The National Pulse

A court in Myanmar has sentenced the country's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years' imprisonment after finding her guilty of involvement in election fraud. Today’s court ruling adds more jail time to the 17 years she is already serving for other offences. To explain what this all means is ……     Guest: Advocate Shabnam Mayet, Co-founder of Protect the Rohingya  

A passenger has been injured during an incident in which protesters torched a Golden Arrow bus in Nyanga on the Cape Flats. It is the fifth Golden Arrow bus that's been torched in the area in recent weeks. This as the City of Cape Town continue with its operation of impounding taxis of unauthorised taxi operators.   Guest: Bronwen Dyke-Beyer, Golden Arrow Bus Service spokesperson   Guest: JP Smith...

THE INNVERVIEW: Is it possible to achieve gender equality in South Africa, where women are treated as equal role players and given equal opportunities as men? We pose this question as women leaders often say that they must work twice as hard to earn the same respect as men. We also know for a fact that female unemployment rate remains higher than that of their male counterparts, and according to S...

A new toxicology report suggests the 21 children who died at Enyobeni Tavern in East London on the 26th of June suffocated to death due to overcrowding. This report is conflicting with preliminary lab results presented by the health department in the province in July, which said there was a chemical called methanol in their bloodstream. Methanol is a kind of alcohol commonly used to make industria...

We look at the upcoming ‘Open Book Festival’ which is due to take place tomorrow in Cape Town. Among the topics that will feature prominently in the program of the festival are feminism, gender-based violence, parent-child relationships, the energy crisis and so much more. Joining us to tell us more about the festival is …..     Guest: Mervyn Sloman, Festival Director  

Gauteng’s Premier, David Makhura and MEC for Economic Development, Parks Tau activated the Township Economic Development Act in Kagiso today. This comes after the recent signing of the act into law in the province. Its aim is to open new procurement and market opportunities for township businesses and address the legacy apartheid left on Gauteng’s townships. It has been three months since the act...

The Makhanda High Court in the Eastern Cape has set aside a decision to grant Shell an exploration right to conduct a seismic survey off the Wild Coast. You may recall that in December last year - local communities and environmental justice organisations took Shell to court, first to request an urgent interim interdict to stop the seismic testing the company had started in the Wild Coast, a few we...

Following the removal of Vasco da Gamas as Jouburg Council Speaker. We hear from the ANC and the ACDP. Rev Kenneth Meshoe has criticised his party councillors who voted with the ANC to remove Vasco da Gama, saying they were allegedly bribed to support the motion of no confidence against him.     Guest: Chris Vondo, Spokesperson of the ANC in the Greater Johannesburg Region   Guest: Rev Kenneth Mes...

Dr Emanuel Matambo helps us understand the political standoff between China and the United Nations. The UN has recently accused China of serious human rights violations in a long-awaited report into allegations of abuse in Xinjiang province. However, China has slammed the UN report and maintained its firm opposition to its release, sharing an over-100-page document from the Xinjiang provincial gov...

Opposition parties say President Cyril Ramaphosa failed to provide sound legal reasoning for not answering some of their questions on Phala Phala. ATM’s Vuyo Zungula  asked Ramaphosa to take the nation and Parliament “into his confidence about the serious allegations” regarding the alleged robbery at his farm.  of dollars at his farm. The Presidency insists he did answer the question. We are now j...

The DA coalition government in the Knysna municipality has collapsed, this follows a motion of no confidence that has brought the ANC back into power in the Western Cape town. The Patriotic Alliance brought motions of no confidence against the mayor, deputy mayor, speaker and the chief whip during a special council meeting. For more on that, we are now joined by newly elected mayor, Aubrey Tsengwa...

Today we speak to Ntombenhle Khathwane about how Old Mutual has been supporting her business. Old Mutual has been supporting SME’s for a very long time but they have refined their SME offering geared towards actual challenges identified by SME owners.    Guest: Ntombenhle Khathwane, AfroBotanic business owner    

The National Association of Artisanal Miners is calling on members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources to help speed up the process of decriminalising small-scale mining in South Africa. The organisation says it has complied with government’s requirements to register cooperatives in order to be formalised, but nothing has come out of it and small scale mining remains illegal. ...

Auditor General, Tsakani Maluleke has released her first audit report on the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. She says government has been slow in helping victims of the April floods and the Eastern Cape. The KwaZulu-Natal government had planned to build 1810 temporary residential units for those who lost their homes, however, only 736 structures have been built. Auditor General says assessments were not...

Following yesterday’s heated exchanges in Parliament, regarding the Phala Phala matter. It has since emerged that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not report the foreign exchange transaction that was the source of the US dollars stolen from his farm, as required by law. Post this revelation, EFF says they are now convinced that so far the president is guilty of at least one crime, in failing to repor...

Cope’s Acting Provincial Secretary in Gauteng speaks to us, following what transpired earlier on – after him and other party members disrupted Mosioua Lekota’s press briefing.     Guest: Mxolisi Ntobela, Cope’s Acting Provincial Secretary in Gauteng  

The last leader of the Soviet Union has died at the age of 91, after suffering from a serious and long-term illness. Mikhail Gorbachev was instrumental in ending the Cold War between the United States, introduced a host of economic reforms, and brought Soviet troops out of a protracted war in Afghanistan. But many argue that his legacy within Russia is complicated. Joining us to talk about his lea...

The Information Regulator has summoned the South African Police Service on details related to the release of personal information of the women who are victims of the gang rape that took place in Krugersdorp in July. The summons comes after SAPS’ failure to give details on how personal information of the eight women was disclosed. Personal information of the victims, including home addresses, names...

Yet another council, are we likely to see results this time? President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a nine member anti-corruption advisory council to help in the fight against corruption. The council will be chaired by Professor Firoz Cachalia and will advise president Ramaphosa on how to effectively implement the national anti-corruption strategy 2020-2030. It will also give input on matters rel...

Just when we thought that things are slightly getting better in relation to Covid-19. Health experts have warned that another Covid-19 wave could hit South Africa at the end of September or early October this year. But unlike the previous variants, they say the enormity of the next wave will probably be lower. For more on this, we are joined by….  Guest: Professor Barry Schoub, Chair of the Minist...

The Democratic Alliance has declared R15.9 Million worth of funding from its donors. The Independent Electoral Commission revealed in its 2022-23 first quarter disclosure report on party funding. R15 million came from one single donor. The DA followed by the ANC with R10 million. Action SA declared R750 000 while the Patriotic Alliance declared R310 000. These are the only four parties that declar...

Ekurhuleni firefighters are currently battling a blaze at an appliance store in a factory complex in Sebenza. According to Ekurhuleni Emergency Services - two people have been treated for smoke inhalation so far.   Guest: William Ntladi, Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson   

Today, Statistics South Africa released the Victims of Crime report, extracted from the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS). According to the report, there were an estimated 1.4 million housebreaking incidents in the 2021/2022 reporting period. The report also revealed that the second most common type of crime experienced by various households in South Africa is home robbery, affe...

After the most closely fought election, Angola’s main opposition party, UNITA, has announced that they will contest last week’s election results which declared the ruling MPLA the winner. Last week's elections were Angola’s fourth since the end of a decades-long foreign-backed civil war in 2002. The MPLA has ruled the former Portuguese colony since it gained independence in 1975. To explain the po...

The Gauteng Health Department has obtained a court interdict against protesters who have been demanding that all immigrants be removed from the facility in Pretoria. It is alleged the protesters have been demanding that even patients in critical care be unplugged if they are not South Africa. We are now joined by Kalafong Hospital CEO, Dr Sello Matjila.