretoria has ruled that Covid-19 patients cannot not be forced into state quarantine if they are able to successfully self-quarantine. The case was brought to the court by the lobby group AfriForum. Current regulations instructs that anyone who tested positive for Covid-19, regardless of whether they showed symptoms, could be placed in a government isolation facility. In April, two doctors at a Mpumalanga hospital were forced into quarantine in Limpopo, by the department of health. The doctors were already self-isolating at home. The South African Medical Association (Sama) at the time criticised the apporoach taken by the Limpopo health department concerning this incident.