First Take SA

Controversial Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso, who is detained at the St Albans Prison in Port Elizabeth, is reportedly receiving preferential treatment. A report in the City Press Newspaper has alleged that Omotoso is still preaching to his congregants via a cell phone, eats special meals and wears his fancy clothes. The preacher and two co-accused are facing numerous charges, ranging from sexual assault, rape and trafficking for sexual purposes to racketeering

Preliminary results from the Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election has been delayed past YESTERDAY'S (Sunday) deadline. The delay in announcing the result is the latest setback in a disorganised poll to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the DRC since his father was assassinated in 2001. The opposition, represented by its two main candidates Martin Fayulu and Felix Tshisekedi, and the ruling coalition, all say their candidates have won

Eleven people were killed an a multi-vehicle crash that forced the closure of the N3 north and south between Roadside and Villiers near the Wilge Toll Plaza in the Free State yesterday. Arrive Alive says two vehicles, a taxi and a tanker truck were involved

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found that former Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula violated the Executive Ethics Act during a family holday to Dubai in 2016. Mkhwebane also released several other reports that made adverse findings against Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Treasury Director General Dondo Mogajane as well as the awarding of the PEU - City of Tshwane metering contract.

Edcon CEO Grant Pattison says the retail giant needs about a billion-rand of funding to be financially sustainable over the next year. Pattison has however rejected speculation that Edcon is on the brink of collapse. Reports over the weekend suggested that the group, which owns Edgars, Jet and CNA stores, is facing liquidation and 40-thousand workers could lose their jobs and 100-thousand others affected indirectly.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has accused Sibanye Stillwater of resorting to underhanded tactics in an effort to discredit its protected strike action in the gold sector. This after Sibanye's announcement that AMCU was no longer the majority union at the company. AMCU, which represents 43 percent of Sibanye's 32-thousand two-hundred workers downed tools over three weeks ago over a wage dispute. The union is demanding a thousand rand annual increases for the next three years, while the three other unions at the company, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and UASA, accepted seven hundred rands in the first two years, and just over eight hundred in the third year for most workers. Sibanye has however announced on its website that the wage agreement signed by the three other unions now binds AMCU to return to work

A fire has gutted an electoral commission warehouse in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, just days before the highly anticipated presidential vote. Officials say the blaze destroyed thousands of voting machines and ballot boxes that were due to be used in the election. The campaign to elect a successor to President Joseph Kabila on 23 December has been marred by deadly clashes. A teenager was reportedly shot dead yesterday in the Kasai region ahead of a rally by Felix Tshisekedi, one of the leading opposition candidates.

A 58-year-old scholar patrol guard who was accused of raping and sexual assaulting learners at the A.B Xuma Primary school in Soweto, has been acquitted of all charges. Johannes Molefe appeared in the High Court in Johannesburg sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court in Ekhuruleni earlier today. Molefe, worked at the school as a patrol guard, was arrested in October last year after several learners told teachers that he had raped and sexually assaulted them.

Over 800 South Africans are currently locked up in prisons all over the world - mostly for drug smuggling. In the third and final part of this series on South African drug mules, we interview Shani Krebs, who was sentenced to death in Thailand.

Today, we bring you an interview with Patricia Gerber, who heads Locked Up, a non-governmental organisation that assists South Africans in prisons abroad. Locked up has also been lobbying government to enter into prisoner transfer agreements with other countries, so that South Africans convicted for drug trafficking abroad can serve out their prison sentences here - and not overseas.