First Take SA

IEC Western Cape Electoral Officer, Courtney Sampson, political parties allowed to lay criminal charges against farmers who prevent election campaign . This follows a complaint by the EFF that a farmer in the Witzenberg municipality prevented them from campaigning on his farm ahead of a by-election this week.

The South African National Blood Services is concerned by the critically low blood stock as the country has just enough units to last 3 days. SANBS spokesperson Sifiso Khoza says South Africa requires an average of three-thousand units of blood to treat thousands of patients daily. He is hoping that people will use the the upcoming festive season to donate blood to match the high demand during that period.

Four people have been injured following an explosion at a chemical factory in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson William Ntladi says the injured have been taken to hospital

The impasse between DA and EFF continued last night in parliament following rulings by the house chair, Thoko Didiza. Didiza ordered both parties to apologise for their scuffle. The DA Parly Chief Whip John Steenhuisen says they will not stop giving fair comment against any party in fear of being called racists. Steenhuisen also says threats by EFF of making the DA lose metros will not deter them from such comments.

Democrats fight to regain the House of Representatives as more than 35 million people cast their votes in early voting ahead of the official Election Day, a large increase from the 20 million people who cast ballots in the early voting in the 2014 midterms.

Retail giant Woolworths has been ordered by the Constitutional Court to re-instate 44 full time employees whom it had retrenched when they refused to work on a flexible-time working arrangement. The ConCourt found that this was substantively unfair and that Woolworths had failed to consider alternatives to retrenchment.

Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba, is this morning (Tuesday 6/11) expected to brief Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, on the decision to grant the Oppenheimer family permission to operate a private terminal at the OR Tambo International Airport. The Committee wants the Minister to clarify contradictions between statements he made before them and statements he made more recently. Meanwhile, the DA has called for Gigaba to be fired in light of a Public Protector finding that he had lied under oath. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs Hlomani Chauke

The Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, John Jeffreys, says if government is to improve it's efforts to fight human trafficking there must be an intergrated information system. He was speaking at a Trafficking in Persons summit in partnership with the South African Human Rights Commission and the Conference of Western Attorneys General. The latter has established a partnership with Africa to help identify and successfully prosecute trafficking offences. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke Markus Green Esquire, Conference of Western Attorneys General Africa Alliance Partnership board member

Worker Unions have pledged to fight to the bitter end in the ongoing rentrenchments saga at the SABC. Last week, the public broadcaster announced over two-thousand planned retrenchments. Unions have planned Black Wednesday and a national picket on Friday in protest of the looming retrenchments. Meanwhile, according to the World Economic Forum, South Africa has the worst labour-employee relations in the world, ranking 137 out of 137 countries. Employment relations expert and lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, Gawie Cillie says high levels of mistrust between employers and employees remain at the core of negative labour-employee relations

The Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party registered by Numsa over the weekend says the working class should lead the economy and determine the country's destiny. The party is however yet to decide if it intends on contesting next year's general elections after being given the thumbs-up by the IEC to register as a political party. Meanwhile, former Cape Town mayor, Patricia De Lille may also start up a new political party after resigning as both mayor and member of the DA. Lecturer and political analyst from the Nelson Mandela University, Ongama Mtimka believes the creation of such parties based in socialist ideologies may be a harbinger for the 'Lula Moment' in South Africa