The National Pulse

The mining industry will gather in Cape Town next week as the Mining Indaba makes its face-to-face return after Covid-19 interruptions. President Cyril Ramaphosa and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa will be in attendance. The Mining Indaba comes back at a very interesting time in the South African mining industry. Just last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa was booed off stage by workers at a...

It's gloves off in the Eastern Cape this weekend as 1500 delegates will decide who will take the province forward in their elective conference. The conference was initially scheduled to sit last month, but was postponed to the disappointment of many due to non-completion of internal disputes. The race this year is between current provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane who is also the Eastern Cape p...

Still on the same issue, we are now joined by Sello Hatang who is going to talk to us abut the symbolism of the South African flag and why we should discourage South Africans from displaying the old South African flag? Guest: Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Next week AfriForum will head to court to appeal the ruling of the Southern Gauteng High Court that was handed down in 2019 – that says displaying the 1928 flag (the old South African flag) amounts to hate speech. According to them the fact that the old flag is offensive to some people is not sufficient reason to declare it hate speech. Guest: Ernst Roets, Head of Policy and Action @ Af...

Have you ever worked too long without taking a break? Studies have shown that breaks are essential to employee morale and that they lead to higher productivity, and greater job satisfaction. Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) seems to understand that perfectly well. Today the organisation announced that it will close its US and Mexico offices for two weeks&n...

Today we speak to Dr Cho Ayaba about the current state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia (which is not yet officially recognised). Ayaba is the President of the Ambazonia Governing Council which is the leading liberation movement behind the Ambazonia War of Independence (AWI). Since 2017, Cameroon's mainly English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been rocked by violence after separ...

FNB Your Money Series: As you know that FNB Fiduciary helps you to understand key financial and estate planning considerations. Today we share knowledge on things that you need to consider when sharing your finances with a partner. Guest: Matlhodi Leteane, Head of Client Experience at FNB Fiduciary

The health department has gazetted limited Covid-19 regulations with effect from today. This follows the expiry of the 30-day extension of Covid-19 regulations at midnight on Wednesday. Here’s what’s interesting, mask mandates continue to be compulsory indoors, however, this does not apply to children in classrooms. With regards to international travel, those coming into the country mu...

Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga says South African schools need comprehensive sexuality education to try and fight against increasing pregnancy rate amongst teenagers, HIV as well as gender based violence. Motshekga was addressing the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation on Wednesday. South Africa saw a surge in teenage pregnancies during lockdown in 2020 and 2021. She sa...

Afriforum and DearSA say they will be heading to court to challenge any regulations that aim to make  the temporary Covid-19 rules permanent. The organisations say the regulations cannot be justified and should be reviewed. They are also raising concerns about government’s handling of the public participation process as government seeks to amend the National Health Act. Guest:  Afr...

A Soweto man, Mojalesa Plaas Mofokeng has been sentenced to 8 years for raping his neighbour’s dog and according to the National Council of SPCAs, this is the highest direct imprisonment sentencing ever imposed for animal cruelty in Africa. To furnish us with more details on this, is….. Guest: Inspector Shiven Bodasing from the National Council of SPCA

Today marks the last day of the extended grace period for motorists to renew their licences. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has warned that motorists who missed the licence renewal deadline must obtain temporary licences or face the law.   Guest: Simon Zwane, Spokesperson of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)

Local Elections in the United Kingdom are currently underway with some surveys predicting that the Conservatives could lose traditionally loyal key councils and up to 550 councillors. However, there have been wildly varying predictions about how bad it will be. So which party is likely to win this election?   Guest on the line (UK): Professor Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics a...

Aspen Pharmacare says its Covid-19 vaccine plant in Gqeberha might have to close down due to lack of orders. The impact of this closure will not only affect South Africa, but the rest of the continent’s access to vaccines. The company’s Gqeberha plant was announced as a supplier of vaccines to the continent after its deal with Johnson and Johnson allowing produce Aspen branded Aspenova...

A caller yesterday asked why the Western Cape government refers to its MECs as ministers. My view was that it is not illegal as they may be wanting to put emphasis on the importance of the title. The Western Cape’s Minister of Agriculture, Ivan Meyer responded to me on tweet saying the province has its own constitution and it refers to the executive council as provincial ministers. So how ex...

Sibanye Still-water has finally broken silence on its decision to pay its CEO R300 million at the end of 2021. The company’s Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, James Wellsted defended the decision, saying it was due to the company’s great share price performance as well as wanting to compete with what CEOs in the same industry across the world are earning. Wellsted was interv...

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is in the country for the start of her four-nation tour of Africa. Her visit will focus on furthering U.S.-South African cooperation on a range of issues, including global and regional peace and security, and addressing the climate crisis. She joins us now to discuss her all-important visit on the continent and she will also talk about her country’s...

The South African Social Security Agency has recovered R12.6 million from civil servants who received grants they did not qualify for. Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu told parliament over 3000 public servants completed debt acknowledgement forms enabling Sassa to debit the money back. The payments will amount to more than R200 million per month. However, there have been no consequences fo...

Post our Monday interview with Dr Kandas Cloete ( Horticulture analyst at Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP)) which focused on why some South African farmers want to leave the farming profession within the next decade. We speak to Aron Kole, Managing Director of FarmSol – who argues that Cloete’s research is not accurate, and it is not applicable to black farmers. He goes o...

The ANC in the Eastern Cape is calling for calm following the murder of two members in the Nelson Mandela Bay Region. Regional executive committee member Lubabalo Keso and Ward 43 councillor Andile Andries were gunned down on Monday outside Andries’ home in Kariega. Andries was also the deputy general-secretary of the Uncedo Taxi Association nationally and a chair of SANTACO in the Nelson Ma...

KZN Floods Update: Premier Sihle Zikalala joins us to explain how much it will cost to rebuild the province of KwaZulu-Natal after the central and southern parts of the province were ravaged by floods that were amongst the most devastating to have occurred in South Africa. Guest: Sihle Zikalala, Premier of KwaZulu-Natal

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases says Omicron subvariants detected in wastewater might be behind the surge in South Africa’s Covid-19 cases. South Africa has seen an increase in new Covid-19 cases over the last week, however the number of deaths have remained low. It is expected that South Africa will go through its Covid-19 fifth wave later this month. We are now joined...

A murder case has been opened following the discovery of 28 year old Hilary Gardee’s body. The IT entrepreneur is the daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee. She went missing with her adopted 3 year old child on Friday the 29th of April. The child was found alive, but her body was discovered by residents near Mbombela. For more on that we are now joined by Mpumalanga police...

The national department of health has warned South Africans of a possible measles outbreak. This follows the latest report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which revealed that Africa is experiencing a surge in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.  Guest: Dr Lesley Bamford, Head of Child Health Unit at the Department of Health

Farmers in Mpumalanga have witnessed an increase in stock theft, and they are claiming that the police are incapable of tackling the problem. Last year’s crime stats show that 807 livestock were stolen in Mpumalanga. Between April 2021 and December 2021, 2 260 livestock were reported stolen in the province. For more on this, we are joined by…..   Guest: Celia Beukes, Chairperson...