The Daily Discourse

The Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday expressed their sadness at news that the Hilton Hotel in Durban has shut its doors. The department is hoping to work with the hotel to reopen to avoid job losses. Guest: Ravi Pillay – MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal

How to navigate January and how can people regroup their finances? GUEST: Bryan Hirsch, Chairperson of Bryan Hirsch, Colley& Associates (Pty) Limited

President Ramaphosa last night outlined government's strategy in rolling out coronavirus vaccines. He says that 20 million doses have been secured through negotiations with manufactures for this year and most of that should arrive in the first half of the year. This is in addition to the doses for ten percent of the population that are expected in the country in terms of the World Health Organizat...

CEO of the South African SA Civil Aviation Authority led a team of inspectors around the country’s major airports to look at whether they are complying with Covid-19 regulations. Let’s find out now from her why she decided to conduct an inspection and what it is she found. Also what should the traveling public know about compliance at airports? Guest: Poppy Khoza - Chief executive officer of the S...

Hundreds of travellers at the Lebombo Border Post, linking Mozambique and South Africa are still frustrated as they are forced to queue for too long waiting to go through the border. Authorities confirmed that the long queues are caused by the COVID-19 testing procedure as many Mozambican citizens and other travellers are making their way to South Africa… Guest: Bongani Bongo - Chairperson of Parl...

We start off the year by looking back at the ANC’s January 8 statement for 2021. On Friday the party’s President Cyril Ramphosa said that drawing on the strength of its forefathers, the ANC will forge ahead towards unity and integrity. Delivering a virtual address of the party's January 8 Statement to mark the ANC's 109th anniversary, Ramaphosa said over the decades, the organisation has been weak...

As the country is preparing a strategy to rollout vaccinations, all sorts of reports are emerging of the different treatments being offered. One of those is the prescription of ivermectin which is said to be registered for use in the treatment and control of parasites in animals. The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority is appealing for it not to be prescribed for Covid-19 until its...

When one drives around our cities, many of the street names have changed in honour of those who took part in the struggle against apartheid. Well this morning as part remembering liberation movements, we thought to speak to one former activist who is lucky to have a street named after him while he’s still alive. Isaac Peloeng was an activist in the 80’s and has a street named after him in the Vryb...

Today (Friday) Africa’s oldest liberation movement, the ANC turns 109 years. And as you’ve heard in that speech, the sitting president who was Oliver Tambo at that time was declaring the year of action to set the agenda of his party’s activities and goals. The party was banned at the time and transmitted messages through Radio Freedom in Zambia. Very rich history and tradition indeed of the Africa...

Tributes continue to pour in Phepsile "Temangcamane" Maseko who passed away earlier in the week after a short illness. She was the National Coordinator of the Traditional Healers Organisation. She was a strong advocate for the use of traditional medicine even now under the current Covid-19 pandemic. Guest: David Letsoalo – A Sankarist, activist and law academic Guest: MKHULU NZINGISA - CULTURAL AC...

The Federation of Unions of South Africa, FEDUSA is calling on government to seriously apply collective wisdom before any moves on enforcing stricter lockdown measures are formalized. This comes after reports that the NCCC was holding an urgent meeting as Covid-19 infections are increasing rapidly which could lead to further restrictions as the country is currently on Level 3. Let’s find out now w...

The latest from the DRC is that at least 22 people were killed in a raid on a village in part of the eastern DR Congo plagued by Islamist rebel attacks. The attackers struck late on Monday, killing residents of Mwenda village with machetes and guns. A civil society leader from that village blames the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan group which has emerged as the most lethal militia in Co...

We turn our focus now on institutions of higher learning to find out what their concerns are as the Covid-19 pandemic seems far from over. Schools may be affected as the Covid-19 number are increasing, what are their plans also seeing that matric marking is delaying? To give us a sense of how universities are hoping to deal with this, Guest: Professor Ahmed Bawa - Chief Executive Officer, Universi...

Health insurance group, Medscheme has conducted a hospital admission analysis across all provinces to compare the first Covid-19 peak in July 2020 to the current second wave. Their findings have revealed that while Eastern and Western Cape seem to be at or past their peak, KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng and Limpopo showed a daily 8% average increase of hospital admissions in Week 52 of 2020. To find out m...

This past Monday was World Brail Day and we thought to visit the subject today to look at how far we are as a country in making it accessible for learners. Our guest is of the view that learners should learn both braille and print for them to be able to communicate with sighted people. Also in 2021, how accessible is braille in all our 11 official languages? Talk to us more on this subject, we are...

Yesterday we spoke to Muzi Hlengwa, President of the National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa. He spoke about how people are harassing them demanding to do family rituals during Covid-19 deaths, something that is not allowed under the current restrictions. Guest: Dr. Velaphi VVO Mkhize-Founder and Director of the Umsamo African Institute

Unemployment figures among young people living with disabilities are said to be close to 70 percent, 40 percent more than the figures of the general population. Activists say this is yet another indication of the exclusion of this community which forms 14% of South Africans. So, what are the barriers, what can role players do to improve this situation? Guest: Therina Wentzel-Du Toit-National Direc...

Labour federations Cosatu and Saftu say they are concerned about the safety of their members, many of whom will be returning to work next week. This comes as the number of coronavirus infections peaks during the second wave. Government has published guidelines for employers but are these enough? What happens if companies do not take the necessary precautions. Guest: Attorney and Director at Moni A...

Funeral parlours across the country are facing increasing pressure as the number of covid-19 related deaths spike. The industry says its employees are working long hours and that they now have to fetch the deceased from wards and not hospital mortuaries as has been standard practice for years, because of lack of space. The funeral service industry has called on the public to take safety precaution...

As you’ve heard over the weekend that Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi was not happy with the Independent Examination Board for filing court papers compelling government to fund its private business. The IEB says it can't afford to pay for the assessment services offered by the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training – UMALUSI. Let’s hear now why the MEC is...

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) says it is hopeful that the curfew and the ban on alcohol sales over the festive season, will limit the annual holiday carnage on the roads. Holiday makers have begun making their way home as traffic volumes have started building up over the weekend. Let’s talk now about how different things were this under the current Covid-19 rules. The assumption i...

Usually around this time of the year paramedics and law enforcement agencies have their hands full dealing with all sorts of incidents caused by unruliness. But this time around it seems like the curfew helped as some hospitals and medical staff experienced an incident-free celebration period and to get a sense of how things were on the ground, we are joined on the line by…. GUEST: Robert Mulaudzi...

As we close one of the hardest years in our lifetime, we speak to those who are in the forefront of taking care of the poor. Often those of us who are lucky enough to have jobs or have an income forget those who have nothing. We turn to leave it to charities to worry about the poor. We forget that charities do need us to contribute in different ways so that they can be able to feed those in need....

We talk now to Molefe Pooe, author of a book entitled Money Talks. This is one of those topics that is best needed around this time as we look forward to the new year. His book touches in issues of how your environment limits your thinking and how to manage your money among other issues. Guest: Molefe Pooe – Author of Money Talks

Let’s tell you now about exiting news for our music industry after seeing how so our musicians took the world by storm. Jerusalema was no doubt a super hit with many nations. This time around the South African Music Week is collaborating with world-respected Canadian Music Week, in 2021.This will see South Africa and Canada come together to explore ways in which to maximise how music, technology a...