The Daily Discourse

The Eastern Cape department of education has defended the lease procurement option of the fifty-five thousand units of tablets for matric learners. The controversial tablets amounted to over four-hundred- million- rand. Although the idea of these tablets has been widely criticized, the department is adamant that they are vital for their target of an eighty percent pass rate. The department says leasing of these tablets, will ensure that learners are not left behind in this academic year.

Guest: Nandipha Tembo – Director: Asset Management in the Eastern Cape Department of Education

Gender and child rights activists have welcomed the provisional suspension of Ms K. Bodlani who was an acting regional magistrate at Umlazi, KwaZulu Natal. According to the Justice Department, the matter was referred to the Minister by the Magistrates’ Commission. A judicial quality assessment of Ms Bodlani’s work revealed serious irregularities and shortcomings, most notably that a number of her cases had to be sent on special review in terms of section 304(4) of the Criminal Procedure Act as several serious shortcomings and incompetent sentences were imposed by her. This highlights one of those questions we sometimes ask ourselves about some of the rulings by judges and magistrates. What should we read into this and should we be worried about our justice system?
Guest: Kayan Leung - Policy Development & Advocacy Unit Manager at Sonke Gender Justice

Guest: Alison Tilley – Coordinator at Judges Matter

Guest: Prof Stephan Terblanche – Professor in the Department of Criminal and Procedural Law at UNISA

As you’ve heard earlier in the week that South African women's rights and sexual and reproductive health specialist Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng has been confirmed as a leading global expert on health by the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Dr Mofokeng now holds the title of Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health. She now joins us on the line to talk about her appointment and issues pertaining to women she will be championing under the UN….

Guest: Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng – Newly appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health

Since the lockdown started health experts raised concerns about the mental health situation fearing that many could face anxiety and other mental ailments. Yesterday the South African Depression and Anxiety Group hosted a briefing where research showed that 28% of employees were experiencing constant high levels of both psychological and physical distress. To help us interpret this and also what it is we can do to overcome

Guest: Prof Christoffel Grobler – Psychiatrist

The health department in the Free State is concerned about the increase in the number of infections. The province is also facing serious challenges about recoveries. To find out what the situation is there and the kind of challenges they are facing, we are joined on the line by…

Guest: Dr Sammy Mokoena – Provincial Head of Covid-19 Surveillance Team in the Free State

Dr Justin Visagie and his fellow academics have penned an article highlighting the need to transform the informal housing sector. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the dangers faced by overcrowding in the informal communities and one of the raised points in the article is the lack of implementation of ideas by the ANC government. As far the academics are concerned, what is the best approach seeing that resettling informal communities has not solved anything over the years?
Guest: Dr Justin Visagie - Research specialist in the department of Inclusive Economic Development at the Human Sciences Research Council

President Cyril Ramaphosa last night said that he has ordered the Special Investigating Unit to probe all government spending linked to the state of disaster declared over the coronavirus pandemic. The President made the announcement in a televised address to the nation.

CLIP-RAMAPHOSA-SIU

Guest: Kaizer Kganyago – Spokesperson for the Special Investigating Unit

Since the lockdown came into effect, concerns were more around the issue of education. As schools were also affected, the worry was about learners being left behind. Many schools then opted for virtual learning, something that is not very easy for both teachers and learners. This morning on our Labour Talk we speak to a teacher to find out what being in the classroom under these circumstances and having to transform into different forms of teaching is like…

Guest: Charmain Thokoane – Teacher at Nova Pioneer’s Paulshof campus

According to recent research findings from a survey conducted by First Insight, a world-leading customer-centric merchandising platform, fear around the short and long-tern effects of the pandemic is driving people to make financial decisions that aren’t in their best interest, with 54% of millennials saying that the coronavirus has significantly impacted their purchase decisions, and 63% of them stating that their biggest worry is their ability to continue paying their monthly bills. To help South Africans understand one of the main sources of peoples’ financial behaviour, in 2019, Nedbank introduced an online quiz which helped individuals discover their money archetypes and how these affect their relationships with money. To tell us more on this, we are joined on the line by…

Guest: Nthabiseng Matshekga - Nedbank Executive Head: Group Marketing

One of South Africa’s financiers of small and medium enterprise, Retail Capital is excited about retaining their national BB+ credit rating. This they say has resulted in local and international investors looking at placing more funding with them. This then is good news for the SMME sector that desperately needs the funding. To explain this and why we the sector should be happy with it, we are joined on the line by…

Guest: Guy Hosking – Chief Financial Officer at Retail Capital