The National Pulse

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) says child hunger is worsening on the African continent, particularly in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel region. The organisation is estimating that more than 2.8 million children across both regions are already suffering from severe acute malnutrition, "which means they are up to 11 times more at risk of dying from water-borne diseases than well-nouris...

Today, Hawks head, Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya briefed the media on the progress of the unit since his appointment. During the briefing, Lebeya revealed that the organisation is currently handling about 22 000 cases and only close to 2 000 have reached the decision stage. But what about the Phala Phala matter – how long do the Hawks have to investigate allegations?      Guest: Lieutenant-Gen...

American soul superstar Karyn White is in the country and she joins us now to talk about her South African tour and her musical journey. For those of you who may not know this, Karyn’s music was very popular in the 80s and 90s with a string of soulful hits, including the powerhouse ballad 'I'm not your superwoman'. She has recently been honoured with the Soul Music Award at the 7th Annual Black Mu...

Yesterday we spoke to the Eastern Cape department of Basic Education with regards to their pilot project. The department will for the first time in history translate grade 12 trial examinations into IsiXhosa and Sesotho. The papers for subjects being translated are Mathematics, Physical Science, Life Sciences, History, Agricultural Sciences and Accounting. This is government’s bid to elevate indig...

Samsung has revealed its fourth generation of the big screen foldable phones, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. The company has taken the past year refining the design of the foldable phone, making it more durable and more appealing to the wider smartphone market, while also improving its performance and cameras. For the first time ever, people have the choice of a smartphone form factor designed to ma...

The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union has been picketing outside the Northern Cape Department of Health. The only nursing college in the province is on the brink of shutting down. The is due to accreditation issues with the Council on Higher Education as well as the South African Nursing Council. The two accreditation bodies say the college lacks basic infrastructure and training resources. The Hend...

Earlier on today, Stats SA issued the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the second quarter of the year. These results indicate that 648 000 jobs were gained between the first quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2022. The biggest job gains were recorded in Community and Social Services (276 000), Trade (169 000), Finance (128 000) and Construction (104 000). However, the...

Let’s now focus on this sad story of Rashnie Baijnath, who died after allegedly drinking contaminated water. On hearing the news, Gift of the Givers sent 15 000 litres of bottled water to residents of Marianhill and surrounding areas of Birchwood – its founding director, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman believes that Baijnath’s death could have been prevented. He joins us now to elaborate further on this……    G...

Tomorrow, Angola will hold a general election, to elect both the country's President and its parliament. The ruling National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) are gearing up for what is expected to be a tightly contested race. So what’s the current situation like on the ground and what can we expect tomorrow in terms of...

A victory for members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. The Constitutional Court has found in their favour after they were dismissed by their employer, Marley Pipes Systems. The employees participated in an unprotected strike where another employee was assaulted and were found guilty of assault based on common purpose. The Labour Court of Appeals  ruled that common purpose had...

Former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, has filed his petition against the declaration of deputy president William Ruto as winner in the recent presidential race. Odinga, who was making his fifth bid for the top job, also approached the Supreme Court in August 2017, when President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of the presidential race. The court annulled that election and ordered a re...

The movement of Nguni people from South Africa to different areas across the continent came to the spotlight this weekend during King Misuzulu’s traditional coronation ceremony. King M'Mbelwa from Malawi spoke at the ceremony, emphasising King MisuZulu’s responsibility to unite the Zulu kingdom and not differentiate between those who supported him and those who did not. King Mpezeni from Zambia al...

The Department of Education in the Eastern Cape will for the first time in history translate grade 12 trial examinations into IsiXhosa and Sesotho. The papers for subjects being translated are Mathematics, Physical Science, Life Sciences, History, Agricultural Sciences and Accounting. The department says the initiative seeks to elevate indigenous languages. For more on this, we are joined by…..   ...

Consultations between the department of water and sanitation, and key stakeholders in the farming sector will take place this week to determine the cost of water for the agricultural sector. The consultation comes amid numerous price hikes in fuel and fertiliser prices – and Agri-SA has warned that ‘raw water tariff consultations must consider inflationary impact on food security’. To elaborate fu...

SADC leaders have expressed their  dissatisfaction that the continent was being targeted for unilateral and punitive measures through the new act, the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, that was recently adopted by the US House of Representatives. This was raised during the 42nd Ordinary Summit that took place in Kinshasa, DRC last week. All the leaders who attended the Summit una...

The first wife of the late amaZulu King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, Queen Sibongile Dlamini-Zulu has been granted permission to appeal the Pietermaritzburg High Court judgment, which dismissed her application to have 50% of the estate of the Zulu King. Legally speaking – what does this mean for the incoming King Misuzulu kaZwelithini?     Guest: Mpumelelo Zikalala, Legal practitioner 

We are still on the crime statistics. KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of multiple murders between April and June. stations that reported the highest murder rates were Umlazi in Durban and Plessislaer in Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu-Natal, and Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. There were 221 murders combined. KwaZulu-Natal’s violence has been studied over a period of time and contributing fact...

Following yesterday’s tragic death of five Vyfhoek Primary School learners, in Potchefstroom, who were run over by a mini truck inside their school premises – we hear from the North-West department of education as we understand that they have been visiting family members of the deceased learners.   Guest: Elias Malindi, North-West Education Spokesperson

As the Mayor of Tshwane faces serious allegations of corruption; we get his side of the story. Randal Williams has been accused of flouting the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) after he allegedly persuaded opposition parties to endorse an unsolicited power contract, valued at R26 billion. Williams has since rejected the allegations, branding the entire move as a political smear campaign by...

We look at the ongoing peace efforts in Ethiopia between government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. In recent weeks both parties raised the prospect of negotiations but key hurdles remain, with both sides blaming each other for the impasse. We are told that currently, the warring sides are at loggerheads over who should lead the negotiations. For more on this, we are joined by…..    Gues...

As we observe Women’s Month – we ask, has South Africa done enough to empower women, including increasing their access to economic activities? Our guest, Tryphosa Ramano argues that even though much has been done to ensure women prosperity in this country, some progressive empowerment Acts and policies are silent on gender equality in terms of financial services outreach and enterprise development...

How would you rate South Africa’s quality of oversight on public financial management and accountability? We ask this question because yesterday, the Association of Public Accounts Committees (APAC) concluded its annual general meeting that was held under the theme of “Enhanced oversight for ethical public financial management and accountability to grow South Africa together”. But are things going...

There’s more movement in the Democratic Alliance. The opposition party has removed Natasha Mazzone from her position as chief whip in parliament and replaced her with Siviwe Gwarube. Mazzone will now represent the Democratic Alliance in the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. She will also serve as the advisor to party leader, John Steenhuisen. The new appointments come after a string of res...

As the ANC prepares for its upcoming 55th National Elective Conference, scheduled to take place in four months’ time. We hear from Xolani Dube about whether or not the party will succeed in implementing its renewal project. Our discussion is informed by the fact that earlier on today, former party deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe reminded party members that impeccable ethical and moral standard...

The Hawks have confirmed that more arrests have been made in connection with last year’s July unrest. Last week, the law enforcement agency nabbed 21 suspects in different parts of the country, including Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape. To explain how this operation was carried out is….     Guest: Brigadier Thandi Mbambo, Hawks spokesperson