The National Pulse

The Global Watch: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is now a free man and has returned home to Australia after pleading guilty in a deal that ended his yearslong legal battle. Assange ran Wikileaks, a website that published many confidential or restricted official reports related to war, spying and corruption. He was accused by U.S authorities of conspiring to break into its military databases to a...

Education experts are expressing concern over the number of pupils skipping school between the ages of 7 and 15. According to the General Household Survey of 2022 (published August 2023), one of the reasons that pupils are not in school is because of parenting challenges and other social factors. GUEST: Dr. Shaheda Omar, Clinical Director of the Teddy Bear Foundation

Fifty-eight members of the MK Party, led by Dr John Hlophe, were sworn in as members of the National Assembly earlier today. After the swearing in ceremony, Dr Hlophe spoke to the SABC’s Bulelani Phillip    Guest: Zakhele Ndlovu _ Political Analyst based at the University of KwaZulu Natal

South African markets continue doing well as talks around the new government of national unity continue. The rand has strengthened along with the JSE as markets await President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet announcement. On the other hand, ratings agency, Moody’s says GNU is likely to support broad policy continuity and economic reform, but it could also lead to a risk of instability in South Africa....

Ganief Hendricks explains Al Jama-ah’s decision to join the Government of National Unity. According to him, the party has decided to change its position on the GNU because the rules of engagement have been amended. He joins us now to elaborate further on this…..   GUEST: Ganief Hendricks, Leader of Al Jama-ah political party

Despite the country waiting on President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce his new cabinet, the government continues to run. This all thanks to Director-Generals of departments. Yesterday we spoke to Pam Yako from the association of former DGs about the important role DGs play in each department. The big question is, what is the role of the Minister? What is the minister’s relationship with the DG and p...

The Commissioner of the Border Management Authority, Dr Michael Masiapato has announced that the BMA port health officials have developed an outbreak preparedness plan that outlines the response in dealing with MPOX. The current response plan has been activated to respond, since 13 cases have been confirmed by the National Department of Health. Assistant Commissioner, Murdock Ramathuba joins us no...

Earlier on today, fifty-eight members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, led by Dr John Hlophe, were sworn in as members of the National Assembly. You may recall that the MK party missed the group swearing-in ceremony that Parliament had on June 14 and 15 because the party was challenging the outcomes of the May 29 election (which is still the case). To give us a brief in terms of what happened...

The Global Watch: As we look at the ongoing “Occupy Parliament” protests that are currently underway in Kenya. We hear from the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists who are arguing that the right to peaceful assembly and protest is enshrined in their Constitution and therefore it must be respected. Protesters oppose tax rises in a country already reeling from a cost-of-living...

As part of our Youth Month activation. Today we speak to Selokela ‘Slu’ Molamodi, Hope Alive Breakfast host, who was recently named DearSA’s most inspiring South African young leader. You may recall that in 2022, SAfm ran a competition - inviting our young listeners between the ages of 18 & 35 to join us and co-present the show with Aldrin Sampear and ‘Slu’ was our ultimate winner that joined...

We hear from OUTA on why they are against the return to Parliament of former sports, arts and culture Minister Zizi Kodwa. The organisation is warning that allowing MPs charged with corruption to return to Parliament would hinder the fight against corruption. Earlier on Kodwa was sworn in as a member of Parliament alongside 58 members of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).   GUEST: Wayne Duvenage, O...

    The National Youth ICT Council is a youth governed Non-Profit Company that seeks to drive inclusive digital transformation and advocate for youth economic participation. The Council is a driver of local innovation development and space for ICT products and citizens in-e-service systems development. GUEST: Aluwani Chokoe, National Youth ICT Council Spokesperson  

    Several legal experts have said that True caller was probably breaking the law because it allows users to feed other people’s numbers from their contacts into its database. True caller attempts to shift the responsibility onto subscribers in terms and conditions, which stipulate that users must obtain consent before providing the data. However, Werksmans Attorneys regulatory practice head Ahmo...

    As the nation eagerly waits for President Cyril Ramaphosa's Cabinet announcement, the Association of Former DGs says it's important to continue with some of the government's policy programmes, which will advance citizens. GUEST: Thobani Zikalala  

In conversation with Mamapudi Nkgadima, CEO of African Response about her organisation’s Youth Month survey that they conducted via their MzansiVoice online platform which looked at the whole issue of youth unemployment in the country and how young people are surviving. What their survey reveals is that the majority of young people and in terms of statistics – 90% black, 50% living in Gauteng, 37%...

  More than 1,300 people died during this year’s hajj pilgrimage which took place during intense heat. What is even more concerning about this is that 83 percent of those who died were unauthorised to perform Hajj.   GUEST: Shaheen Essop, Board member of the South African Hajj and Umrah Council

Kenya Protests   President William Ruto has broken his silence over the ongoing protests by Kenyan youths over the Finance Bill 2024. Speaking in Nyahururu on Sunday, Ruto said that he is proud the young people have stepped forward tribeless and peacefully to be counted. Nationwide demonstrations erupted in Kenya over the controversial tax bill, the Finance Bill 2024. The mass protests, initially...

We examine the link between Orania and the democratic South Africa. We are having this conversation following the re-election of Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul with the support from the Freedom Front Plus. You may recall as well that last week, the Freedom Front Plus President Pieter Groenewald said the ANC has accepted their condition to recognise Orania. However, this has since been denied by...

As we are still waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce his cabinet, we ask – Can  the ANC be able to drag itself out of the quagmire in which it finds itself? Just yesterday, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi was expected to announce his provincial executive but unfortunately the announcement was abruptly called off.     GUEST: Dr Levy Ndou, Political analyst from Tshwane University of Tec...

The Patriotic Alliance is accusing the Democratic Alliance of holding the country to ransom. This as South Africans are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the new cabinet   by President Cyril Ramaphosa.  GUEST: Kenny Kunene, Deputy President of the Patriotic Alliance  

guest: General Bantu Holomisa 

Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, CONTRALESA, is urging President Cyril Ramaphosa to include traditional leaders in his Cabinet, citing their critical role in governance and development at grassroots level. The organization believes there's currently no one looking out for their interests at cabinet level.   GUEST: Kgoshi Mathupa Mokoena, CONTRALESA President  

The health department is considering adopting AI as part of its efforts to accelerate the screening and diagnosis of TB and silicosis in South Africa. This follows the recommendation by the World Health Organisation for member states to use computer-aided detection software to interpret chest X-rays when screening and triaging for tuberculosis.   GUEST: Professor Norbet Ndjeka, Health of National...

We spoke to Rand water some time ago about their planned maintenance which will take place from 22 June to 29 July 2024. This will affect water distribution to the likes of City of Joburg which will in turn, affect water distribution to Joburg residents. Water issues also continue in Tshwane as there were reports yesterday that the City of Tshwane is cancelling a process of awarding a tender for d...