First Take SA

The appointment of Advocate Shamila Batohi as the new head of the National Director for Public prosecutions has been applauded across spectrums of society. Civil society groups such as OUTA say they are encouraged by Advocate Batohi's willingness to take on the powerful while the Law Society has hailed as someone who has the necessary independence to tackle the challenge of leading the prosecutorial body.

Africa is currently witnessing a surge in the development of shopping malls. Today Africe boasts 579 malls, up from 225 in 2010 with Egypt leading the pack,

President Cyril Ramaphosa is TODAY expected to name the new National Director of Public Prosecutions at the Union Buildings. This follows public interviews of five nominees shorlisted by an advisory panel chaired by Energy minister, Jeff Radebe. The nominees to head up the NDPP are Advocates Shamina Batohi, Siyabulela Mapoma, Simphiwe Mlotswa, Rodney De kock and Advocate Andrea Johnson.

The Johannesburg High Court has granted a class action certificate to victims of listeriosis, paving the way for them to claim against Tiger Brands. The source of the outbreak, which started in 2016 and lasted until March this year, was traced to a factory owned by Tiger Brands unit Enterprise Foods. More than one thousand people contracted the decease and 218 deaths were recorded.

A group of alleged EFF members vandalised an outlet of mobile communications company Vodacom at the Mall of the North in Polokwane. The group was protesting against an image of EFF comander-in-chief leader Julius Malema and his deputy Floyd Shivambu shown at the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards

Eskom says stage 2 loadshedding had to be implemented YESTERDAY due to technical problems at its coal fire power station. The power utility has also cited low levels of water and diesel at its facilities in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal as another factor that led to the rotational loadshedding throughout the country between 8 am and 10 pm last night. Eskom loadshedding to continue

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has provisionally dropped its charges relating to the Estina dairy farm corruption. The case involved the controversial Gupta family, their business associates and some Free State department of agriculture officials. The NPA had earlier asked the Bloemfontein regional court to postpone the more than 220-million rand corruption case to gather more evidence.

Deputy Minister of Communications, Pinky Kekana maintains that the call for an investigation into allegations of censorship by the SABC is not an overreach on her part nor the Communications Portfolio Committee. The committee has accused the SABC of being biased towards its board members and executives by allegedly not showing parliamentarians while doing their oversight duties during one of the appearances of SABC's management. Kekana says it remains the duty of the SABC and its board to prove the allegations as false.

The EFF says the party is too busy to meet the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) and can only do so after the elections next year. The request for a meeting by SANEF comes after party leader, Julius Malema made a call to his supporters to 'deal decisively with journalists' whose names he mentioned when addressing a crowd outside the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture hearings where public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan was testifying.

As a lead up to the Global Citizen Mandela festival, Sisters working in film and television(SWIFT) has joined forces with the African Rising International Film Festival (ARIFF) to mark the Albertina Sisulu and Mandela centenaries. ARIFF seeks to provide a platform to young , bold storytellers to showcase their work this week . The festival started on the 26th and will end on the 29th of November 2018 at the Newton Junction and Market Theatre Precinct Ster Kinekor. Sisanda Jonas spoke to Festival Director Flavia Motsisi on SWIFT and their role in empowering young female filmmakers