Harrowing cries for help from a Durban mother during a home invasion in Clare Hills, west of Durban, were received by private security respondents in an incident in which a man was shot in the head on Tuesday.

In the voice notes circulated on WhatsApp, the mother could be heard quietly crying for help from the bathroom of her home.

Black Friday is around the corner and many are deciding whether they will spend their hard-earned cash on their favourite items.

Some are debating whether to shop online or physically head to the shops due to concerns about Covid-19.

Retailers including Makro, Pick n Pay and Game have already seen shoppers talking about their Black Friday deals online.

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was released on bail of R200,000 after he made his first appearance in a packed Bloemfontein magistrate's court on Friday to face charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.

Magashule's advocate, Laurance Hodes, brought an application for his release on bail after he had presented himself to the Hawks on Friday morning for charges related to the controversial 2014 Free State asbestos roofing removal project, while he was premier of the province.

Researchers from the HIV Prevention Trials Network have announced a “breakthrough” in the prevention of HIV in women.

The initial results from clinical trials show that an injection once every eight weeks is 90% more effective than taking a daily pill to prevent HIV among women.

The trial was led by Dr Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, director of research at the Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI) at the University of the Witwatersrand.

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation at 8pm on Wednesday night.

The address followed a special sitting of cabinet that considered recommendations of the national coronavirus command council meeting.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the confrontation outside Brackenfell High School in Cape Town as deeply regrettable, calling for people to act with greater decorum.

On Monday, a violent confrontation broke out between a group of parents from the school and EFF members, who were protesting against alleged racism at the school.

The incident was sparked by a matric ball that was hosted privately, after the school had cancelled the annual event because of Covid-19.

The suspense is taking its toll on US President Donald Trump as votes are counted and Americans wait to learn who will lead them for the next four years.

Trump's Twitter timeline has been flooded with rants and accusations of fraud and violation of America's democracy since the polls closed on Tuesday.

In the early stages of vote counts, Trump was optimistic that he would win the presidency. He even went as far as declaring a false victory despite millions of votes still uncounted. He said his legal team would take his case to the US Supreme Court but did not specify what they would claim.

Interview audio supplied by Reuters.

A team from WITS University’s Centre for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research (CBTBR) led by Professor Bavesh Kana has developed a unique “control standard” for Covid-19 testing, which aims to ensure that testing is independently verified so as to assure its accuracy for diagnostic testing platforms.

Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church leader Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary were on Wednesday granted bail of R200,000 each by the Pretoria magistrate's court.

The couple and their three co-accused face fraud and money laundering charges related to an investment scheme valued at about R102m.

The department of basic education is on track with its preparations for the largest ever matric exams, which start on November 5.

For the first time in the country’s history, more than 1 million candidates will sit for the exams.

This is because they are combined exams that will also cater for candidates who were meant to sit for the May/June exams, which were cancelled after the country went into lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic.