The Daily Discourse

This morning we talk to the Social Housing Regulatory Authority. They are an agency of the Department of Human Settlements which was established in 2010 as per the Social Housing Act. We find out what they are all about and what sort of service they render to the public. Guest: Rory Gallocher - CEO of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority

Today, South Africa's largest number of by-elections on a single day is taking place with 107 seats up for grabs in 95 wards. Yesterday (Tuesday) IEC officials throughout the country assisted voters, who had applied for special votes. There’s also other issues around the elections from adhering to Covid-19 rules to the rejection of Action SA’s appeal to register a party. To look at this further, w...

This seems a done deal. The Hawks have finally confirmed that an arrest warrant has been issued for the ANC secretary general Ace Magashule. Free State Hawks spokesperson, Lynda Steyn says he hasn't been arrested as yet, but the warrant has been signed. And she says Magashule will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's court on Friday... LINK: Let’s pull it all together now to find out whether he...

Today being Tuesday, it’s time for our regular UIF feature where Tshiamo Molema addresses all your questions. Please remember to keep your questions very brief and listen on the radio for answers. GUEST: Tshiamo Molema – Manager for Monitoring and Evaluation in the Commissioner’s Office

It was on this day (10 Nov 1995) 25 years ago when nine members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were executed by the then Nigerian military government of General Sani Abacha. Ken Saro-Wiwa who was a playwright and author together with his comrades were convicted on what is said to be trumped-up charges by a secret military tribunal on October 31. They came into conflict with t...

This morning Bryan focuses on paying off debt especially for those who are working. GUEST: Bryan Hirsch, Chairperson of Bryan Hirsch, Colley & Associates (Pty) Limited

The Special Investigating Unit says it is concerned about the publication of leaked investigation reports by the different media houses. They are pointing mostly to the Covid-19 related corruption saying it misleads the public. But then the media being what it is, and serving the public’s right to know, where do we find the balance? Guest: Keizer Kganyago – Spokesperson for the Special Investigati...

Today (09 Nov) being World Adoption Day, we turn our focus why it’s important for people to adopt and raise awareness around the subject. Over the years reports indicated just how difficult the process of adopting is which somehow turns many people off. But then back in the days many orphans were raised by distant family members and neighbours. What has happened to that and how should we describe...

The Covid-19 pandemic has made the unemployment issue worse as many people lost their jobs while young people never got the chance to improve their skills as the country was on lockdown most of this year. Well tech company Microsoft has granted Afrika Tikkun R2.5 million as part of its Global Skills Initiative. The company says that the initiative aims to bring new digital skills to underserved po...

As per your constant request for clarity regarding the R350 Social Relief of Distress Grant, we have invited the South African Social Security Agency to answer all your questions. Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government will be extending the special R350 COVID-19 grant by a further three months. He made the announcement when he delivered his economic recovery plan at a join...

Neither United States President nor the senior members of the Republican Party have officially conceded the Presidential race as Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris made history on Saturday by winning both the popular vote and the Electoral College. The 77-year old Biden becomes the oldest person to win the Presidency while Harris becomes the first woman, black in this instance or otherwise, to...

Today (Monday) the SABC and Telkom enter into a channel carriage deal which will enable our audiences to stream the public broadcaster’s content on demand. Guest : Ian Plaatjies – SABC COO

Let’s tell you now a project focusing on people who are visually impaired. It’s an art programme based on the work of internationally acclaimed Willem Boshoff’s “The Blind Alphabet” which transcribes complex words into tangible objects to be experienced by the blind and translated to the sighted. Guest: Annali Dempsey – Curator of the UJ Art Gallery

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme has seen a huge increase in applications for next year which put the number close to 500-thousand. Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande says that this is a major improvement from provinces that had extremely low applications in the past two years. To find what could be behind the increase and how NSFAS is handling it, we are joined on the line by… G...

US President Donald Trump appeared before the media last night as his grip on the White House appeared to slowly slip away, presenting a litany of grievances while he accused Democrats of trying to steal and rig the election. He promised a lot of litigation over unsubstantiated claims of fraud across multiple states, as Democratic rival Joe Biden urged calm and for every ballot to be counted. Let’...

The South African Police Services has told Parliament that nearly 400 corruption cases involving its members are being investigated by various law enforcement agencies. In its briefing to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, SAPS says transgressions are being committed by members across ranks from senior to junior levels. Lulama Matya reports.... Guest: Dr RGD Rajin – Former member of the SA...

The world is this morning watching developments in the USA where Trump's campaign has launched legal action in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, calling for vote counting to be halted. The campaign officials accuse Democrats of scheming to disenfranchise Republican voters. Eric Trump has told his father's supporters in Pennsylvania that the President is sending lawyers to challenge the count the...

This morning we deal with chronic wounds. According to medical journals, a chronic wound is one that has failed to progress through the phases of healing in an orderly and timely fashion and has shown no significant progress toward healing in 30 days. What is the common cause of a chronic wound and what makes it not heal? Guest: Sr Liezl Naude – Wound care Specialist at Eloquent Health and Wellnes...

In light of Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu hosting a women’s summit tomorrow (Thursday), we talk to some of the women in the sector about the progress they are making in the sector. The summit is aimed at unlocking the value chain to allow broader participation of women in both Human Settlements and Water & Sanitation projects and programmes. For more on this a...

Dr Kgosi Letlape who is the outgoing president of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), says that the standard of healthcare in public hospitals pre-1994 was better than what is currently experienced in the private sector today. He went on to talk about how expensive the private sector is and the impact it has on health practitioners. Dr Letlape now joins us on the line to share...

We take a look now at accuracy in the testing of Covid-19. Speed is of the essence around this period and we know how testing labs are overwhelmed. Well Wits University’s Centre for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research has come up with a solution that can speed up the testing process with precision and to educate us on this latest development. Guest: Professor Bavesh Kana – Head of the Centre of Excel...

Last week Bryan could not deal with the questions sent to him as we had to cross to one of the big court cases. Well today is your chance to ask him questions around your finances. But first let’s deal with the questions that have been submitted to him last month of a similar nature… GUEST: Bryan Hirsch, Chairperson of Bryan Hirsch, Colley & Associates (Pty) Limited

Yesterday former chairperson at SAA Technical, Yakhe Kwinana really tested Justice Zondo’s patience at the Commission of inquiry into state capture. The chairperson kept reminding her that she is a professional why she kept claiming that she didn’t know things like contracts and so on. Let’s listen to some of the exchange that sort of dominated her testimony…. LINK: Having listened to that exchang...

With just a day to Election Day in the United States, critical swing states in the Midwest will be the focus for both campaigns as they try to drive their supporters to the polls. With just less than 24 hours to go in terms of campaign events, President Donald Trump spent Saturday criss-crossing the must-win State of Pennsylvania with Democratic Nominee Joe Biden close by in the State of Michigan....

For many years now all we’ve heard about the e-tolls was never in favour of motorists. The ANC government which by the way implemented these tolls kept promising to deal with them. Taking you back to everything that was said by government around e-toll will take the month. So for now let’s listen to this interview by Aldrin Sampier talking to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on the 3rd of March t...