The South African Communist Party  (SACP) says its rejects the contents of the budget that was scheduled for presentation by the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana to Parliament yesterday but did not happen.  The SACP says it mostly rejects the proposed VAT increase from 15 to 17 percent. The SACP says the unprecedented postponement of the budget must serve as a lesson against a policy direction that hurts the workers and poor. The SACP says an increase in VAT will reduce the basket of goods and services poor South Africans can access and will compound the social crisis that is reflected in the ever-rising cost of living that primarily hurts the workers and poor.  Jon Gericke spoke to SACP National Spokesperson, Dr Alex Mashilo

Three people have been killed in a mudslides at Winkelspruit near Amanzimtoti, south of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. In one indicent, it alleged that a mud slide crashed into a house with a family of four inside. Emergency Services say two children managed to escape, leaving the parents trapped inside the house. In a separate incident, one person was buried beneath mud and rubble when a landslide crashed into their house. Several roads are flooded across the city due to heavy rains in the province. Jon Gericke spoke to IPSS Medical Rescue' spokesperson Samanatha Meyrick 

South Africa is hosting a two day meeting of foreign ministers from the G20 group of major economies. President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to officially open ministers' meeting in Johannesburg today. But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend the meeting, a decision which he has attributed to South Africa's land reform policy following Ramaphosa's signing of the Expropriation Bill into law. Pretoria has been clear that its G20 presidency is a valuable opportunity to place the needs of Africa and the rest of the Global South more firmly on the international development agenda. Jon Gericke spoke to ohn Stremlau, the Honorary Professor, International Relations, at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Civil organisation,  AfriForum, says inspite of the organisation's opposition to recent developments in the country's political landscape, Afrikaaners continue to see themselves as indigenous to South Africa. The organisation tried to engage with the presidency on a number of these issues, including  the Expropriation Act, but received to correspondence from government. The organisation says it was at this point, that it felt compelled to involve the United States of America. SABC News Politics Editor, Mzwandile Mbeje, sat down with Afriforum's Kallie Kriel and began by asking him what the organisation's concerns are with the Act...

The Student Representative Council (SRC) of UCT has called for a task team that will look into the accommodation crisis and historical debts of students at universities. Access to the university's upper campus was restricted, and some lectures were disrupted on Monday morning, as students protested over alleged lack 
of accommodation and students -- who can't register due to historic debt. A number of students have allegedly been sleeping at SRC offices due to a shortage of accommodation. Andile Mbanjwa reports...

The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, has acknowledged that the replacement of the gold SASSA cards with black Postbank cards has not been well executed.  Malatsi appeared before a joint sitting of Parliament's Social Development and Communications and Digital Technologies committees to explain why the process of card replacements has been so slow. The meeting was also attended by senior South African Social Security Agency and Postbank officials and ministers responsible for the entities. Postbank is responsible for the facilitation of the card swop.  The deadline for beneficiaries to swop their cards was extended from 28 February to 20 March. Approximately two point four million beneficiaries that must still do the card swop. ZALENE MERRINGTON reports...

Experts have suggested categorising South African state owned enterprises into strategic and non-strategic entities. With around 700 SOE's at the national, provincial, and local levels, many are struggling to make a profit. Professor Dilip Garach argues that these entities should rather be privatised, while government remains a shareholder. His remarks come as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is set to table the national budget that will outline government spending priorities. SABC News Economics Reporter Nosipho Radebe has the details.

Minister of Trade and Industry, Parks Tau has established a fund aimed at addressing challenges linked to foodborne illnesses, particular in township stores, including spaza shops. This was announced by Minister Tau during his briefing to the Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade in Parliament yesterday. The fund's implementation will be led by the National Empowerment Fund and the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency. Jon Gericke spoke to Susan Mangole, acting Deputy Director-General for Incentives at the Trade and Industry department...

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is  protesting; ahead of the Budget Speech.  Cosatu are against budget cuts especially in the education and health sectors. There are various demonstrations in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The pickets and marches coincide with the Budget Speech to be tabled by Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana this afternoon. The Federation rejects the current reduction in allocations to critical departments such as education and health. Jon Gericke spoke to Malvern de Bruyn, Cosatu's Secretary General in the Western Cape...

The African National Congress' National Working Committee has made sweeping changes to its provincial structures in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The party has removed former provincial secretaries Bheki Mtolo and TK Nciza in its newly-reconfigured provincial structures. Former ANC KZN Deputy Chairperson Micheal Mabuyakhulu is set to make a political comeback in the province as co-ordinator while party veteran Jeff Radebe will be the convener. In Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi survives the chop as he will now be co-convener of the reconfigured structure with veteran politician Amos Masondo. Jon Gericke spoke to political analyst, Sandile Swana