The National Pulse

Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba says the attack on doctors at Letaba Hospital is a set-back in the provincial government's efforts to recruit medical professionals that are willing to work at hospitals based in rural areas. Two doctors were shot and wounded during a robbery at the hospital's residence. The third victim who was assaulted with a crowbar, is the wife of one of the doctors. guest:...

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce changes to his cabinet in a few minutes time. New ministers are expected to be announced to replace Environmental Affairs minister Edna Molewa who died in September this year and Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba who resigned about a week ago. This will be the third change President Ramaphosa will be effecting to his executive. In October Tito Mb...

Mining group Sibanye-Stillwater on Monday received notice from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) that it intends to embark on protected strike action at the miner’s gold operations, starting from this evening. This comes after Sibanye last week signed a three-year wage agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity, and UASA, allowing for increases to...

Eskom slashed spending on maintenance over the past four years by almost 50%. This was revealed by Eskom officials in parliament today. The performance of Eskom’s coal plants has been plummeting, leading to a highly constrained system and resulting in the first round of load-shedding since 2016 on Sunday. Municipalities owe Eskom R18 billion in debt. Eskom says the debt is a worrying factor as it...

On our health feature today we look at this painful story of a medical doctor who has stage four brain cancer and embroiled in a legal battle with a medical aid after it refused to pay for a drug, he maintains will save his life. Dr Sipho Bvuma who works at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital was successful in his court bid to force the Government Employees Medical Scheme (Gems) to pay fo...

Intimidation, fear of losing jobs and threats to lives are the main reasons professionals don’t blow the whistle on unethical behaviour, both in the private and public sector. This is according to the the 2018 Anti-intimidation and Ethical Practices Forum’s (AEPF) Ethical Practices Survey released in Johannesburg yesterday. The number of professionals in the private sector who strongly feared losi...

About an hour ago we spoke to the certified financial planner Gerald Mwandiambira on this Momentum story. He said the law is clear, if you don’t disclose, no payout. It’s the story of Momentum rejecting a claim for life cover insurance payout of R2.4 million to a client who had not disclosed a pre-existing condition despite it not being related to his death. The client was killed in a hijacking…an...

As you know, every Monday we talk entrepreneurship and today we talk about this intersting article on fostering the culture of creative entrepreneurship in South Africa writen by Mike Beukes, Executive Creative Director at Duke. He says “ What we do need are more creative entrepreneurs - people who aren’t just willing to take a risk with the work they produce, but a risk with their own money. And...

A story that has been making rounds all over social media and news outlets of Momentum rejecting a claim for life cover insurance payout of R2.4 million to a client who had not disclosed a pre-existing condition despite it not being related to his death. The client was killed in a hijacking…and never disclosed that he suffered from high blood sugar levels. Guest: Gerald Mwandiambira

From 2019, job seekers will no longer be required to have work experience for entry-level government jobs. This was announced by public service & administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo at the East London yesterday. She also announced that the Z83 government job application form will be a thing of the past. The department will pilot the digital Z83 form on December 12 with the hope of going full swi...

Rand water has warned of possible water shortages heading into the festive season should the heatwave persist in many parts of the country. Rand water says despite numerous warnings urging consumers to use water sparingly, water usage is still extremely high. The South African Weather Service has predicted that temperatures in Gauteng will rise to 36 degrees Celsius today. The Northern Cape, Free...

South Africa's Independent Communications Authority (Icasa) has reached an agreement with Cell C, Vodacom and MTN on data regulations. Icasa said the networks have agreed to drop their court challenge and would introduce the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations in February next year. To tell us more on this, guest: Paseka Maleka

Yesterday, Tshwane mayor Executive Mayor Solly Msimanga told business people in Marabastad to comply with municipal by-laws or risk having their businesses closed. He led a surprise anti-crime raid in the area in line with the City’s Operation Tswelopele, aimed at cleaning up illicit activities. The illegal operation of businesses and trading in counterfeit goods, including many pairs of sneakers...

Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee will recommend that South Africa's founding document be amended to allow for the explicit expropriation of land without compensation following a vote today. This follows months of public hearings and hundreds of thousands of submissions. Guest: Michael Morris - Spokesperson – IRR

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education - says it's conducting an internal investigation against a school teacher who is accused of impregnating five learners from different schools at Manguzi in the north of the province. -- It's alleged that the teacher forced one of his victims to abort the baby and buried it in a shallow grave. -- The teacher is also accused of threatening his victims. Guest...

Earlier in the week we told you about a story regarding how traditional leaders are charging young men over 18-years a fee if they are still staying with their parents, and are unmarried. The story surfaced when residents from the Vulamehlo area near Nquthu in Zululand wrote a letter to the KwaZulu-Natal government regarding the issue. People from the Vulamehlo area near Nquthu in Zululand have co...

Protesting municipal workers in the West Rand are preventing emergency services from operating. A fleet of emergency vehicles, several fire engines and community safety vehicles are under lockdown at the premises of the bankrupt West Rand District Municipality in Randfontein. This is the municipality that invested R77m in the now liquidated VBS Mutual Bank, despite facing serious financial problem...

Overall, the quality of life in Gauteng is improving, according to a new survey . But crime has now surpassed corruption as the biggest concern for the province's residents, with unemployment close behind it. The fifth Gauteng City-Region Observatory's (GCRO) Quality of Life Survey for 2017/2018 was launched at the University of Johannesburg on Tuesday. Satisfaction with the government, since the...

Today’s World Diabetes Day – an awareness campaign reaching a global audience of over 1 billion people in more than 160 countries. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public and political spotlight. And I read that, Diabetes claims around 2,500 leg amputations a year in KwaZulu-Natal. KZN health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlom...

Metrorail's train service in the Naledi corridor of Soweto has been disrupted due to cable theft, affecting an estimated over 60-thousand commuters trying to reach Joburg. Metrorail says the cable theft happened between Dube and Ikwezi train stations. To find out how Metrorail is dealing with this especially now that we are entering the afternoon rush hour…… Lilian Mofokeng - Metrorail Gauteng spo...

The spokesperson for Vhavenda King Toni Mphephu-Ramabulana says the king is saddened by yesterday's Pretoria High Court ruling to grant an order for the liquidation of VBS Mutual Bank. To get an understanding of what the king would like to see happen. guest: Makonde Mathivha – Spokesperson for Vha-Venda King, Toni Mphephu Ramabulana

A University of KwaZulu-Natal linguistics lecturer Muhle Sibisi was bestowed the Young Linguist Award at the prestigious 20th International Congress of Linguists. The congress, which meets every five years, took place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre and was attended by linguists from around the globe Her research interest lies in language policy, believes that isiZulu and other Af...

The North Gauteng High Court has issued a final order to liquidate VBS Mutual Bank. This after the South African Reserve Bank's Prudential Authority applied for the final liquidation of the mutual bank. In its affidavit, which went unopposed, the Authority submitted that the order to liquidate the bank was necessary, would be beneficial to the creditors of the bank, and that it was in the interest...

The University of Mpumalanga was again disrupted yesterday (Monday) by employees who belong to trade union NEHAWU. They apparently took students out of class. The disruptions have been going on for some time and to find out what some of the reasons are behind the disruptions, guest: Prof Thoko Mayekiso – Vice Chancellor at the University of Mpumalanga

The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has expressed concern that some beneficiaries were still holding on to the old card and not swopping it for the new gold card. November is the deadline for obtaining the new Sassa cards and there will be no extension, said the agency. Anyone who doesn't swop won't be able to get their January 2019 social grants. To get the latest on this, guest: Sassa spokespe...