The National Pulse

Last week we spoke to the DA in the North West, who has called on the provincial health department to desist from placing patients under what it says is forceful isolation. According to the party, patients have been forcefully isolated at the Klerksdorp Tshepong Hospital while awaiting their COVID-19 test results. We spoke to Gavin Edwards who is DA’s Provincial Spokesperson for Social Development...

Rights group Equal Education says they want a detailed plan on feeding schemes at schools during the lockdown. The Group has called on the Department of Basic Education to put in place clear interventions to ensure children who receive meals at school continue to do so. They say relief programmes such as Solidarity fund can also ensure equitable distribution of food. Guest: Equal Education general...

A Cuban Medical Brigade is in South Africa to assist the country in the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 virus. More than 200 health workers from the Central American country landed this morning at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria before heading to a quarantine facility. Guest: Bongani Masuku - A member of Cosatu's secretariat and also the union's former Secretary for International...

According to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), it’s important to ensure that students receive their allowances during the Covid-19 pandemic So that they can sustain themselves, continue with academic activities online, as well as to pay for learning materials. It is for this reason that NSFAS has activated a business continuity plan to facilitate uninterrupted funding to students,...

Today being National Freedom Day, we look at how Covid19 has unwittingly exposed the real state of the so called triple challenges in South Africa. COVID-19 has exposed levels of inequality where families in informal settlements can hardly self-isolate, compared to those in affluent areas where several people can self-isolate in spacious rooms in a single house. The battle for food parcels is also...

A lot of people have been asking different questions i.e what is the criteria for Covid19 testing – what kind of questions are being asked by health workers and are there enough tests kits to test everyone in South Africa for Covid19? Guest: Prof Ian Sanne, CEO of Right to Care

Labour and Employment Minister, Thulas Nxesi says certain companies are deducting UIF from employees' salaries without paying it to the Unemployment Insurance Fund. He was briefing the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour and the Select Committee on Trade and Industry yesterday. He says some employers are refusing to comply with the lockdown regulations pertaining to the payment of UIF for...

The South African National AIDS Council (Sanac) has made a call for HIV and TB screening to be incorporated into the testing and screening for COVID-19. Sanac says it does not want to see a reversal of progress made in the country’s HIV and TB response due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. Guest: Dr Sandile Buthelezi- CEO of The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC)

Today, KwaZulu Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube embarked on more unannounced visits and raids as part of efforts aimed at protecting consumers against food price hikes during the lockdown period. The MEC said that she’s particularly concerned about yesterday’s raid in the Durban Central Business District in which counterfeit goods were confis...

The Department of Economic Development in the City of Johannesburg has announced Phase Two of the issuing of temporary permits for informal traders. Last month the department suspended the issuing of permits after a large crowd descended on its offices in the Johannesburg CBD, compromising the safety and social distancing lockdown regulation. Guest: Nthatisi Modingoane- Spokesperson for the City o...

In conversation with Prof Francis Petersen who says the negative impact of COVID-19 on the income drivers of the university can, and probably will, be severe. Guest: Prof Francis Petersen, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State

Many of you have called, SMSed and sent through voice note messages asking how you can access the Department of Small Business Development's support scheme. Who are the beneficiaries under this scheme? And how does their funding package work. Guest: Lindokuhle Mkhumane, the Acting Director-General of Small Business Development

BSS: The Tax Justice South Africa is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to end the lockdown and for certain sectors to resume with economic activities. The organization also says the lockdown has seen an increase in acts of criminality, this as Illicit cigarettes are flooding the market following the ban on cigarette sales. Guest: Yusuf Abramjee, the leader of The Tax Justice South Africa Guest:...

Various higher education institutions have announced that they would be adopting online learning as their response to the scourge of coronavirus which has interrupted the academic calendar. Nelson Mandela University has however opted to provide its students with pathways that range from digital to face-to-face contact, and combinations of these extremes, to enable all students to complete the firs...

Earlier on this month we spoke to the C19 People’s Coalition has called on government to extend social grants in responding to the dire impact of COVID-19. One of their demands was for government to make provision of a basic income grant to the unemployed between the ages of 18 and 59 at an amount at least equivalent to the current disability grant of R1860. Yesterday the president announced that...

The South African State and Allied Workers Union (Sasawu) has called on the department of Justice and Constitutional Development to provide protective clothing for its members who work in various centres. According to the union, these centres seem to be the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of workplaces. Guest: Mike Ngqolowa- General Secretary of the South African State and Allied W...

Betony Adams unpacks quantum research that might add to the discussion of what creates consciousness, she will also tell us more about theories that appear to indicate the role of quantum effects in the brain’s structural mechanisms and how progress made in the wider field of quantum biology might be relevant to the specific case of the brain. Guest: Ms Betony Adams, PhD candidate at UKZN’s Centre...

Land Bank has warned debt holders of R50 billion that it is in danger of defaulting. The repayments in question are for its revolving credit facility, Land Bank cited a current “liquidity shortfall” as the problem. Meanwhile, Agri SA has warned that Land Bank’s failure could expose the country to a substantial systemic risk with dire consequences for commercial farmers, job creation and food secur...

Business reacts to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s R500 billion coronavirus support package: Yesterday, the president announced measures that included tax relief, the release of disaster relief funds, emergency procurement, wage support through the UIF and funding to small businesses. Guest: George Sebulela, founder & President of the South African United Business Federation

Last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on measures the government is undertaking to support the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the key things that the president mentioned was that going forward - the country’s economic strategy will require a new social compact among all role players to achieve inclusive growth. Now, given the fact that inequality has remained stubb...

There has been rioting at Boikhutso in Lichtenburg in the North West after a police vehicle allegedly ran over - and killed - a child. Two police vans and an ambulance have reportedly been torched Guest: Oshebeng Koonyaditse, spokesperson for the Transport Department in North West

We continue yesterday's discussion with the Gauteng department of community safety. One of our listeners called in yesterday to complain about not being able to open a case with a local police station in Soweto. In the same breath Energy Analyst, Chris Yelland tweeted yesterday about how his wife tried to report a car accident she was involved in on the way home from Craighall Pick n Pay. Chris Ye...

Initiations have been suspended until next winter due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Guest: Kgoshi Mathibela Mokoena, President of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, CONTRALESA

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has put in place a Covid-19 relief fund for young people whose businesses have been affected by the national lockdown. Guest: Sifiso Mtsweni- NYDA Executive Chairperson

Sechaba Motsieloa tells us about what his organisation is doing to tackle the upsurge of passive and active violence which is predominantly perpetrated by men during the national lockdown. Empowa-Men is currently driving an initiative which encourages frank conversations that enable men to engage and come face-to-face with behavior patterns and thought processes that have caused great damage to in...