Electricity debt + prices

The South African National Civic Organisation, SANCO, in Joburg is proposing an electricity flat rate of R150 for poor households in Joburg. They apparently submitted this memorandum to City Power.

How possible is this?

Guest:Thomas Thaga, Chairperson - SANCO Johannesburg branch

Guest: Brian Kamanzi, Researcher at Trade Unions for Energy Democracy

Thomas Thaga, chairperson of the Johannesburg branch of the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco), has proposed a significant change, which he says will help alleviate the financial burden on poor households. In a memorandum submitted to City Power, Thaga advocated for a flat electricity rate of R150 per month for underprivileged families.

This initiative, according to Thaga, is not only aimed at easing the cost of living for these households, but also at addressing broader systemic issues faced by power utilities such as Eskom and City Power, including the rampant problem of illegal connections. 

He said that, as an organisation, they identified the gaps and challenges that the power suppliers or producers faced.

Guest: Bhuti Manamela, ANC NEC Member

Former ANC President and current Umkhonto Wesizwe Party leader Jacob Zuma has 21 days to appeal the expulsion from the ANC handed by the ANC Disciplinary Committee. The ANC found him guilty for contravening rule 25.17.17.4 of the ANC constitution.

• The rule contravened
• The impact of this contravention
• JG Zuma Foundation tweeted a couple of hours ago: “The Zuma Law is back, alive and well…No transparency in the ANC DC, No opportunity to be heard, No opportunity to mitigate sentence….”
• What happens during the appeal?
• The expulsion, does that mean erasing him in the history of the ANC?

GUEST: WILLIE AUCAMP - DA MP AND SPOKESPERSON ON THESE MATTERS

DA on Electoral Court challenge with Ramaphosa: 'We have a duty to defend the Constitution'

In May this year, the DA opened a case against Ramaphosa for allegedly violating the Electoral Code of Conduct. The party refused to drop the case despite being in a Government of National Unity with the ANC.

DA on Electoral Court challenge with Ramaphosa: 'We have a duty to defend the Constitution'

JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Alliance (DA) and President Cyril Ramaphosa are set for a showdown in court on Thursday in what appears to be the first crack in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

In May this year, the DA opened a case against Ramaphosa for allegedly violating the Electoral Code of Conduct.

The DA said Ramaphosa's televised speech, three days before the elections, was a political campaign advertisement disguised as an official speech from The Presidency.

However, the president's office denied this, saying it was protocol for the sitting president to address the nation towards the end of his political term.

The case will be heard in the Electoral Court sitting at the Johannesburg High Court.

DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp said the party was not going to drop the case because of its newly formed relationship with the African National Congress (ANC).

"Being in a GNU with the ANC doesn't mean we all of a sudden stop defending the Constitution. It means we even have a greater duty to do so," said Aucamp.

GUESTS: RUSSELL RENSBURG - health activist and Director of the Rural Health Advocacy Project

DR KGOSI LETLAPE - Action SA MP and Founder of the African Medical Association

ActionSA Welcomes Court Ruling Declaring Sections of Health Act Unconstitutional 

25TH JULY 2024

ActionSA welcomes the Gauteng High Court's declaration that Sections 36 to 40 of the National Health Act are invalid and unconstitutional.

ActionSA believes that Sections 36 to 40 was unjust in that it sought to require that health care practitioners had to first obtain a certificate of need (CoN) from the Health Department before they could establish a practice in a specific area.

At its core, the attempt to overburden healthcare practitioners with a cumbersome bureaucracy centred in the already constrained Department of Health was rightly ruled invalid by Judge Anthony Miller. Therefore, ActionSA wholly welcomes the court's intervention, which ensures that we uphold the rights of healthcare practitioners, allowing them to operate without the weight of an overbearing bureaucracy.

What is undoubtedly a blow to the National Health Insurance (NHI), the court's ruling adds creditability to the already lengthy list of concerns about the NHI. ActionSA has long argued that NHI, while well-intentioned, is ill-conceived and will not address the shortcomings of the healthcare system in South Africa.

Importantly, ActionSA contends that NHI will merely add a third tier to the existing public and private healthcare systems, creating a loophole for budgetary 

Guest: Hombakazi Mercy Nqandeka, PhD candidate in health sciences at Stellenbosch University

Guest: Russell Rensburg, Director of the Rural Health Advocacy Project

An interesting article written by Hombakazi Mercy Nqandeka, a PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University on the need for indigenous midwives as part of the rural healthcare.

How do we make this possible and what is the current state of rural health care in SA?

There should be a way for indigenous midwives to be recognised and allowed to complement the national health system. They are physically closest to the people and usually the first point of contact when there are birth emergencies.

Indigenous midwifery is as ancient as humanity itself. I am a second-year Health Sciences PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University, and living between Bulungula, Xhorha Mouth, and Mqele in Elliotdale, Eastern Cape as I do, my research focuses on indigenous knowledge health systems, looking into the resilience of the indigenous healers of AmaBomvana in Elliotdale.

• Hombakazi’s article + argument
• The state of the rural health care
• The support so far (hospitals, clinics, community health workers)
• Rural health care and NHI

Guest: Funzi Ngobeni, Action SA Gauteng Chairperson

Action SA says it will support and work with the ANC in the Joburg metro saying it has given the ANC three conditions to make this possible.

The party announced the controversial decision on Monday during a press briefing that it held after an ActionSA Senate meeting on Saturday.

Party president Herman Mashaba said that even though the party had vowed to never work with the ANC, it could not sit on its 44 seats in the Johannesburg council because of its principles.

The governing coalition in Johannesburg, the government of local unity (GLU), is made up of the ANC, EFF, PA and minority parties.

Divisions in the GLU were made clear at the last sitting of council on 9 July when the EFF voted against the R2.5 billion loan from the Agence Francaise de Developpement. The loan forms part of the 2023/24 R80.9 billion budget, but it is missing from the budget because it was not passed by the council.

On Monday, Mashaba made it clear that ActionSA was not in a coalition with the ANC. Instead, he said, the party would work with the ANC on a case-to-case basis and throw its weight behind any decision that would benefit the residents of Johannesburg. ActionSA is the third-biggest party in Johannesburg, after the ANC, with 91 seats in council, and the DA, with 71 seats. Mashaba said the decision to work with the ANC came from its constituencies, which were concerned about the city's degradation. Johannesburg is marred by crumbling infrastructure, which has seen water and electricity outages, crumbling roads and bridges, and rampant crime. Mashaba said once the City of Johannesburg was stabilised, they would move on to the City of Tshwane and then to Ekurhuleni, which is marred by infighting between the ANC and the EFF.

Guest: Dr Kgosientsho Sputla Ramokgopa, Minister of Energy and Electricity