Afternoon Drive with John Maytham

In his address on the lockdown on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the extension of the Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme or TERS, an effort to support people who have been affected by ongoing restrictions.

 He said the decision followed talks between the Unemployment Insurance Fund and social partners and that details

of the extension would be published shortly following the finalisation of the scheme.

For an update, we speak to the UIF's director of communication and marketing, Makhosonke Buthelezi.

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Yesterday, the presidency decided to deploy the army in support of the police in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in a bid to help bring the rioting and looting in these 2 provinces under control.

Writing in the Daily Maverick today, John Stupart, journalist and an analyst at the African Defence Review, says this is despite the fact that there are almost twice as many police officers as soldiers in the SANDF.

We speak to him about whether it is a help or hindrance having soldiers on the streets at this time.

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The Small Business Institute has condemned the ongoing looting of businesses, the destruction of vital economic infrastructure, the burning of trucks and blockading of roads in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

It has called on the country's law-enforcement agencies to urgently protect lives, property, and businesses which have become the main target of the violence.

We speak to the organisation's CEO, John Dludlu.

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Rioting in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal shows no signs of letting up, as the authorities have pledged to clamp down on the violence.

Looting has continued in Alexandra, Diepsloot, Vosloorus, and Mamelodi, although it was reportedly calm in the Johannesburg city centre.

In Alexandra, looters have torched parts of the Pan Africa Mall and several businesses in the vicinity.

Earlier, at last, 10 people died in a stampede at a mall in Meadowlands, Soweto.

It's believed that about 300 people have been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal and another 453 in Gauteng.

While the turmoil was triggered by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma following his conviction on contempt of court charges, the government says criminal elements are exploiting the current situation.

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Last week, a 14-year-old teenage basketball prodigy became the first African American to win the US Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The annual competition began with 209 spellers, ranging in age from 9 to 15 years old, from 5 countries, the United States, the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, and Japan. 

There were 11 contestants in Thursday night's final which she won by correctly spelling the final word,  "murraya", a type of tropical tree.

To get to that point she had to spell out "querimonious" and "solidungulate".

We speak to Victor Houliston, an emeritus professor specialising in renaissance literature at Wits University.

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The rioting that started following the arrest last week of former president Jacob Zuma has spread across KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng. 

 

It has seen looting, busses, and trucks torched, businesses shuttered and transport networks halted as cities and towns faced with angry crowds have all but shut down. 

 

Speaking on Sunday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the authorities will take strict action against the rioters, but that failed to stem the violence. 

 

But how easy is it to identify and prosecute protesters?  We speak to Johannesburg-based attorney, Ulrich Roux.

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The Constitutional Court is hearing a bid by former president Jacob Zuma to have his 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court reviewed. 

Zuma, who was jailed last week for defying the court's ruling that he appear before the Commission of Inquiry in Allegations of State Capture, is hoping for a different outcome based on his alleged poor health. 

To find out the latest, we're joined by Karyn Maughan, News24's specialist legal journalist.

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Cape Talk is launching Nedbank Business Ignite today which is one of the bank's initiatives to empower entrepreneurs to carve out new markets and sustainable industries and, in doing so, boost the South African economy.

To find out more, we speak to Alan Shannon, Executive for Client Engagement, Professional Banking and Small Business Services at Nedbank.

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We speak to Adrian Gardiner, the Executive Chairman of Mantis Collection, about the Resurgence Through Nature giveaway.

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Writing in the Daily Maverick, Ingrid Louw, CEO of the Association for Alcohol Responsibility and Education (Aware) reminds us that binge-drinking and underage drinking have been around in South Africa since long before Covid-19,

 And this, she says, is why the country needs a more realistic and long-term approach to the problem than simply banning alcohol sales.

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