The National Pulse

    Earlier today, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the national council on gender-based violence and femicide as well as the National Prosecuting Authority amendment bills into law. According to the office of the president, the signing of the NPA Amendment Bill will ensure malfeasance is done away with in the private and public sectors. On 25 October 2023, Open Secrets made a presentation to Parl...

As we head into the final weekend before our general elections. Today we unpack Rise Mzansi’s Election Manifesto. The party’s manifesto proposes among other things that they will use a combination of state income grants and food discount vouchers for grant recipients, increase access to piped water in rural areas, avail land for own-food production and small-scale farming to improve food security...

The Election Watch: With South Africa holding its seventh democratic elections in less than seven days. Voters will for the first time receive three ballot papers instead of two ballots. According to the IEC, the use of the three ballots follows the amendment of the Electoral Act, which was signed into law in April last year. The phenomenon of three ballots will be new to voters in metropolitan ar...

  Earlier today, the Legal Resource Centre alongside the Human Rights Media Trust and the German Aid agency, Brot fur die Welt launched a nationwide accountability campaign: State Capture and Beyond. This initiative is meant to address the epidemic corruption plaguing our young democracy, aiming to foster public participation in holding state power accountable through a robust multimedia strategy....

    On Tuesday we spoke to Dr. Pali Lehohla about some of the big challenges facing the country ahead of the 2024 elections. Dr. Lehohla made mention of Business for South Africa, stating that the business collective tried to work with government on some issues but the targets that were set during the formation of that partnership were missed.   CLIP   We reached out to Business for South to find...

We tell you more about one of South Africa’s biggest fuel brands, Astron Energy, also looking at their involvement in the Nampo Agriculture Exhibition and the Road Freight Association Convention. For decades, Astron Energy has been helping companies in a variety of business sectors and today, we outline the company’s objectives. For more on this, we are joined by….                             GUES...

Statistics South Africa has published its annual General Household Survey (GHS) for 2023, providing comprehensive data on the living conditions of households across the country. According to the findings of this important survey - social grants remain crucial, especially in the poorest provinces. But what is even more worrying is the fact that last year alone about 42.3% of households were headed...

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has set the 4th of July as the date for a national election that will determine who governs the United Kingdom. Interestingly, the Labour Party has been posting large leads in national opinion polls and it is  strongly favoured to defeat Sunak’s Conservative party. But can the Tories be defeated after 14 years in power? For more analysis on this, we are joined by...

From next year South African schools will offer mother tongue-based bilingual education from Grade 4. This was revealed recently by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga. According to her, discussions on mother tongue-based education started in 2010 already, just a year after she was appointed basic education minister. Joining us to talk about the benefits of children learning in their mother t...

Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga is currently visiting Mpumalanga province to assess the state of road infrastructure in the Chief Albert Luthuli local municipality.   GUEST: Sindisiwe Chikunga, Minister of Transport

Earlier on we spoke to AfriForum’s Barry Bateman about the organization taking another step towards privately prosecuting ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula, on charges of corruption related to his 2016 family holiday to Dubai. GUEST: Professor André Duvenhage, Political Analyst from the North West University  

Earlier this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa made the claim that “commentators like Corruption Watch have said that during this term, they have seen incidents of corruption going down.” The president made this statement in the context of listing his administration’s anti-corruption “successes” and institutional reforms. GUEST: Karam Singh, Executive Director at Corruption Watch

Why is South Africa the most unequal country in the world and what efforts are being made to create an egalitarian society? Our guest Isobel Frye is optimistic that our country can lead on reducing inequality. She joins us now to elaborate further on this…..   GUEST: Isobel Frye: Executive Director, Social Policy Initiative

AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit says ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has a case to answer in relation to his questionable 2016 family holiday to Dubai. The organisation has collected the docket from the SAPS after successfully filing a Promotion of Access to Information Act application. After a cursory inspection of the evidence, AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit says it is abundantly...

The Global Watch: More interesting developments in relation to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip after three European countries, namely; Ireland, Norway and Spain have decided to recognise Palestine as a state. The recognition of a Palestinian state by these three countries is the latest in a string of diplomatic setbacks for Israel as it battles Hamas. Joining us to explain his country’s decision...

The Archbishop Tutu IP Trust has instructed its lawyers to withdraw the Archbishop’s permission to call its Marabastad refugee centre, in Pretoria, the “Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre”. This follows raids by the SIU and Hawks at various refugee facilities across the country last week, which made it apparent that the country’s management of refugees from neighbouring countries remains a hive...

    Today is Tax Freedom Day. This is according to the Free Market Foundation, an organization that has calculated and published South Africa’s Tax Freedom Day annually since 1997. You may be wondering what Tax Freedom Day is all about? Well, this is the day when the average taxpayer has earned enough money to fulfil their annual tax obligation. After Tax Freedom Day, taxpayers work for themselves...

Motorbike owners have embraced the new concept of advertising. This as bike advertising is increasingly becoming a compelling marketing solution due to its ability to reach doors in gated communities and its widespread exposure as bikes drive an average of 70 km daily. To tell us more about this innovative way of advertising is…..   GUEST: Jon Berkowitz, MotionAds co-founder 

GUEST: Pali Lehotla, former Statistician General

The Election Watch: As we continue with our voter education campaign - our guest Dr Sheetal Bhoola is of the view that voter education should be a priority in South Africa. She is also proposing that voter education must be incorporated as a compulsory segment in the schooling and tertiary educational curricula. She joins us now to elaborate further on this……   GUEST: Dr Sheetal Bhoola is a lectur...

With 34 people being shot and killed in South Africa almost every day. Gun Free South Africa is challenging political parties in the country to publicly share their views on how they are going to deal with the issue of gun violence – they also want all major political parties to include addressing violent crime as a key feature of their election manifestos.   GUEST: Adèle Kirsten, Director of Gun...

Cellphone data analyst Gideon Gouws has once again been detailing ongoing calls between two of the Senzo Meyiwa murder accused the year the soccer captain was killed. Gouws says the calls between accused number three Mthobisi Mncube and accused number five Fisokuhle Ntuli span from 24 October 2014 - two days before the murder - to January the next year. Covering this particular story for us is Pea...

Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya Interview   Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya was interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission for the position of Chief Justice after President Cyril Ramaphosa nominated her earlier this year. The Deputy Chief Justice is the only candidate being interviewed for the position. One of the issues she highlighted in the interview was the need for an impartial judici...

What are the most pressing issues facing society in South Africa today and how would you like those problems to be tackled post the elections? Our guest, Nkosikhulule Nyembezi says: Health and Education – Peace and Security – Poverty, Unemployment, and Inequality; Corruption and Governance and Immigration are some of the issues that need the country’s urgent attention.   GUEST: Nkosikhulule Nyembe...