The National Pulse

On World News today we focus on climate change issues, this following a warning by a group of scientists that climate tipping point is imminent and they are calling for action to tackle the emergency. Guest: Richard Worthington, Programme Manager for Climate and Energy Policies programme at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation

Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament, Shadow Minister of Health and National Spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube plans to introduce a bill to make counselling of teenagers to overcome 'same-sex attraction' a criminal offence. Conversion therapy, also known as "reparative therapy" or "gay cure therapy" - tries to change or 'cure' someone's sexual orientation or gender identity. Many places such as the...

South Africa says it is appalled by what it calls the African Union Commission's unjust decision to grant Israel observer status in the African Union. Israel attained observer status at the AU, after nearly 20 years of diplomatic efforts. South Africa says the decision is shocking. Palestine already has observer status at the AU. GUEST: Dr. Emmanuel Matambo, researcher of International Affairs at...

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi today visited Kempton Park and Thembisa's vaccination sites where he officially launched the vaccination rollout to Home Affairs officials. Minister Motsoaledi observed how the Department ensures services continue to be delivered to members of society while facilitating the inoculation of staff. As of last week, the Department had sadly lost 40 employees t...

Community members in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town have expressed shock at the arrest of one of the residents of the area for allegedly selling naked pictures of her four-year-old daughter on the Dark Web. The 32-year-old woman who appeared in court last week is facing a string of related charges, including financial gain from child pornography and rape. She remains in custody until her next appearance i...

Bongani Baloyi explains why the South African Local Government Association is gunning for municipalities who outsource municipal services. The organisation is concerned that some municipalities are increasingly using consultants for financial reporting purposes, even though they have chief financial officers who are hired to do the same job. Guest: Bongani Baloyi, SALGA NEC Member

Earlier today, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced that government is going to fast-track amendments to the Pension Fund Act, to allow workers who have fallen on hard times financially due to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to access part of their pension funds. Labour federation, Cosatu has been calling for this since May last year and Matthew Parks joins us now to react to th...

The Kenyan government has embarked on the process of issuing formal citizenship documents to members of the Zimbabwean Shona community. For many years, the Shonas have been living in Kenya without legal documents, something that denied them basic rights as well. To furnish us with more details on the story, we are joined by….. Guest: Sarah Kimani, SABC East African Correspondent

Action SA KZN Chairperson, Dr. Makhosi Khoza says she was informed of the events leading to the violent unrest, vandalism and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, by members of the ANC, three weeks before the unrest began GUEST: Action SA KZN Chairperson, Dr. Makhosi Khoza

The ANC says all salaries of staff members have been paid. This follows last month's nationwide picket by party staff members over the party's failure to pay salaries on time. ANC Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte confirmed a month ago that the party is facing financial problems. GUEST: Pule Mabe, ANC National spokesperson

The Democratic Alliance, DA say the intelligence report(s) which State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo claimed she handed over to SAPS prior to the recent unrest, but which Police Minister Bheki Cele says he never received - must be made public. The DA today submitted an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) for Minister Dlodlo to publicly release the intelligen...

On Sunday, Tunisia's president dismissed the government and froze the parliament, prompting massive protests across the country. Guest: Ebrahim Deen, Senior Researcher at the Afro-Middle East Centre

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) says it will launch an investigation after receiving a complaint that tenants of an upmarket estate in Midrand were threatened that unless they were vaccinated their lease would be terminated. The company responsible for the estate says the communique was not meant to force any of its tenants to vaccinate but was addressed to people, mostly securit...

The Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals today hosted an Imbizo on the Township Economy under the theme "Rebuilding, Restoring and Revitalising the Township Economy". The Imbizo comes in the wake of the recent unrest, which saw several stores and malls in townships being looted during the Free Zuma protests. GUEST: Langa Madonko, Deputy President of the Association of Black...

10 suspects are appearing in the Verulam magistrate's court, north of Durban today in connection with some of the killings that took place in Phoenix during the recent violent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal. The accused in relation to the killings at Phoenix are to appear behind closed doors. GUEST: National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in KZN, Natasha Kara

KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu speaks to us about the reopening of schools, after he visited several schools today, particularly in Phoenix where tensions are still running high after the recent violent unrest. During his visit in the area, Mshengu assured community members that safety measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of learners. Guest: Dr Barney Mthembu, HOD for th...

Following the reopening of schools today, we speak to the department of basic education just to find out if they have sufficient capacity to cope after the recent unrest that saw many schools being vandalised in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Guest: Elijah Mhlanga, National spokesperson of the Department of Basic Education

Last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the reinstatement of the R350 social relief grant. Ramaphosa also revealed that the grant will be extended to unemployed caregivers who are currently subsidized for child support. For more reaction on this, we speak to Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker from Black Sash – you may recall that they have been calling for an emergency implementation of at least...

Last week Friday, Sierra Leone became the 23rd country on the African continent to end capital punishment. Following this historic decision, death penalty will now be replaced with life imprisonment or a minimum 30-year jail term for crimes such as murder or mutiny. For more reaction on this, we are now joined by….. Guest: Oluwatosin Popoola, Legal Advisor for Amnesty International

The Government Communication and Information System in partnership with the Government Employees Pension Fund today held a webinar to educate the public on the process to follow when lodging a claim for pension and related benefits of the deceased. Earlier this month, the Government Employees Pension Fund launched the Government Employees Pension Ombud to deal with administrative complaints agains...

As of Monday 26 July, all routes and ranks, including lanes and long distance route facilities situated at the Bellville Public Transport Interchange will be closed for the operation of any minibus taxi-type service for a period of two months. Western Cape Transport MEC, Daylin Mitchell officially closed the lucrative route that taxi associations Cata and Codeta have been at war over - which has c...

We examine the IEC’s decision to postpone the local government elections “Politically and Constitutionally speaking - what does it all mean?” Guest: Dan Mafora, Research Officer at the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC)

The IEC has adopted the report by former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke. The Commission will approach the courts for the postponement of the local government elections. We now speak to South Africa's 3 top political parties for their reaction to the postponement... GUEST: Werner Horn, DA MP and Party head of elections: GUEST: Omphile Maotwe, EFF's Treasure General

The Electoral Commission of South Africa, IEC has unanimously accepted the recommendations of the Moseneke report that the October local government elections be postponed. But the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has written to the IEC to challenge the findings of its report. The Institute says it is an error to postpone the elections as there is no guarantee that the country will be in a better...

The Independent Electoral Commission has confirmed that South Africa’s municipal election that was due to take place in October this year will be postponed with a new date yet to be confirmed. Joining us to explain what will happen moving forward is… Guest: Sy Mamabolo, Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission