The National Pulse

Earlier on today, the Equality Court dismissed Pravin Gordhan’s hate speech case against EFF leader Julius Malema. According to Judge Roland Sutherland, while Malema’s utterances aimed at Gordhan were “indeed hateful”, the minister’s legal team failed to prove that they violated the Equality Act and thereby constituted hate speech (Malema had referred to Gordhan as a “dog of white monopoly capital...

Guest: Pieter Groenewald - Leader of the Freedom Front Plus

Guest: Steve Swart - ACDP

Guest: Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA Shadow Minister of Finance

How will the ANC led government implement strategic plans that were proposed and outlined by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni this afternoon? Guest: Pule Mabe, ANC National spokesperson

The minister also mentioned that proposals have been made about streamlining applications for new ports, and opening up the railways to force heavy freight off our roads, ease congestion and improve safety. On e-tolls he urged the public to pay their bills as not paying has already led to our roads deteriorating. Guest: Paul Browning - Independent public transport expert

The Finance minister did not say much about the issue of unemployment in his Medium Term Budget Policy statement today. He only mentioned that President Cyril Ramaphosa, is driving the Youth Employment Service known as YES! through expanding the employment tax incentive. He also said that government’s economic strategy priorotises job-creating sectors, such as agriculture and tourism. Guest: Thape...

The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance reacts to Finance Minister’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. They expect the finance minister to present a ‘turn-around strategy’ to reduce alcohol-attributable harm in South Africa. According to them, the alcohol-attributable harm cost to the country in 2016 was estimated at R245 billion. Guest: Maurice Smithers, National Coordinator at the Southe...

When presenting his Midterm Budget Policy Statement this afternoon, finance minister Tito Mboweni said one of the biggest challenges this country is facing is that we spend more than we earn. To stabilise debt, he revealed that government will target a primary balance by 2022/23 and he went on to say, we also need to deal with the challenges of the wage bill, state-owned companies, executive remun...

We tackle the issue of unemployment, asking - what is the main cause of unemployment in South Africa and why are we failing to solve it? The results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2019 released by Statistics South Africa earlier on today, indicate that the official unemployment rate has increased by 0,1 of a percentage point to 29,1% compared to the second quarter of...

The main opposition party in Botswana, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) will be challenging the results of last week’s elections whereby the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won with 38 seats. Guest on the line (Botswana): Spencer Mogapi, Deputy Editor of Botswana's Sunday Standard newspaper

The petrol price is expected to decrease next month. The Automobile Association (AA) anticipates a petrol price drop of between 8 and 18 cents a litre, 14 cents for diesel and 21 cents for illuminating paraffin. Guest: Layton Beared - Spokesperson for Automobile Association (AA)

Today President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed a group of attendees at a dialogue by the Businesswomen's Association of South Africa (BWASA), in partnership with UN Women. This was a one-on-one engagement to explore some of the commitments the government has made in terms of the empowerment of professional women and women entrepreneurs, specifically how to improve women’s access to public and private p...

South Africa’s main opposition party (the Democratic Alliance) has asked Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests to probe conduct relating to Mantashe and claims that he bribed two journalists. They say that his actions are in violation of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members' Interests of Parliament. Guest: Kevin Mileham, DA’s Shadow Minister of Mineral Reso...

Following revelations that Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe allegedly bribed Sunday Word journalists to withhold publishing an article about his private life - Sanef will be writing a letter to retired Judge Kathleen Satchwell, who is chairing their independent Inquiry into Media Ethics and Credibility, asking her to investigate this further. They will also ask her to look int...

World News today: How problematic is the issue of child marriages across the globe? According to UNICEF figures, this year alone about 12 million of the world’s children will be married before they turn 18. Guest: Luke Lamprecht, Advocacy Manager and Child Protection Specialist @ Women & Men Against Child Abuse

About two hours ago, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan released a policy paper explaining how Eskom would get back on track over the next few years. According to the policy paper, Eskom will look to cut its cost of coal and diesel, and is trying to renegotiate contracts it concluded with independent suppliers of renewable energy with the aim of getting them to lower their prices. Guest: A...

The Foundation for the Smart Nation has created a revolutionary school backpack aimed at addressing societal and educational inequalities; in particular those brought on by the lack of reliable electricity. Guest: Sibongile Nkuna, Operations Director at the Foundation for the Smart Nation

The Democratic Alliance, Shadow Minister of Justice advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, has stated that it is deeply concerned about the chronic vacancies present in South Africa’s court system, totalling over 1000 empty posts, some of which have been left unfilled for over 365 days. According to her this has severe implications for South Africans who are seeking justice for crimes committed against the...

Thabiso Zulu, who is a whistleblower and close friend of the late ANC Youth League (ANCYL) secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa has been released from hospital following a suspected assassination attempt this past weekend. Zulu is an informant on political killings in KwaZulu-Natal and is believed to have been receiving death threats after he revealed the corruption that exists in the Umzimkhulu Munic...

Cosatu has called on Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to present what it calls a serious Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The union says it wants to see a mini budget that has targets and time-frames. Guest: Matthew Parks - Cosatu Parliamentary Liaison Officer

Dr Randall Carolissen who is the administrator of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme – and he says the current issue of contention which is the performance management system is one of many legacy issues that have negatively affected the performance of the scheme. Guest: Dr Randall Carolissen, Nsfas administrator

NSFAS employees affiliated with workers union Nehawu say the industrial action comes after a negotiation deadlock with the student financial aid scheme. Nehawu provincial secretary Eric Kweleta says management has failed to address grievances about their working conditions over the past two years and their members are now demanding the payment of R12,500 performance bonuses, absorption of temporar...

Yesterday, U.S President Donald Trump announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State commander was killed in a raid conducted by the US military in Syria. Baghdadi has been the subject of an international manhunt for years, and has been incorrectly reported dead or injured multiple times. Guest: Dr Akinola Olojo, Senior Researcher in Transnational threats and international crime at the ISS

Last week, the ad hoc committee tasked with amending Section 25 of the Constitution released a statement confirming that Members of Parliament have set a deadline of December 10 to gazette a draft bill to amend section 25 of the Constitution. Guest: Dr Mathole Motshekga, Parliament’s Chairperson of the ad hoc committee tasked with amending Section 25 of the Constitution