Update@Noon

AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo is reported to have been given preferential treatment in prison. The Department of Correctional Services has dismissed the claims , saying that all offenders are given the same treatment, except when a doctor prescribes differently. Department of Correctional Services Spokesperson, Manelisi Wolela speaks to Sakina Kamwendo

One of KwaZulu-Natal's worst performing education districts has been given a lifeline by a prominent Durban businessman. Vivian Reddy has pledged to spend about ten million rand to assist in improving education results in the Ilembe District on the province's north coast over the next few years. The initiative was announced by Reddy and Education MEC Peggy Nkonyeni in Durban. Meanwhile, a national...

Children living with autism in Soweto will now have easier access to schooling. This comes after the Gauteng Department of Education officially opened the Thulasizwe School for Autism, in Orlando West - Soweto yesterday. The school is one of eleven institutions that have been opened since the start of the year to cater for children with special intellectual needs. Thulasizwe School for Autism will...

Local government elections may possibly only take place in August. This is due to the Independent Electoral Commission still working on contingency plans to allocate thousands of voters in townships and rural areas with addresses. Sakina Kamwendo speaks to IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela

Herman Mashaba, the Founder of the hair-product Black Like Me, has been chosen as the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) Mayoral Candidate for the City of Johannesburg for the upcoming local government elections. Mashaba says, he can't watch the country move in the wrong direction. He says he is really intrigued that in South Africa today, he is still regarded as a black person. He joins us on the line...

Markets analyst, Clive Ramathibela looks at Emerging-market stocks fell to the lowest level since 2009 as concern about faltering global economic growth and the slump in oil prices sapped risk appetite, Stocks across the Middle East tumbled as the easing of sanctions against Iran raised the prospect of a surge in oil supplies to a market already reeling from the lowest prices in more than a decade...

Nerina Visser, Strategist at ETF SA looks at what 2016 for the markets and the economy, oil price would be around $30 a barrel! In the light of the weakness of the rand, this is probably something to be grateful for. What impact would this have on the domestic inflation and interest rate outlook and the global beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev listed on the JSE on Friday, does this mean that the tra...

ANC supporters have pulled down the 'Zuma must fall' giant billboard which was mounted on a wall of an apartment building in Cape Town. Chaos ensued when one member of the crowd insulted President Jacob Zuma while ANC Dullah Omar Regional Chairperson Xolani Sotashe was addressing the protesters. Abongwe Kobokana reports.

Students aligned to the Fees Must Fall demonstrations in Cape Town have described the deployment of additional security officials to universities as intimidating. Security has been visibly beefed up on some campuses, amid the writing of deferred exams and ahead of the 2016 registration process. Thandiswa Mawu reports..

Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly talks about the combined value Apple, ExxonMobil and Google has been lost by the world’s struggling mining industry, which is at an 11-year low, another diamond mine is closing and mines are coming under the auction hammer around the world and Former President Kgalema Motlanthe is calling for an efficient, collective solution...

The South African government has made a submission for an extension to explain to the International Criminal Court why they did not transfer Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to The Hague when he attended an EU summit in Johannesburg in June 2015. The ICC has an arrest warrant out against the president for his alleged involvement in the atrocities in Darfur in 2003 which left approximately 300 tho...

Market analyst Clive Ramathibela looks at U.S. Stocks Stem Global Sell off , Asian Stocks Rebound After U.S. Advance as Material Shares Rise and the weeks wrap after Oil slumped and the Rand played yoyo.

Eleven people have been arrested for public violence and looting shops in Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga. Residents embarked on a violent service delivery protest setting alight municipal offices and a clinic, late yesterday. They are demanding services such as clean drinking water. Mthobisi Mkhaliphi reports..

The Independent Electoral Commission goes into this year's local government elections with the Tlokwe Municipality judgment hanging over its head. The Constitutional Court found that the 2013 by-election was not free and fair. Opposition parties have pointed to the case saying their confidence in the electoral body has waned. The parties attended the IEC's 2016 local government poll launch - outli...

Some analysts have called on pension fund trustees to do more to educate their members about the significance of saving for retirement. The resentment against the new pension fund reform by among the working class had been attributed to lack of education on financial matters. Earlier this week, President Jacob Zuma signed the new tax legislation which will see government regulating the way retired...

The student leaders who walked out of a meeting with Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande say they did so because the minister is not willing to make any commitments on addressing their eight demands. The Minster and other officials from his department met with the SRC leaders of all of the country's university in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg yesterday in an effort to find solutions to the st...

Mohammed Nalla, Head of strategic research at Nedbank Corporate and Investment Bank looks SA mining production which is ticking upwards but underlying trend remains weak, BHP Billiton in $5 billion write down of US assets and Sentiment in US ticked higher but is not being sustained

President Jacob Zuma has signed into law new tax legislation that will affect how workers receive their retirement funds. Cosatu has strongly criticized this move saying government has no right to dictate to workers how they receive their pension funds. Professor of Actuarial Sciences at the University of Wits David McCarthy tells Sakina Kamwendo that the new tax law will be beneficial to workers.

Market Analyst Clive Ramathibela looks Asian which stocks dropped for the 8th time in nine days, following a renewed selloff in U.S. equities, as material companies led declines, AB InBev to list on the JSE on Friday and they prepare roadshows to promote investor confidence and this week’s Thursday Investment theme is "Comments of the retirement reform, Tax Laws Amendment Act and the Tax Administr...

Zimbabwe is struggling to secure the services of a hangman to carry out executions. The unusual challenge was highlighted in a constitutional court case where 14 death row inmates are appealing to have their death sentences overturned. They say their prolonged wait to die, violates their constitutional right to human dignit and the prevention of cruelty. Shingai Nyoka reports

A group of former mineworkers at Aquarius Platinum mine in Rustenburg in the North West are appealing to government to intervene after four of their colleagues died last week. The group of about five hundred men, mostly foreign nationals, have been living in squalid conditions in the abandoned mine hostels. They were dismissed by Murray and Roberts at Aquarius Mine after embarking on an unprotecte...

Mohammed Nalla, Head of Strategic Research at Nedbank Corporate and Investment Bank looks at US markets sell off sharply as risk appetite wane and MTN wins Nigerian court bid to keep accounts unfrozen.

Sakina Kamwendo speaks to six year-old Chloe Forshaw, who is starting school today at Kings College & Preparatory School with her mom Simone.

Market Analyst Clive Ramathibela looks at the Rand as it rallies to end seven-day losing streak, Asia Stocks join rebound in surge from 3-year low as Brent crude oil price rise above $30 and President Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address

The much anticipated series of letters by former president Thabo Mbeki have already caused a stir. Mbeki released the first of ten letters, in which he focuses on the alleged plot by prominent ANC leaders to oust him. According to his spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga, the president will focus on various issues that seek to set the record straight. Senior Political Reporter Angela Bolowana reports