The National Pulse

The Department of Employment and Labour has unleashed an intensive four-day multi-departmental blitz inspections of restaurants across South Africa, following reports of endemic exploitation in the sector. The inspections started today with some officials being spotted in the Sandton area earlier. What does the Restaurants Association make of this? The Association’s CEO, Wendy Alberts joins me on...

  Workers in South Africa are preparing to participate in a National Strike on the 7th of October 2024 across all provinces against high joblessness, income inequality, poverty. This National Strike is organized by COSATU and the federation’s National Spokesperson, Zanele Sabela joins me on the line to tell us more   GUEST: Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson

In conversation with the Mayor of Cape Town about the Democratic Alliance’s National Day of Action against Eskom's unreasonable 40% tariff increase. Eskom has come under fire with this proposal which it plans to implement next year.   GUEST: Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA Member & Mayor of the City of Cape Town

Zimbabwe and India are dominating South Africa’s critical skills list that was recently released by the department of home affairs. Out of the 4,913 visas issued since 1 January 2020, 1,794 were issued to Zimbabwean nationals for hundreds of different jobs. To share his thoughts on this list, we are joined by… GUEST: Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda, Chairperson @African Diaspora Global Network  

Sex workers’ killer, Sifiso Mkhwanazi has been sentenced to life imprisonment, along with an additional 10 years for obstructing the course of justice and 15 years for rape. Mkhwanazi was found guilty on various charges, including six counts of murder, rape, defeating the ends of justice, possession of ammunition, illegal possession of a firearm, and theft. It is public knowledge that Mkhwanazi ad...

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says President Cyril Ramaphosa should have fired Basic Education minister Siviwe Gwarube for boycotting the BELA Bill signing ceremony. Malema said this in an interview with Clement Manyathela last night on SABC’s channel 404. Take a listen to what he had to say….   GUEST: Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, Director of the Center for Security, Peac...

Today we chat to the founder of the Upliftment Programme and Co-creator of High 5 Series, Nikki Jackman. High 5 which is described as a groundbreaking series, celebrates individuals and organisations that are doing good on the African continent.   GUEST: Nikki Jackman, founder of the Upliftment Programme and Co-creator of High 5

    Convicted murderer and rapist, Thabo Bester, approached the High Court in Pretoria today requesting access to a laptop in order to prepare for his upcoming deportation case. Bester, who is currently facing charges of escaping from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022, fled to Tanzania with his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana. They were arrested and deported to South Afri...

  Action SA Joburg Concerned about On-Going Water Crisis at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital. The party strongly believes that Johannesburg Water should be an agile entity, with capacity to tackle water crisis head on, especially in the institutions of health, where every drop counts.   GUEST: Vhangani Munyai, Action SA

Newly released research from the Gordon Institute of Business Science Entrepreneurship Development Academy, Township Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: The Entrepreneurs’ Lived Experiences reveals the unique characteristics of the entrepreneurs in South Africa's townships. GUEST: Lerato Mahlasela, the Managing Executive of Corporate Education at GIBS Business School  

    SECTION27 launched a social media campaign on the first of this month urging President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign the Copyright Amendment Bill by the 21st of September 2024. A Constitutional Court order handed down in 2022 stated that Parliament had until 21 September 2024 to finalise the Bill, leaving the President with 4 days to sign it. Blind SA is hoping the Bill will be signed as the Copyrig...

Today, the global healthcare industry commemorates World Patient Safety Day. The theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day’s is focused on improving diagnosis for patient safety, using the slogan “Get it right, make it safe!”, putting more emphasis on correct and timely diagnosis in improving patient safety. GUEST: Bada Pharasi, CEO of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association of South Africa...

A delegation of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is in Gauteng from today until Friday as part of their oversight mandate. But are they doing their job in terms of holding those deployed in our provincial legislatures accountable? To help us understand the work dynamics of the NCOP in Gauteng is….   GUEST: Jane Mananiso, NCOP Gauteng Provincial Whip

    New research by Just Share has revealed that the CEOs in South Africa earn on average 597 times what lowest paid workers earn. Surely this is staggering. Joining us to react to this is….   GUEST: Matthew Parks, Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator  

The U.S has announced that the withdrawal of its troops from Niger is now complete. Some of you may recall that earlier this year, Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement that allowed U.S. troops to operate in the country. Still in the West African region, Mali announced earlier today that their military camp was attacked. So what can we read into these developments?   GUEST: Nixon Katembo, Africa...

Today we chat to Vicky Abraham who received the Nat Nakasa Community Award this past weekend for her compelling series on blind students at PCD College in Pretoria who were subjected to inhumane conditions, including being forced to eat food crawling with ants. Some of you may recall that on the 26th of June this year, Ashraf my colleague spoke to Vicky about this disturbing story, and this is how...

A couple of days ago, the Gauteng Provincial Government in partnership with the Department of Water and Sanitation as well as Rand Water hosted a water imbizo with municipal councilors in Boksburg to address water challenges in Gauteng. Rand Water spokesperson, Makenosi Maroo joins me on the line to talk about the water imbizo as well as level 1 water restrictions Gauteng municipalities will be im...

BMW workers have downed tools embarking on a strike action at the plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria. The workers accuse management of targeting them over allegations of medical aid fraud at the company. In a released statement, BMW said they roped in the police on an ongoing fraud investigation within the BMW Employees Medical Aid Scheme. The company said the company won’t tolerate any acts of bribery, f...

Paula Quinsee, the founder of Engaged Humans wrote an interesting piece that questioned what it takes to be an empowered woman. We all know that when it comes to juggling careers, family, and social obligations, it's easy for some women to put their own personal development on the back burner and Paula believes that investing in your personal growth is not just a luxury but it is in fact a necessi...

Former President Thabo Mbeki is of the view that the renewal of the ANC requires a complete overhaul of its membership and says this will help to address the quality of the party’s membership as it has been declining.    GUEST: Professor Andre Duvenhage, Political analyst

The Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape has warned that extortionists are now demanding protection fees from social workers. Also, the party is concerned that attacks on social workers have increased. For more on this, we are joined by…..   GUEST: Wendy Kaizer-Philander, DA provincial social development spokesperson  

Amnesty International is once again calling for an immediate release of four Angolan activists who were allegedly wrongfully detained on 16 September last year. They are demanding that Angolan authorities must release these activists now, especially given their worsening medical conditions.   GUEST (ANGOLA): Cidia Alcidio Chissungo, Amnesty’s Angola Campaigner

Sboniso Duma KZN MEC For Economic Development

It’s now official, President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Basic Education Amendment Bill into law and according to Professor Hanlie Dippenaar – the bill will enhance equal opportunities and education for all the children in South Africa while going a long way towards regulating Homeschooling in the country.   GUEST: Prof Hanlie Dippenaar, Assistant Dean of The Faculty of Education at the Cape Pe...

    Adobe is continuing its AI venture with new video generative and editing tools. The Firefly Video Model joins Adobe’s suite of generative AI tools, though only available in beta for now. The model also marks their foray into the video generation corner of the AI market. To make this easy for us to understand, I’m joined on the line by Tshepo Chauke from Stuff…   GUEST: Tshepo Chauke