The Daily Discourse

South Africa has suffered another 333 COVID 19 deaths - taking the death toll to 61 thousand 840. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases says the test positivity rate has top 30 percent - six times the rate at which the virus is said to be under control.  The NICD says 16 thousand 585 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded. Gauteng accounts for 57 percent of the new cases, foll...

Let’s tell you now about the #PovertyMustFallCampaign. It is an initiative for sustainable food production, farming and agricultural education in public schools and Mass job creation by the Khulamani Support Group. What they are saying through this campaign is that they want mobilize South Africans towards a common societal objective post 1994 and showing how economics and human dignity inte...

An expert on matters of local governance, has attributed poor performance in municipalities to a lack of skills and the appointment of officials that are not qualified enough to deal with financial matters. This is as the Auditor-General's report on the 2019-20 municipal audit outcomes shows that only 27 municipalities out of 257 countrywide, received clean audits. Irregular expenditure is said to...

Good news for consumers is that the Competition Commission's Guidelines for Competition in the country’s Automotive Aftermarket came into effect yesterday (Thursday). This means that you now can shop around for parts yourself without affecting your car’s warranty as was the practice for many years. To educate us more on this, we are joined on the line by.. Guest: Thembinkosi Bonakele &...

Legendary South African musician Steve Kekana has passed away. The 63 year old died at the Polokwane hospital this morning after a long illness. The artist and qualified advocate was known for his gospel as well as love songs both in English and Sesotho languages.  Born on 4 August 1958 in Zebediela in the then-Transvaal, Kekana recorded 40 albums in his music career. The sad part about us as...

Let’s touch base now with the Companies Tribunal. It is an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry which was  established in terms of the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008. It was set up to provide speedy resolutions of company disputes and operates nationally. To tell us more on what they do and how they can be approached and the type of disputes they deal with,  Guest: Adv. Ish...

We speak now to the National Secretary of the South African Leisure Tourism and Hospitality Association, they are an affiliate of Nafcoc. They issued a statement bringing to our attention the devastating effects that the lockdown is having on the township economy. The liquor and restaurant traders are the hardest hit which they say contributes to the unemployment rate the country is facing. To get...

Here is something that many South Africans have been waiting for, studying at university in your own language. Well, the University of KwaZulu-Natal is collaborating with local and international universities to come up with what they call the Baqonde project designed to develop African languages in higher education. To talk about what it is and how it came about, we are joined on the line by&helli...

Consumers say the current fragile economy is playing havoc with their quality of life and the new municipal tariff increases will make things even worse. Municipal services tariffs for electricity, water, sanitation, refuse removal and property rates for the 2021/2022 municipal financial year come into effect today (Thursday). Tshepo Phagane spoke to an elderly couple and the City of Johannesburg...

The Constitutional Court is today expected to hand down judgment in a case relating to President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2017 campaign for the ANC presidency. The court will hand down judgement on whether the president did indeed mislead Parliament in relation to donations made to the CR17 campaign. The other issue is whether the Public Protector has the scope to investigate the CR17 campaign. Guest: Pr...

Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke yesterday (Wed) revealed that the financial position of about a quarter of the 257 municipalities in the country is in a bad state. She says that the situation is so dire that there is doubt that they will be able to continue meeting their obligations in the near future. Guest: Natasha Soopal – Senior Executive for Public Sector and Enabling Competencies at t...

Health experts are calling on all provinces to prepare their healthcare facilities for the rapid spread of the Covid19 Delta variant. Health workers in Gauteng are already under heavy pressure as coronavirus patients fill available hospital beds. They warn that South Africa is yet to witness a rapid increase nationwide due to the transmissibility of the Delta variant. Let’s use this opportunity no...

The government of Eswatini has expressed concern about the on-going pro-democracy protests. The kingdom has also dismissed as false reports that King Mswati III has fled the country. It re-assured the nation that his majesty was in the country and working with government to advance the kingdom's goals. Protesters demand electoral reforms. And, schools and government institutions have been closed....

The Protection of Personal Information Act or POPI Act comes into effect from tomorrow (Thursday). The Act was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, but organisations and other state organs which keep personal information were given a reprieve for a year to become compliant with the new law. Some legal analysts have welcomed the legislation saying it will go a long way towards sa...

The Constitutional Court is this morning expected to sentence former president Jacob Zuma’s for the defiance of two summons the Zondo commission issued against him. We take you live inside the court to hear what the judges have to say…… Guest: Mpumelelo Zikalala – Director at Zikalala Attorneys guest: Political Analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo

This morning we feature Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh to get his thoughts on Youth Month. He’s been asking serious hard questions about government’s motive in commemorating the month. Let’s listen to a snippet from his YouTube channel where he was talking about youth unemployment …. Guest: Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh - Author, scholar and founder of the Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX), a digital, youth-centred...

South Africa's vulnerable LGBTQIA+ community believes it's under siege. Less than two months ago, the community spoke of their shock and fear, under the hashtag #JusticeForSpha after the murder of 34-year-old Siphamandla Khoza from KwaZulu-Natal. SABC reporter Jayed-Leigh Paulse sat down with the family of Sphamandla Khoza and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who shared their stories…. PKG-LGBTQI...

The Sol Plaatjie Municipality in Kimberley in the Northern Cape says that it's finalising the last installation work on its bulk water supply pipe line. The Municipality cut water supply to residents on Thursday. The water cut was to allow time for the replacement of air valves and to repair leaks around the city. Let’s find out now what the situation is on the ground as we welcome…. Guest: Regina...

The Delta corona-virus variant, first identified in India, is dominating new infections in South Africa. -- The Director of Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Tulio de Oliveira was speaking during a virtual briefing with the Acting Health Minister and other experts, on the current status of cases across the country and the impact of the Delta variant. South Africa is the worst-hit countr...

South Africa will be on an Adjusted Alert Level Four of the national lockdown for the next fourteen days. All social gatherings including political, religious and cultural events are prohibited with the exception of funerals which will only be limited to 50 people. On the issue of the liquor trade, Ramaphosa says that a ban on the sale of alcohol will help ease the pressure placed on hospital serv...

After 30 long years of waiting, 108 claimants will return to District Six in the Cape Town City Bowl this week. One of the beneficiaries for the Phase Three development, 100 year-old Shariefa Khan celebrated her birthday in April. Sixty-thousand people were forcibly removed by the apartheid government as the area was declared a whites' only, 55 years ago. Tanya Krause reports... Guest: Zahrah Nord...

Exiting news for sports fans is that the SABC yesterday officially launched its 24-hour sports channel, which promises to bring you some exciting and compelling sports content via free-to-air broadcasts and online streaming. The Channel had a partial launch on the 15th of April and now available on various digital channels and to give us details on this, Guest: Merlin Naicker - Group Executive for...

The Human Sciences Research Council together with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development yesterday (Thursday) held a webinar to address the marginalisation of refugees, asylum seekers and foreign workers in the country. They were looking at how the country carries the foreign nationals on issues of vaccination and the economy under the current Covid-19 pandemic. How would they de...

Yesterday (Thursday) we received calls and text messages from teachers who were facing difficulties at some of the vaccination sides. Others say that they were told to come back the next day, while some were misled by fake news of vaccinations running out. Well. We invited the Department of Basic Education to get an understanding from them as to what is happening on the ground. Guest: Elijah Mhlan...