The National Pulse

The Justice Department has raised concern over the number of victims of domestic abuse and others serious crimes dropping charges against violent partners or ex-partners. Some victims of abuse have cited growing frustrated by court delays and not having faith in the Justice system. To elaborate further on this, we're joined on the line by... GUEST: John Jeffery, Deputy Minister of Justice and Cons...

Post World Blood Donor Day which was observed yesterday, we discuss the importance of young people donating blood. The SANBS has launched its National Blood Donor Month campaign under the theme ‘Give Blood And Keep the World Beating’ and they are calling on the youth to show the spirit of 1976 and come in numbers to heed the social and humanitarian call to save lives by donating blood. Guest: Dr K...

Last week, South Africa expelled several foreign diplomats for flouting diplomatic privileges. Following expulsions, the Ministry of International Relations released a statement explaining that some of the diplomats were involved in illegal activities like illegally trading in duty-free alcohol. Guest: Clayson Monyela, Head of Public Diplomacy at the Department of International Relations

Latest News, Trends, and light features for an afternoon commute- Business, Traffic, Weather and Sport

“How does a case get withdrawn?” We look at legal processes that are normally followed when one decides to withdraw a case. Guest: Phindi Mjonondwane, NPA south Gauteng spokeswoman

Police in Mpumalanga have arrested a 24-year-old woman who is accused of killing her three-month-old baby girl say. The young mother who is in police custody is said to have visited her baby's father at his workplace on a farm at Avontuur, near Middelburg, on Friday evening. Even though the motive of the killing has not been clarified, many people suspected postnatal depression. Just how severe is...

As you’ve heard in the news that the state is now charging former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her 21 co-accused with racketeering as well. The amended indictment was handed in when Gumede, eThekwini municipal manager - Sipho Nzuza - other officials, 4 councillors and 8 business people appeared in the Durban High Court. Other charges include fraud and corruption. The case stems from a Durban...

Following last Friday’s landmark court judgement against Ingonyama Trust, we hear from Thulani Ngubane who speaks on behalf of Rural Women’s Movement (an organisation that took Ingonyama Trust to court last year, claiming that they were tricked into signing leases for their ancestral land). Guest: Thulani Ngubane, Spokesperson of the Rural Women Movement

On World News today, we focus on Benjamin Netanyahu’s fall – asking what led to his ousting and where did he go wrong? Netanyahu’s 12-year run as Israel’s prime minister ended yesterday with parliament approving a new government led by nationalist Naftali Bennett. Guest: Na'eem Jeenah, Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre

The Democratic Alliance, DA is set to table a Bill to allow for Premiers to call for referendums. Currently the Referendums Act only allows for the President to call a referendum and does not provide for a Premier to call for a referendum in a province. The party says the Bill seeks to bring power closer to the people by giving elected Premiers the mechanism to use their constitutional powers to c...

The rand strengthened on the news that South Africa agreed to sell a majority stake in the country's grounded national carrier to a local jet-leasing company and private-equity. This morning in Johannesburg, the Rand was trading 0.5% firmer at 13.55 to the U.S. dollar as of 10:11 a.m. We speak to Professor Adrian Saville, who is a Lecturer and Economist at GIBS on what this deal entails for the co...

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced that Takatso Consortium will be the new strategic equity partner for South African Airways, SAA. The Takatso Consortium will own 51% of the airline and SAA will hold 49%. He says the airline will not rely on government funding to operate. GUEST: Leon Louw, Executive Director of the Free Market Foundation

Understanding the plight of Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans in KwaZulu-Natal: In conversation with Zibuse Cele who is leading the province’s disgruntled members of the MKMVA who were thrown out of an unused government building in the Durban CBD yesterday. But before we speak to him, take a listen to Vuyiswa’s call who also complained about the ill treatment of military veterans about two weeks...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has been invited to attend this year’s G7 Summit that starts today and ends on Sunday in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. South Africa has also been invited for its role as co-chair of the ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Council, which aims to expedite research, manufacturing and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics across the world. Guest: Profess...

Social Development Minister, Ms Lindiwe Zulu says government is currently discussing whether or not to extend the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant. The grant was introduced last year by President Cyril Ramaphosa as part of social relief initiatives to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. GUEST: Social Development Minister, Ms Lindiwe Zulu

South Africa has recorded over 9000 new Covid-19 cases today. We speak to Health Department Director General, Dr. Sandile Buthelezi about the progress on the country`s vaccination roll-out programme which include updates on a number of issues including the following: EVDS registration, Walk-ins/unscheduled appointments at vaccinations sites, and an update on J&J vaccine & planned vaccination of ed...

Police Minister Bheki Cele says police officers will not receive salary increases for the next three years. Briefing the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), yesterday on the department's budget vote. Minister Cele said the salary freeze was in line with the government's plan to remain within government's expenditure ceiling. The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) say they find the po...

Public protector Busisiwe Advocate Mkhwebane is confident that she will finish her seven-year term, which comes to an end in 2023. This despite an ongoing parliamentary process looking into her fitness to hold office GUEST: Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane

As the country reels from stage 3 and 4 loadshedding. President Cyril Ramaphosa has just made an important announcement that is aimed at reducing loadshedding. About three hours ago, the president announced the amendment of schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act to increase the NERSA licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1 MW to 100 MW. Joining us to explain what this all...

Recently, Stats SA revealed that the unemployment rate in the country increased from 30, 8% in quarter 3 of 2020 to 32,5% in quarter 4 of 2020, the highest unemployment rate recorded since the start of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey in 2008. Which then begs the question as to how best can we tackle this problem? Professor Vusi Gumede is of the view that all relevant stakeholders in the country...

World News: Edson Isaacks explains why opposition lawmakers in Namibia are against government’s reconciliation settlement with Germany. Opposition politicians are furious about being excluded from negotiations that will see Germany officially apologising for colonial atrocities and offering a $1.3bn settlement which would go into development projects over the next 30-years. Guest: Edson Isaacks, M...

There is confusion on whether a Gauteng woman has indeed given birth to 10 babies. There were several reports that thirty-seven-year-old Gosiame Thamara Sithole gave birth to her decuplets at a Pretoria hospital, breaking the current Guinness World Record of 9 babies. But the Gauteng Provincial Government's Acting Director General, Thabo Masebe says they checked with all private hospitals in the p...

Sy Mamabolo joins us to unpack the IEC’s elections campaign that was launched earlier on today. Mamabolo revealed during the press briefing that this year’s local government elections will be the most complex in the history of this country due to the coronavirus pandemic. He joins us now to elaborate further on the commission’s state of readiness… Guest: Sy Mamabolo, Chief Electoral Officer of the...

North West government says it will intervene in the looming closure of dairy manufacturing company Clover, in the province. Clover announced it is its operations in Lichtenburg due to "ongoing poor service delivery" by the local municipality. The company says it is moving production to eThekwini, Durban where the municipality is more supportive. Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee on Economic Devel...

So how will the possible closure of Clover South Africa's operations in Lichtenburg, North West, due to "ongoing poor service delivery" by the local municipality, impact local farmers and farm workers? We speak to Christo van der Rheede, Chief Executive Officer of AgriSA GUEST: Christo van der Rheede, Chief Executive Officer of AgriSA Guest: Theuns du Buisson, economics researcher at the Solidarit...