NIGHT FALL

Guest 1 on the line: Solly Moeng - MD of Don Valley Reputation Management and Columnist

Social conversations: Do we really need another Davos meeting?

Notwithstanding the spike in carbon emissions as hundreds of private and government jets ferry delegates to the venue, the second in-person meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic shut the world down comes at a critical time for the global economy.

Economies around the world are battling to recover from a global shutdown, supply chain disruptions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, spiking inflation and the rising toll of a rapidly advancing climate crisis.

For the South African delegation, which hopes yet again to highlight the benefits of investing in the country, the task will be momentous.

Power utility Eskom is battling wave after wave of generation breakdowns, plunging the country into sustained stage 6 load shedding. This means the country is without electricity for up to 11 hours a day.

Small businesses are buckling under the pressure of load shedding, unable to employ staff and unable to run optimally.

Estimates are that stage 6 load shedding is costing the country R6 billion a day in economic activity – something we can ill afford.

State-owned logistics company Transnet is on its knees, unable to restore effective freight lines to ports for export. This too is costing South Africa hundreds of millions of rands.

High fuel costs and a massive hike in the cost of living are affecting many countries around the world. The WEF itself highlighted this in its latest global risks report.

Contact: ZOOM

Guest on the line: Mbekezeli Benjamin - a research and advocacy officer at Judges Matter, a civil society organisation that monitors judicial appointments.

Legal conversations:   High Court grants Ramaphosa urgent interdict halting Zuma's private prosecution

• The High Court in Johannesburg granted an interdict against former president Jacob Zuma's private prosecution of President Cyril Ramaphosa. 
• The court found there would be no harm to Zuma if the prosecution is delayed. 
• This means Ramaphosa will not appear in court on Thursday. 

The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has granted President Cyril Ramaphosa an urgent interdict to stop his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, from prosecuting him privately.

This means Ramaphosa will no longer be appearing in the dock on Thursday to face the private criminal prosecution by Zuma.

Handing down judgment on Monday morning, Gauteng Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland said Ramaphosa's legal team had made a case that he should not be hauled before an "illegal prosecution".

"The harm of being submitted to an alleged illegal prosecution could not be undone, but no harm would befall the former president should his prosecution be delayed," he ruled.

The court found that the application was urgent, pending the finalisation of the second part of the case. A date for when this second part will start is yet to be announced.

The urgent application came as a last resort after Zuma instituted private prosecution proceedings against his successor, accusing him of being an "accessory after the fact".

Young LGBTIs are exposed to the same challenges as most South African youth – but these are made worse by continuing homophobia at home, at school, in churches and in society at large, despite the social changes of the recent past.

In 1995, the country’s groundbreaking, progressive Constitution outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, promising full citizenship to a post-apartheid generation of young LGBTIs after decades of political repression, in which homosexuality had been outlawed. How has that promise played out against the reality of the poverty, inequality and hardship that the majority of youth (not just LGBTI youth) confront daily? Has democracy brought the greater tolerance and celebration of diversity enshrined in the Bill of Rights? Is life better today for young LGBTIs than in 1994?

Guests in studio:

1. Boipelo Bokaba

2. Gina Mabasa

3. Calling Fortuin

Today we will touch on some topics, at a high level – which topics will be amongst the topics we shall be tackling in the next weeks.But our year as Amandla Omnotho started last week already – where we held a virtual session on medicinal herbs (both markets and funding opportunities)

Guest on the line: Gugulethu G. Xaba -Chairman Adamo Holdings (Pty) Ltd / Amandla Omnotho

Social conversations: Fort Hare vice-chancellor pleads with Ramaphosa to take action following attacksThe University of Fort Hare’s vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu says he has never known peace since he took up his current job, accusing politicians and business people of working as part of a syndicate to have him ousted or resign in fear.Bahlungu, whose bodyguard was shot dead recently at the university in a suspected hit, has alleged there was syndicate within the Eastern Cape university which was working with business people who were service providers and politicians..

Buhlungu has since appealed publicly to President Cyril Ramaphosa to ensure his safety after his bodyguard was killed in a suspected hit on Friday night.

“These syndicates are running a mock, I found an institution that has been captured, I found an institution that has been troubled and that was broken down.

“All the while people were turning a blind eye and they were saying all the nice things about what the iconic university was, but the rot was there,” he said.

Guest on the line: the South African Union of Students National Spokesperson, Asive Dlanjwa

Guest on line: Matseleng Mogodi - a Life and Executive Coach and founder of I Get It Now.

Fear of abandonment is a type of anxiety that some people experience when faced with the idea of losing someone they care about. Everyone deals with death or the end of relationships in their lifetime. Loss is a natural part of life. However, people with abandonment issues live in fear of these losses. They may also exhibit behaviors that push people to leave so they’re never surprised by the loss. A fear of abandonment isn’t a recognized condition or mental health disorder, per se. Instead, it’s considered a type of anxiety and is treated as such.

Over time, however, the reaction these behaviors get — plus the attention that comes with it — can become self-reinforcing. That can cause someone to repeat the behaviors in order to get the response again.

This behavior can have unhealthy consequences. Over time, it can ruin relationships. It can also prevent the development of healthy bonds.

Guest on the line: Hartmut Winkler-Professor of Physics, University of Johannesburg

STRUGGLING South African consumers have been warned to brace for even more intense load shedding next year as Eskom moves ahead with its six-months outage at Koeberg nuclear power station while scrambling for money to buy diesel.

This will cripple economic growth and is a major source of investor concern.

This comes as Eskom last week ramped up load shedding to stage 6 for the first time in three months due to a plethora of unplanned breakdowns at its ageing coal-fired power stations.

South Africans frustrated as blackouts persist. By the weekend, the power utility eased load shedding to stage 4 and stage 2 as it had 5 901MW on planned maintenance while another 15 394MW of capacity was unavailable due to breakdowns.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha on Friday reiterated that the current conditions at Eskom would intensify the likelihood of load shedding in the New Year.

Guest on the line: Divesh Sooka, General Manager at ALX, a leading technology training provider.

Future-proofing your career means choosing to acquire skills that most employers want in their organisations now and well into the future. Certain digital skills rank highly in this category. Every industry has been impacted by digitisation and soon there will be no career path that doesn’t require some form of digital skill.

Divesh Sooka, General Manager at ALX, a leading technology training provider and a division of the global youth skills company Africa Leadership Group (ALG) says, "The only way to break into a lucrative and promising career in the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector is to learn the skills that are most sought after by the tech firms leading the digitisation of the global economy."

Tonight we are doing cross overs with our guest. We need your name and surname and the person you would like to connect with.

Guests on the line: Buhle the Medium, isalukazisekhehla on social media

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for an end to sanctions against Zimbabwe, saying that is one the reasons those citizens flood into South Africa.

South Africa has seen an influx of Zimbabweans coming to the country over the years, some documented and some illegal.

This has caused tensions as some South Africans accuse Zimbabweans of stealing their jobs due to cheap labour.

For a few years, there had been incidents of violence erupting in different parts of South Africa, to a point where lives had been lost.

Ramaphosa was speaking during the ANC’s January 8 statement, marking the party’s 111th anniversary, at Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein, Free State, on Sunday.

Guest on the line: Thembisa Fakude | Senior Research Fellow and Director at Africa Asia Dialogues (Afrasid)