Yesterday (Tuesday), one of our regular callers came up with a suggestion that perhaps if farmers are subsidised, then the food prices could go down. Well, this morning we thought to look deeper into this subject to see if this theory could be a possible solution that the government could apply in an effort to reduce the high cost of food. One of the items that are constantly raised is the high price of cooking oil and wheat which are everyday items we all use. 

Guest: Neo Masithela - National Chairperson of the African Farmers' Association of South Africa

Guest: Dr. Mmatlou Kalaba - Agricultural Economist and Lecturer of International Trade at the University of Pretoria

Guest: Christo van der Rheede - Chief Executive Officer at AgriSA

While unemployment lowered overall, unemployment amongst black women surged at 4,2% for the quarter. This trend has worsened in the last two financial years as 2 million of the 3 million people who lost their jobs at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were women.

Fuel hikes are impacting the cost of food and leading to a possible increase in the cost of public transport. An average South African worker is spending up to 40% of their income on public transport and a further 12% of their salaries on food year-on-year. Whilst there has been a sustained lobby for the basic income grant in light of the pandemic, a range of interventions are needed to protect households and livelihoods.

Guest: Isobel Frye - Director of the Social Policy Initiative

Earlier this year, the ANC in Mpumalanga suspended the Mayor, Council Speaker and Chief Whip at the Msukaligwa Municipality in Ermelo. Today the three are in court to challenge their suspension. It is alleged that the three were seconded to the council on a temporary basis after the party found discrepancies with the ANC list ahead of the November elections. To look at what is going on in that municipality and also the impact it's having to residents and service delivery, 

Guest: Vuyiswa Madini – Suspended Speaker in the Msukaligwa Municipality

Guest: Janice Conradie – Chairperson of the Msukaligwa Business and Community Forum

Guest: Muzi Chirwa - Secretary General of the ANC in Mpumalanga

The MEC just pulled out even though I explained that we need him as Cogta. So they as the ANC feel that Muzi should do it.

Today being the last Tuesday of the month, Bryan will be spending an hour with us where he will be dealing with all your personal finance questions. He will also be responding to questions that have already been sent to him earlier in the month.

Guest(Studio): Bryan Hirsch, Chairperson of Bryan Hirsch, Colley & Associates (Pty) Limited (Radio line: 011 880 4888)

Our next guest has written to the Public Protector and laid a complaint against the Department of Correctional Services. In this complaint, she has called for an investigation into the parole board and the parole officers on the criteria for which offenses qualify to be placed on parole.

What spurred her complaint was the rate at which parolees were re-offending in communities. The examples she cites included 12-year-old Michaela Williams who was raped and murdered by parolee Steven Fortune, when he had broken his parole conditions. Former UWC student, Jess Hess and her grandfather were also murdered by a parolee. Eight-year-old Reagan Gertse was kidnapped, raped and murdered by parolee Jakobus Petoors.

Guest: Rev. June Dolley-Major - GBV Activist

The ANC has defended its latest draft Economic Policy Document. The policy document that is yet to be discussed, proposes changes in specific economic policy areas. It also proposes modernising the country's Post Office, making it more digital friendly and even transforming it in some places into an internet café. The party's communications sub-committee member Dakota Legoete briefed the media yesterday and this morning Stephen Grootes spoke to Legoete and asked him how he felt about how members of the public blaming the economic downturn to ANC policies….

Guest: Sizwe Pamla

Guest: Elijah Mhlanga

Lasts week the University of Cape Town and The Other Foundation hosted the Kopano conference, a gathering of LGBTIQ activist from different parts of the continent. The Other Foundation is a southern African LGBTI community foundation that advances the equality, freedom and social inclusion of homosexual and bisexual women and men. So at the back of that, we thought to focus on being African and Queer, depicting the lived realities of the LGBTQI community and charting a path forward for human rights recognition in southern Africa. 

Guest: Thato Moruti - CEO of LEGABIBO

Guest: Nalumino Likwasi - Co-founder of Women’s Alliance for Equality

Social media is flooded with videos of school children either shouting or beating their teachers. Yesterday (Sunday) an article in the Sunday Times reported that South African schools are being crippled by a spike in rude, delinquent pupils and this takes us back to a question many people keep asking about what went wrong with our schools? Why are these kids so violent? Every time we discuss this issue, many people believe it’s because children have too many rights and also corporal punishment being abolished. 

Guest: Nthabiseng Ramothwala - Counseling Psychologist

Child Protection Week: Looking at solutions for teenage pregnancy in our country

The Department of Social Development has launched Child Protection Week with a slight twist of focusing on the growing problem of teenage pregnancy in the country. Well, today we host Lumka Oliphant, spokesperson for the department who wants to do things differently this year. She will be taking your calls for you to share your experiences to see how they as a department can work with you who may be sitting with a pregnant teenager or maybe a child from your teenager who does not have the means to raise the child. Things are getting more and more expensive and news of a pregnant teenager may be very upsetting.

Guest: Lumka Oliphant – Spokesperson for the Department of Social Development