The National Pulse

Power utility Eskom has announced that Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 12:00 noon today until 05:00 on Friday; thereafter Stage 2 load shedding will continue until 05:00 on Saturday. Meanwhile, EFF leader Julius Malema says the ruling ANC government are using loadshedding as a ploy to still votes during the local government elections next week Monday. Malema was addressing EFF suppor...

Small business owners in Johannesburg say they fear power disruptions will have a negative impact on their businesses. This after Eskom announced that Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 12pm today until 05:00 on Friday, thereafter loadshedding will continue on Stage 2 till 05:00 Saturday morning. Relevance For Men Tailored Suits and Shoes owner Tshepo Mashego took to Twitter to vent his...

Guest: Waynne Sussman, Elections analyst

Last week the Health Department commenced with the registration and vaccination of young people aged 12- 17 years old with the Pfizer vaccine. Some parents had mixed reactions to the jabs with some saying the decision by government to allow underage teens to vaccinate without parental consent was wrong. GUEST: Mr Foster Mohale, Spokesperson for the National Health Department

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi and Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi have been briefing the media on the recent blockade of national roads by disgruntled truck drivers protesting against the employment of foreign nationals by employers to drive trucks on South African roads. The truck protest that took place on the country's national roads this week saw ei...

The US communications regulator has voted to revoke China Telecom’s licence in America over national security concerns. The decision by the US Federal Communications Commission means China Telecom Americas must now discontinue US services within 60 days.  Guest: Brooks Spector, International relations expert and Associate Editor at Daily Maverick

A interdepartmental task team have started checking on the credentials and drivers licences of truck drivers who were amassed near Middelburg in the Eastern Cape. The task team was put together as part of the agreement reached with the striking drivers. A number of foreign national drivers have been taken in for questioning already.   GUEST: Truck drivers' Spokesperson, Lungile Toyi

In conversation with the Electoral Commission about today’s launch of the National Results Operation Centre and we will also discuss the country’s state of readiness as countdown to Election Day begins. GUEST: Mr Sy Mamabolo, chief electoral officer of the IEC

The Bhisho High court has granted an interim interdict to Eastern Cape premier, Oscar Mabuyane and Public Works MEC, Babalo Madikizela to stay the Public Protector's remedial action relating to the misappropriation of funds during the memorial service for late anti-Apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. GUEST: Eastern Cape Public Works MEC, Babalo Madikizela

The High Court in Pietermaritzburg has dismissed former president Jacob Zuma's application for the recusal of State prosecutor Advocate Billy Downer. The application was part of the special plea that Zuma had entered into in the corruption case against him. Guest: Dr. Llewellyn Curlewis, senior lecturer in criminal and procedural law at the University of Pretoria

We look at the role of sport in taking a stand against racism and bigotry. I’m sure many of you are aware by now that in recent times, athletes across the globe have been given more freedom to express themselves in protesting against racial and social injustice. Taking the knee for instance is the global gesture against racism adopted by sportspeople across sporting codes. But why do so...

Currency reform has been a recurrent topic in Zimbabwe for quite some time now. At some point some retail operators even refused to accept the Zim dollar and bond notes as payment for goods. In trying to deal with this problem, on Sunday, Zimbabwe’ government announced that they are not going to adopt the US dollar as the country’s sole official currency, terming it “suicidal.&rd...

A restaurant owner has received backlash and threats of a boycott of his establishment after tweeting that he and his staff are fully vaccinated. Angelo Zachariades, the owner of Mozambik in Menlyn Mall, Pretoria, tweeted about how proud he was that all his staff members had been vaccinated against Covid-19 but was shocked to see that some people, including South African actor Brandon Auret, threa...

Numerous trucks have been stuck on N10 in the Eastern Cape since early Sunday after local drivers staged a protest over the employment of foreign truck drivers. Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula is currently in the area to try and end an impasse that has been blocking the N10 for more than 24 hours.   Guest: Unathi Binqose, Provincial Transport spokesperson

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says they are still not sure how controversial prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife made there dramatic escape last year. The Bushiris face charges of theft, money laundering and fraud of more than R100 million. They fled South Africa last year, contravening their bail conditions. Earlier this year, five officials of South Africa's home affairs department...

A man who witnessed a shooting at his wedding in Tshepisong, west of Johannesburg at the weekend says he's traumatised. Prince Maliaga's wedding turned into hell after seven people from his community, including one relative were killed in a shooting spree on Saturday. This after a lone man entered a home and fired gunshots at the owner of the home and other nearby individuals. Five other people we...

We learn more about South Africa’s new fingerprint tech that has been developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. According to CSIR, "the VeristicPrint Biometric System is a contactless fingerprint recognition software solution that enables any digital device such as a smartphone or webcam to function as a fingerprint scanner. Guest: Edwin Rampine, CSIR Senior Software E...

World News: Sudan's military has dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency. The chairman of Sudan's ruling body General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the dissolution of the transitional government. Guest: Dr Abdul Karim Elgoni, Chairperson of the African Diaspora Forum

Local Government Elections 101: What makes an election free and fair? Guest: Mr Terry Tselane, Executive Chairman of the Institute of Election Management Services in Africa and former vice chairperson of the Electoral Commission

The Electoral court has dismissed Action SA's case against IEC. The party announced that the Electoral Court found against the party in its application regarding its abbreviated name on the local government election ballot paper. It says it will abide by the ruling. GUEST: Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson of Action SA

Another ANC member has died in a hail of bullets in KwaZulu Natal. An influential member of the KwaXimba clan, former deputy chairperson and member of the provincial legislature, Zibuse Mlaba was shot and killed at Cato Ridge west of Durban in a suspected assassination. Last week the ANC also lost its candidate in Cato Manor when Siyabonga Mkhize was shot dead by unknown suspects. This also comes...

Yesterday, optimistic facts that show that there were less than 600 Covid19 cases recorded across South Africa in the past 24 hours were published by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, something that is very encouraging indeed. But what informs this decline – what are we doing right are we likely to experience a spike after the elections?   Guest: Professor Barry Schoub,...

The SABC News team from Mpumalanga was threatened by ANC supporters yesterday as they were covering a service delivery election story in Buffelshoek, Bushbuckridge. Apparently, the situation was terrifying and they had to be rescued by the police. Guest: Motsebi Monareng, SABC reporter based in Mpumalanga

On World News today we ask - how did a prop gun cause a death in the Alec Baldwin shooting? Rehad Desai helps us understand an unfortunate incident that occurred in the US yesterday, where producer and actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed a woman and injured a man on the set of the movie.   Guest: Rehad Desai, Film Director

Following recent remarks that were made by Emmanuel Macron that France is going to use its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union to launch a global campaign to abolish the death penalty. Today we hear arguments for and against capital punishment, asking is the ‘Death Penalty Morally Acceptable?’ Given the fact that mo...