The National Pulse

Today on Beyond Innovation we speak to Boitumelo Nkatlo, a Chemical engineering graduate from the University of Johannesburg. He has been in the metallurgical fraternity as a Metallurgist for over 12 years. He founded a company that treats acid mine drainage (AMD) to potable/drinking stage. In this project, they use a metallurgical waste product to treat AMD. The project has been through all the s...

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Buti Manamela and Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba visited the University of Limpopo today to monitor the state of readiness of the University to reopen. Minister Manamela will also visit the Seshego Campus tomorrow morning to assess academic activities and monitoring of safety protocols in Lockdown Level 3. Guest: Deputy Minister of...

Is it "Time to press the reset button on economic and social reforms?". We now speak to Mr Mbhazima Shilowa, a former premier of Gauteng, trade unionist and Cope leader, who says "we owe it to the 1976 generation to create a more just and equitable society that grows the economy, create jobs, provides quality health care, education and social welfare" GUEST: Mr Mbhazima Shilowa, a former premier o...

Tsakane residents, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng blockaded roads in protest over power outages. The residents say they have been without electricity for two weeks. Meanwhile, the Greater Johannesburg Housing Committee has also voiced frustration over Eskom's timing - in implementing rotational power cuts. Areas affected by the power cuts in Gauteng include Cosmo City, Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Orange Farm,...

Earlier on today, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that government has offered the taxi industry a relief package of R1bn. When making the announcement Mbalula said government has taken into account the enormous losses the sector has incurred, as well as the fact that the restrictions placed on it during the lockdown were severe enough to render nearly half of taxi fleets unable to oper...

World News today: Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that China will cancel interest-free loans to African countries that are due to mature by the end of this year. Jinping also told a China-Africa summit on Covid-19 on Wednesday that African nations hardest hit by the pandemic will also be granted an extension of the period of debt suspension. But what really informs this gesture? For mor...

Geraldine Prinsloo, founder of Black Doek Movement SA shares thoughts on the scourge of gender-based violence, which knows no geographic, socioeconomic, or cultural boundary (she will also outline the objectives of the movement). What is worrying about this is that the country has seen a serious growth of Gender-Based Violence in particular since the national lockdown Guest: Geraldine Prinsloo, fo...

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) say municipal Councillors across the country are proposing a salary increase of 6.4% in the 2020/2021 financial year. The organisation says that the City of Johannesburg is one of these municipalities where Councillors are proposing a salary increase, while residents are already expected to pay more for increased tariffs. OUTA has now started a public part...

Burundi's newly elected president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, has been sworn in two months earlier than planned. The swearing in ceremony took place in the capital Bujumbura. Fifty two-year-old Ndayishimiye won last month's presidential elections. His inauguration was however brought forward following the NKurunziza's sudden death last week Guest: Sarah Kimani, our Kenyan Correspondent

The SABC has announced possible staff retrenchments. They say they will consult with its over 3-thousand employees, about their intention to cut jobs. At a meeting with management, organised labour and representatives of non-unionized employees a notice of the retrenchment process under Section 189(3) of the Labour Relations Act has been handed over Guest: Hannes du Buisson, President of the Broad...

At least 22-thousand employees of footwear and clothing retail giant Edcon will be retrenched. The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) has confirmed that it has received a letter from Edcon on starting Section 189 consultations Guest: Mike Sikani, Spokesperson for the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU)

World News today: Mexico, India, Ireland and Norway have been elected to take up a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council. Neither Kenya nor Djibouti gained the required two-thirds majority to win the Africa seat on the 15-member council. This after a long diplomatic battle between the two for the position. Kenya and Djibouti have been battling for a year to claim the non-permanent A...

What is dexamethasone, the new drug being used to treat COVID-19 and why should we be optimistic about it? We ask this as it is not the first time during the coronavirus pandemic that a drug has been touted as a treatment for COVID-19 but only to find that it is not. Guest: Professor Yunus Moosa, President of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society and Head of Infectious Diseases

Staying with matters VBS. Last year we spoke to Freelance Journalist, Nomatter Ndebele who spoke to many of the victims of VBS, who were scared of speaking out due to fear of being killed. People who lost thousands in the VBS scandal when the bank collapsed were reportedly fearful that exposing VBS looters in public could lead to them being killed. This afternoon we continue our discussion with No...

Seven of the eight suspects arrested in the looting of the VBS Mutual Bank between 2015-2018 will appear in court tomorrow, according to the Hawks. The arrests come nearly two years after two-point-seven billion was looted from the Bank. Guest: Pauli van Wyk, an Investigative Journalist from the Daily Maverick's investigative unit Scorpio

The South African Society of Psychiatrists is calling on public and private healthcare providers to maintain the availability of beds for psychiatric patients as they work to build a large hospital bed network to cope with Covid19 outbreak. They say the long-standing critical situation in state mental health hospitals is exacerbating the crisis, while psychiatric patients are far more at risk of c...

Social Development Minister, Ambassador Lindiwe Zulu joins us to outline the objectives of the newly launched ministerial advisory committee on social change, which is aimed at driving social behaviour change in communities. Guest: Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Social Development

Time now for Both Sides of the Story: This evening we will look at who is in really in charge of the Congress of South African Students (cosas)? There seems to be leadership squabbles within the student body. On both sides of the story we will look at who is really at the helm of Cosas. 1. Tumelo Sebopela, Member of Cosas's National Task Team 2. Thabang Mamaila, Cosas NEC member (part of the Makga...

What should the future of youth activism look like in South Africa? As we commemorate the 1976 Soweto Uprising - during this hour, we focus on the struggles and challenges facing South Africa's youth, and lessons that other young people from other countries can learn from South Africa. 1. Guests: Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research 2. Gu...

About a few hours ago, the Public Protector, Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane released a number of investigation reports and she joins us now to discuss the findings of some of the reports Guest: Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, The Public Protector

Equal Education and the school governing bodies of two Limpopo schools have launched an urgent court application against the Department of Basic Education and the provincial education department. The application challenges the Department's failure to roll-out the National Schools Nutrition Programme to all learners Guest: Roné McFarlane, who is the Co-Head of Research at Equal Education

Civil rights Organisation, AfriForum, last week Friday filed a complaint at the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. They are requesting the UN to investigate the manner in which, they say government is abusing the COVID-19 pandemic to enforce racial ideology on society Guest: Ernst Roets, Head of Policy and Action at AfriForum

World News today: Who is Ali Kushayb, a Sudanese war crimes suspect? Kushayb, a former commander of the Janjaweed, a militia that worked alongside the Sudanese armed forces in their campaign against the Fur, Massalit, and Zarghawa people in Darfur, Sudan, in the early 2000s — is charged with 50 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out that campaign. But will his arrest bring cl...

Brandon Pillay explains why parents in the Bayhaven area, in Chatsworth are refusing to send their kids to school. According to him the school governing bodies strongly believe that their schools should remain closed until the virus has reached a peak Guest: Brendon Pillay, Spokesperson for the Combined School Governing Bodies, Bayhaven

Today on Beyond Innovation we learn about Phytomedicine and Cosmeceuticals. We speak to Prof Namrita Lall’s - she is one of the founders for the development of a new specialized field, called “Medicinal Plant Sciences” at postgraduate level in January 2007 at the University of Pretoria, South Africa which is one of its kind in South Africa. She argues that Africa has tremendous plant diversity tha...