The National Pulse

With Côte d'Ivoire due to hold its presidential elections next year. Former President Laurent Gbagbo has thrown his hat in the ring in a bid to regain his old job. Gbagbo served as president of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 to 2011. In 2019, he was acquitted by the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court on charges relating to his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat in an...

The Information Regulator has confirmed receiving two notifications from the IEC regarding a security breach that saw the unlawful release of candidate lists for the ANC and uMkhonto weSizwe party. However, the incident has raised questions about the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and how it should be implemented during this election season. Following this unfortu...

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan is the latest high-profile ANC MP to express his intention to retire from active politics when the term of the current administration comes to an end. You may recall that earlier this year, another ANC National Executive Committee member, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma also announced that she won’t be returning to parliament next year post the elections. So...

    Topic: “How do you deal with those uncles and old friends that you grew up with who always tax you when you go visit home?”   GUEST: Cynthia Tshaka, Renowned sports broadcaster & former SABC Sport presenter

Gunmen have attacked a primary school in Nigeria’s north-west region and abducted close to 300 school children. We understand that kidnap gangs, known as bandits, have seized hundreds of people in recent years, especially in the country’s north-west region. So what efforts are being made to rescue the abducted students? For more on this story, let’s speak to….   GUEST (Nigeria): Samson Omale, Mult...

Yesterday, the Gauteng Care Crisis Committee issued a statement outlining their concerns surrounding the intention of the Gauteng government to cut the budget on social services of R233 million and lack of communication from the Department of Social Development in the province on the status of their funding for the next financial year. These non-profit organizations (NPOs) work in the care of vuln...

Today is International Women's Day and this commemoration is being celebrated under the theme: Inspire Inclusion to build a better society. The Embassy of Sweden invited young girls to spend the day as the ambassador for the day. Young women between 16-20 spent the day with the diplomatic mission which included site visits and attended conference meetings with local stakeholders where young ambass...

Northern Cape Finance MEC, Abraham Vooslo has tabled his 2024 budget - the last of the sixth administration at Harstwater in the Northern Cape. Job creation and economic growth remain top priorities. However, the province will lose an amount of R525 million in the 2024/25 financial year which totals to R1.6 billion over the next three years due to fiscal consolidation.   GUEST: Abraham Vooslo, Nor...

    Since the beginning of last month, we have been speaking to various political parties about their election manifestos, deliberately focusing on economic policy proposals. This as we believe that the issue of revitalising the country’s flagging economy should top every political party’s agenda ahead of this year’s national and provincial elections. So today we hear from the Freedom Front Plus....

We look at the rich legacy of the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (UWCSA) and its Solar Farm Project. This as the college celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The school is part of a global education movement (United World Colleges) with over 18 schools and colleges across the world. As part of its long-term vision, the college has set a bold goal to achieve carbon...

The Gauteng Care Crisis Committee has issued a statement outlining their disappointment as the Department of Social Development in the province has non-profit organizations of their intention to cut their budget for the new financial year. This is in light of the R233 budget cut announced by Gauteng Treasury. The non-profit organizations that are affected provide critical services to vulnerable gr...

The story of missing six-year-old, Joshlin Smith has gripped the nation. Today, four suspects appeared before the Vredenburg Magistrate's Court for her disappearance. The suspects include her mother, Kelly Smith; the boyfriend, Jacquen Appollis; alleged sangoma, Phumza Sigaba and Steveno van Rhyn. This case has brought to the spotlight firmly on not only kidnapping cases in the country but also th...

State prosecutor George Baloyi says there is no evidence before the court that prove that the accused in the Senzo Meyiwa trial were assaulted. Baloyi has been making submissions of his heads of argument at the High Court in Pretoria, where the five men are on trial for the 2014 murder of the Bafana Bafana captain. Baloyi insists that both Muzi Sibiya and Bongani Ntanzi confessed freely and volunt...

Liberian MPs have voted in favor of the war crimes court being set up, over two decades after the end of two civil war periods that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people. For years, the adoption of the resolution had stalled due to many of the accused warlords still being influential in their local communities. Following this decision, our guest, Dr David Matsanga thinks this is not a wise...

  Guest: Siya Dladla - Regional Chairperson of SAMWU in eThekwini

We are following up on a story that emerged from our Bonding Session with David Kau last week. In our discussion about expiry dates and whether we take them seriously, a question emerged surrounding medication and expiry dates. One of our callers said that she had used expired vitamins during her pregnancy and another mentioned that they had used expired penicillin. We have brought in a medical do...

In conversation with David Case about his ‘1000 Kays of Caring’ initiative and his passion for helping others. His initiative focuses on the chronically ill individuals who need assistance from a variety of healthcare professionals and those who live in the shadow of unemployment.   GUEST: David Case

The presiding judge in the Senzo Meyiwa trial has ordered that the-trial-within-a-trial be reopened. The state and the defence were supposed to submit closing arguments today, but defense counsel, Thulani Mngomezulu requested to call more witnesses to the stand. Five men are on trial for Meyiwa's murder who was shot and killed in 2014. The defense is challenging the admissibility of confession sta...

The International Ratings Agency, Moody's, has downgraded the credit rating for the City Ekurhuleni to junk status as it experiences a worsening financial position. Meanwhile, the City of Tshwane's ratings has been placed on review and their credit ratings may have a downgraded outlook. This is in light of reports that the metropolitan may face suspension of trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchang...

In a wide-ranging interview with Clinton ‘Tad’ Brown. We discuss the upcoming presidential election in the U.S, asses the country’s state of democracy under the Biden administration and gauge as to how the outcome of this year’s presidential contest will shape and affect the country’s domestic and foreign agenda moving forward. This as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump seem set...

We dissect the outcomes of the SA Human Rights Commission’s Report. Two years ago, the commission’s Eastern Cape office embarked on an Inquiry aimed at addressing concerns regarding the alleged excessive regulation of learners’ appearances and school uniforms in educational institutions. Post its investigations - the commission found that in certain cases, school uniform and appearance policies in...

The possibility of a national bus strike is looming as there is a deadlock between employers and trade unions in the bus passenger sector. At the core of the demands, workers would like a comprehensive health benefit, an increase in allowances for second drivers and 8% salary increment. After talks failed yesterday on the core demands from workers, NUMSA will be engaging shop stewards in the comin...

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has partnered with the Ronald McDonald House Charities in providing critical maternal and children's health services to communities. The partnership has seen the launch of the first Lactation facility and the re-opening of family rooms within the Neonatal Unit in one of the nation's largest hospitals. To tell us more about the role they play in this ini...

Environmental activist organizations held a protest during the opening day of the African Energy Indaba in Cape Town. The protest was aimed to challenge executives attending the Indaba from the use of gas as a transitionary fuel, highlighting some of the concerns they have with the environmental and economic implications. In recent weeks, there have also been reports surrounding the limited supply...