The Weekend View

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa needs about one point five trillion rand over the next five years for its plans to cut carbon emissions, harness economic opportunities from the energy transition and support affected communities. Ramaphosa was speaking ahead of his departure for the COP 27 climate talks which start today in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. At the last Cop summit, Western natio...

Some 73% of children and youth felt they needed mental health support over the past year, with more than half, 38%, actively seeking help. This is according to the latest UNICEF South Africa U-Report poll. The findings also show that 67% of young respondents stepped up to support a friend's mental well being. This reflects a 10% rise on the same question in 2021. Unicef says their  U-Report poll s...

Africa and the rest of the world were this week breathing a sigh of relief after the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan leaders signed a truce in Pretoria to end the two year brutal war in the north of the country.  The agreement gave fresh hope of opennng up the flow of aid and other humanitarian assistance to those at risk of famine.  More than a million people have been displaced since heavy fig...

Pharmaceutical retail giant, DISCHEM, recently got heavy criticism, which included a brief consumer boycott, from some quarters after it announced that it would stop employing and promoting white South Africans in a bid to boost it's transformation agenda. The memo signed by DISCHEM CEO, Ivan Saltzman, was seen by others as contravening the Employment Equity Act and labour union SOLIDARITY threate...

As the summer initiation season starts this weekend, the Eastern Cape House of Traditional and Khoi-San leaders is calling on initiation schools, parents, health workers and NGO partners to ensure that the 2022 initiation season takes place safely without putting the health and lives of young men at risk. The Eastern Cape's  summer initiation season began YESTERDAY with over 40 000 young men expec...

As the latest fuel price hike starts to bite, South African motorists are being warned about fuel saving gimmicks that are in circulation. Many of these gimmicks seem out of the ordinary, however desperate motorists may fall victim and end up damaging their vehicles or putting their lives in danger. Some of the false fuel saving advice doing the rounds include pouring Coca Cola, dish-washing table...

Inkamana Abbey, South Africa's third oldest monastery is this morning celebrating its centenary. The abbey, which also runs a prestigious school which is now a heritage site, was founded by the Catholic Church as a mission in 1922. Based in Vryheid - KZN, Inkamana has leaders in both the private and public sectors among its eminent alumni.  We spoke to Prior Boniface 

South Africa top teacher for this year hails from Limpopo Province. Alfred Mokgalaka, from Hoërskool Frans du Toit in Phalaborwa, Limpopo taught himself how to code during lockdown and then taught his class how to programme robots. Mokgalaka, was awarded first place as the country's best teacher at the annual National Teaching Awards for 2022. The awards are an annual event recognising the role th...

It has been said that 'the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." Former president Nelson Mandela agreed with this notion as he himself said, "No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. It is against this backdrop that various leaders across Africa now say that it is time to re-think criminal law and incarceration on the continent. There a...

The warring sides in Ethiopia's two-year conflict this week sat at the negotiating table in Pretoria for their first formal peace talks that are scheduled to end today. The dialogue is led by the African Union, which had failed, earlier this month, to bring together teams from the Ethiopian government and the rebel Tigrayan authorities, in the face of ongoing fierce fighting on the ground. The pro...

Fraudsters always threaten to turn Festive Season cheer to Festive Season frustration. With the Festive Season fast approaching, South Africa has been slowly aligning itself with the rest of the world in heralding the start of the Festive Season shopping spree with its Black Friday shopping event.  It is however important to remember that fraudsters are also very active at this time of the year an...

Bapedi and Zulu monarchies on the spotlight 

The National Assembly this week voted by 232 votes to 98 to pass the Electoral Amendment Bill that will allow individuals to stand for elected office as independents. However it has been criticized by some, saying it is a missed opportunity for thorough reform to enhance political accountability. Some independent candidates are not happy with the Bill in its current form and some civil organisatio...

With matric exams set to begin on Tuesday, some matriculants are still without Identity Documents needed to sit for exams. This is causing a lot of frustration and anxiety for both parents and learners. This comes amid reports that some Home Affairs offices are NOT giving matriculants the necessary assistance they need to get their ID's. On Friday some parents and learners spent long hours in a qu...

The battle to succeed outgoing British Prime Minister Liz Truss is gathering steam as hopefuls jostle for support. 5 candidates are being touted as possible replacements with former chancellor Rishi Sunak, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and former prime minister Boris Johnson, leading the pack. The candidates have until Monday afternoon to gather the support of 100 MPs to run.  Truss resig...

The South African Water Chamber has blamed the current water crisis in Gauteng to ageing water infrastructure and the lack of foresight, planning and investment in water reticulation.  We spoke to Water Chamber CEO, Le Roy Benoit

The fight against gender-based violence and femicide took centre stage this week when the National Shelter Movement of South Africa held an Indaba on the role the provision of shelter to victims plays as a critical intervention. This is in preparation for the national Presidential gender-based violence and femicide Summit next month. The Indaba follows increased murders of women and children acros...

Property subletting is allegedly becoming popular in South Africa, largely because of aggressive interest rate increases and the high cost of living. Many people look for subtenants to help them pay their rent, while others seek to sublet if they're moving elsewhere and can't get out of their current lease. Subletting can be helpful if you're in need of extra cash, it is however not a decision to...

South Africans are NOT AT ALL happy with the recent revelation that  South African Cabinet Ministers and their deputies don't have to fork out a cent for water and electricity. Our ministers are also NOT at all affected by load-shedding because each of their households has received a generator to ensure that they are never in the dark. While South Africans were processing this information, they al...

Thousands of delegates are gathered in Beijing as China's governing Communist Party starts it's elective Congress today, set to usher in a historic third term in power for Xi Jinping. Xi has been described as  the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong in the 1970s. The decision to extend Xi's presidency comes after a two-term limit was abolished in 2018.  If elected Xi will lead the world'...

Businessman and diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg maintains that there is nothing wrong with him, as an ordinary citizen, giving former President Jacob Zuma five hundred thousand rand to foot his mounting legal bills. This follows Zuma's decision to privately prosecutes state Advocate Billy Downer and Journalist Karyn Maughan. Zuma has accused Downer of leaking his confidential medical records to Ma...

Eskom has signed land lease agreements with 4 independent power producers. These successful bidders are: HDF Energy South Africa, Red Rocket SA, Sola Group, and Mainstream Renewable Power Developments South Africa. Eskom says the companies will now do comprehensive feasibility studies to determine which technologies will be implemented at each site; wind, solar and battery storage. The exact gener...

  Some of our South African Police officers live with the fear of being attacked by criminals at their police stations. One such police station is in Devon, east of Johannesburg, which has allegedly been locking it's gates at 6 o'clock every evening, for fear of being attacked by thugs. That fear, however, became a reality this week when three armed men, who pretended to be hijack victims, attacke...

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) and the United National Transport Union (UNTU) say efforts to establish picketing rules with Transnet's management for their planned national strike TOMORROW  have been unsuccessful.  Unions say Transnet had contravened the requirements of the Labour Relations Act by refusing to sign the picketing rules. The unions says Transnet's refus...

African Union-led peace talks that were expected to start in South Africa today to try to end a two-year-old conflict in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region have reportedly been delayed for logistical reasons.  Ethiopia's government and Tigray forces had earlier this week accepted the AU's invitation to talks in South Africa, which would be the first formal negotiations between the two sides since w...