The National Pulse

Former Prasa CEO, Lucky Montana speaks to us for the second time today about his pending appearance at the Zondo Commission and also about a whole lot of other allegations levelled against him. Last week Friday when we spoke to him, Montana accused the chairperson of the state capture commission, Justice Raymond Zondo of being biased. Audio clip: Duration “01:43 secs” Guest: Lucky Montana, former...

Time now for another eye-opening discussion as we continue our conversation on Eye care with Professor Trevor Carmichael, Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of the Witwatersrand. We were unfortunately not able to conclude our discussions as we were inundated with your SMSes, WhatsApp voice notes and messages on this particular topic, so we will continue playing some of the voice...

Members of shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo today marched through the Johannesburg and Durban CBD against corruption and recent evictions during the lockdown. Abahlali marched to Luthuli House and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal's office to hand over a memorandum, demanding an end to state corruption, forced evictions and violence... Guest: Lennox Mabaso, Spokesperson in the office of...

Recent changes in legislation and advances in stem cell donation have allowed registries to reduce the age limit of donors. This has paved the way for South Africa to make history by becoming the 2nd country in the world to allow 16 and 17 year olds to donate bone marrow. Guest: Nadia Chalkley, Donor Recruitment for SA Bone Marrow Registry

On World News today we focus on student-led pro-democracy protests that are currently taking place in Thailand. On Saturday and Sunday, tens of thousands of members of the pro-democracy movement, gathered in Thailand’s capital and in about 20 provinces to call for fresh elections, a new Constitution and reforms to the monarchy’s lofty position in Thai society. Guest: Kiru Naidu, Asia-Pacific Resea...

The DA has terminated the membership of Gauteng MPL Nkele Molapo. Molapo is accused of leaking confidential party information to the EFF. Meanwhile, she has accused the DA of bias in handling her claims of sexual harassment against interim provincial leader Solly Msimanga GUEST: Mike Moriarty, DA Gauteng provincial Chairperson

The situation in Senekal remains tense with various political parties converging on the town. Farmers earlier dispersed their gathering. The groups are in town for the bail application for the two men accused of killing 21 year old Brendin Horner. Police remain on high alert for any possible eventualities. GUEST: Lirandzu Themba, Spokesperson for Police Minister Bheki Cele

Former Prasa CEO, Lucky Montana speaks to us about his pending appearance at the Zondo Commission. Montana has once again accused the chairperson of the commission, Raymond Zondo of being biased. He asserts that the commission’s fundamental shortcoming was that the accused are not afforded the opportunity to tell their side of the story Guest: Lucky Montana, former Prasa CEO

World News today: As COVID-19 continues to put the global economy into a tailspin. Many countries face multiple challenges and are taking unprecedented fiscal and monetary actions to tackle the effects of Covid19. Yesterday, several ministers of agriculture of the 16 SADC countries member states met to discuss how the Agricultural Development Fund should be fast tracked to provide finance to the a...

The Situation is tense in the Free State and Senekal is painted red with members of the EFF dominating the space just outside court. Members of the farming community from Senekal and surrounding areas have also gathered outside court where police are maintaining a strong presence and so far have managed to prevent a scuffle between the EFF supporters and farmers as they continue to monitor the sit...

Today we are in conversation with Dr. Morris Mthombeni who has been appointed as Interim Dean of the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in 2020. He joined GIBS in 2014 and was appointed as Executive Director of Faculty in 2017. He recently co-authored a white paper titled: ‘Firm-Level Capabilities: The Missing Link in South African Industrial Growth Strategy’. Wel...

guest: Christo van der Rheede, Executive Director of AgriSA

Police Minister Bheki Cele says officers are prepared for any eventuality tomorrow at the Senekal Magistrate's Court in the Free State where the two suspects in the killing of farm manager Brendin Horner are to appear again in court. Cele has confirmed that one of the accused had been arrested 16 times and the other three times on various charges. We speak to AgriSA who are calling for calm to avo...

The president’s stimulus aims to ensure that unemployed South Africans find work in their local communities as jobs lost as a result of COVID-19 are restored in the medium term. We now get reaction from……. Guest: Thapelo Maleke, President of the SA Youth Chamber of Commerce

President Cyril Ramaphosa has just concluded presenting his economic recovery plan. Some of the concepts in Ramaphosa’s plan include how to make it much easier to do business in the country, while it also focused on getting the state’s infrastructure plans up and running. The President also shared strategies on how his administration will eradicate corruption and theft. Guest: Duma Gqubule- Foundi...

Some opposition parties have mixed expectations from President Cyril Ramaphosa's address during a Joint Sitting of Parliament tomorrow. These include - how government will intervene to avoid the collapse of the SABC, Eskom and to address the unemployment crisis. The President has written to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise- calling for the joint sitting to outline the country's economic rec...

Police Minister, Bheki Cele, says the department is working on assisting farmers and law enforcement officials to work together, to avoid stock theft and farm violence. Cele and State Security Minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, met with farmers in the Free State yesterday - following violent protests in Senekal. Cele says farmers and police need to work together to stop violent attacks. In another separate...

The state is opposing the bail application of former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi at the Commercial Crimes court in the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court amid allegations Agrizzi didn't declare 33 million rands worth of movable assets. Agrizzi made an appearance in court this morning, after having failed to appear about a week ago due to ill-health. He's facing a charge of corruption, for his alleged invo...

A new, clinical study has found that high doses of vitamin D supplementation significantly reduce the need for ICU treatment for Covid-19 patients. The Spanish study, a pilot randomised, open label, double-masked clinical trial – investigated the effect of vitamin D supplementation on ICU admissions and mortality rates. Joining us to discuss health benefits of Vitamin D is…. Guest: Vanessa Ascenca...

World News today: Yesterday, China and Russia won seats on the UN’s premiere human rights body despite opposition from activist groups over their abysmal human rights records. Last week, a coalition of human rights groups from Europe, the United States and Canada called on U.N. member states to oppose the election of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, saying their human ri...

We pay tribute to Dr Vuyo Mahlati who passed away in the very early hours of the morning. Last year, Mahlati served as the chairperson of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s land reform and agriculture advisory panel. Also, she was a member of Mzansi’s National Planning Commission, and the owner of Africa’s first indigenous wool processing plant in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape Guest: Neo Masithela, Cha...

World News today: The UK government’s prestigious Chevening Scholarship programme is open for applications again and joining us to share some valuable information on how South African’s can go about applying for this wonderful opportunity is…… Guest: Mr Nigel Casey, the British High Commissioner to South Africa

The ruling ANC is calling on the state to fund political parties. The cash-strapped ANC is proposing that taxpayers' money be used to fund political parties, some reports suggest that funding could increase by R500-million annually. On Both Sides of the Story, we're asking you, Should political parties be funded by the state? GUEST: Paul Mashatile, ANC treasurer-general GUEST: Sheilan Clarke, Comm...

Today we look at the Eye care awareness month which started from 20th September to 17th October 2020. We bring awareness about avoidable vision loss, symptoms of eye conditions, cancer in the eye diabetics and eye site and many other eye and site related issues. We are joined by Prof. Carmichael GUEST: Professor Trevor Carmichael, Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of the Witwat...

Shoprite Checkers will no longer enforce exclusivity clauses against other supermarkets in malls. The Competition Commission says this is an opportunity for new businesses to emerge and compete in the retail environment. This after the Competition Commission welcomed the decision by the Competition Tribunal to confirm the consent agreement between the Commission and Shoprite Checkers. GUEST: James...