First Take SA

The residents of Makhanda Eastern Cape, formerly known as Grahamstown, are taking government to court over the raw sewage that continues to flood the town. The residents say the municipality has failed to respond to reported incidents. The town has also been facing a water shortage crisis.

The Democratic Alliance is expected to have a new Federal Council chairperson occupying the seat of its highest decision making body between congress by Sunday. The party will hold its highly contested council election at the weekend, with former party leader, Helen Zille as one of the front runners to replace James Selfe

Negotiators from the UK reached an agreement with officials in Brussels on Thursday that could pave the way for Britain to finally break 46 years of ties with the EU. For both sides, the agreement is a chance to move their political agendas on and to start focusing on their future trading relationship. The European Union said that they believe the deal can be ratified by the end of October and called it a "fair and reasonable basis for an orderly withdrawal" by the UK.

Drugs seem to be highly accessible in prisons across South Africa. In August a search of the Pollsmoor prison found drugs, cellphones and dangerous weapons in prisoner cells. The light is also on prison wardens following the arrest of a warden at the prison who was in possession of mandrax pills. In the latest incident, the issue of illicit substances in prisons also came to the fore when the now convicted child rapist Nicholas Ninow told the court this week that he had taken drugs numerous times in jail.

The confessed child rapist, Nicholas Ninow, has recited a poem to his victim in the High Court in Pretoria as a way of apologising for raping her. Twenty-one-year-old Ninow cried as he read the poem as well as a letter to the family of the seven-year old victim. Ninow testified in mitigation of sentence. He was found guilty of raping the girl who was six at the time, at a Dros Restaurant in Pretoria, possession of drugs and defeating the ends of justice.

Some of our listeners say Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is 60 himself and should start the early retirement process by leading by example.

Former South African editor and journalist, Nic Dawes (doors), is now the Media Deputy-Executive Director at Human Rights Watch in New York. Dawes says a lot of things they reported on while he was in SA have come to pass and rebuilding the country will take a while.

There continues to be widespread concerns over shortages of critical psychiatric drugs for mental health patients in Gautend and across the country. The drugs in short supply are (include Fluoxetine and Citalopram) both critical inhibitors that ease symptoms of moderate to severe depression. Mental health patients are being told that essential drugs are in short supply or inadequate in supply and told to come back later in government hospitals and clinics.

The United Nations is sounding alarm bells over the high number of children that are suffering the consequences of poor diets and a food system that is failing them. In a report released by UNICEF today (tuesday) called 'The State of the Worlds Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition' extensive reasearch has uncovered that at least 1 in 3 children under five is either undernourished or overweight putting them at risk of poor brain development, weak learning, low immunity, increased infections and, in many cases, death

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, says his department will seek to assist convicted Fees Must fall activist Khanya Cekeshe with an urgent application for a presidential pardon. This comes after the Johannesburg Magistrates Court dismissed Cekeshe's application to appeal his conviction. The court also dismissed his application for bail. The student activist was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2017, with three years suspended after pleading guilty to burning a police van at the height of the Fees Must Fall protests in 2016.