Afternoon Drive with John Maytham

Guest: Anne Bernsein | Founder at Centre For Development And Enterprise

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Guest: Callan Cohen | Birding Africa

 

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Guest: Peter Bruce | Editor at Former Editor Business Day

 

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Guest: Mignonne Breier

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Guest: Karyn Maughan

Former president, Jacob Zuma, pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering, at his appearance in the Pietermaritzburg High Court today.They relate to the an arms deal corruption scandal in the late 1990s in which he is accused of having improperly benefitted.

Both Zuma and the French arms company, Thales, face a raft of criminal charges stemming from the deal.  Thales also pleaded not guilty to all charges against it.

Zuma's lawyer read a statement in which the former president called for prosecutor Billy Downer to recuse himself, saying he has acted in a manner that lacks independence and impartiality.

  

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Guest:Ellen-Anne Finnemore

In 2017, an employee at Capitec Bank started the Hooked on Helping initiative in which employees and other volunteers give them time and skill to make crocheted blankets for vulnerable people. It started out just as part of the 67 Blankets project for Mandela Day which has now distributed more than 67,000 handmade blankets to communities in need in South Africa alone.  Over the past years the Hooked on Helping team have also provided hundreds of beautiful, hand-made blankets and scarves to people.

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Guest: Dr Saadiq Kariem

We speak to the Western Cape Department of Health's COO, Dr Saadiq Kariem, about the lower Covid-19 vaccination numbers in comparison to other provinces.

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Guest: Gavin Grey

British prime minister, Boris Johnson's former top advisor, Dominic Cummings has been questioned by MPs in parliament today on the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He says the UK had failed to "hear the alarm bells" when the virus hit other countries early last year. Cummings is being questioned at a joint meeting of Parliament's health and science committees as part of their inquiry into "lessons learnt" on the government's response to the pandemic.. He left his role in Downing Street last November following an internal power struggle, and has been increasingly outspoken in his criticism of the handling of the health situation.

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Guest: Dr Nicholas Crisp | Public health consultant with the Department of Health

Anecdotal evidence from listeners suggests there have been many issues and teething problems with the the department of health's vaccination registration system.

Yesterday, it dismissed claims that professional services firm Deloitte had been brought on board to fix software problems on its EVDS or electronic vaccine data system.

We speak to Dr Nicholas Crisp, the department's director general for National Health Insurance.

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Guest: Layton Beard | Spokesperson at Automobile Association

The Automobile Association says transport minister, Fikile Mbalula's plans to improve road safety and road infrastructure announced in his 2021/2022 budget speech are short on details and implementation. And, it says, many workable solutions which will have an immediate impact on road safety were not addressed. The AA says targets to reduce road deaths in South Africa by 25% by 2024 will not be met within the current framework. 

It says increasing the working hours of traffic law enforcers, and introducing the wearing of body cameras, will alone not solve the country’s road safety crisis.

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