The Daily Discourse

Those who are involved in the Early Childhood Development sector are painting a heart breaking picture of the impact the lockdown has been having on them. In most cases it is the poor who suffered the most as many depend on them for food. Workers and owners are hit hard as parents have not been paying. On Monday the Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of early childhood development centres reopening immediately. Let’s use this opportunity now to discuss the effects and importance of childhood development centres and the role they play in the country…

Guest: Conny Nxumalo – Deputy Director General: welfare Services

GUEST: Shirley van Vicht – Director of Bethany Educare

GUEST: Professor Eric Atmore - Founding director of the Centre for Early Childhood Development

GUEST: Terry Bell – Labour Analyst and columnist

The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) says it has received a notice of intent to retrench workers at Game stores across the country. The Massmart Group has announced it plans to retrench one-thounsand-800 employees. Earlier in the day Media24 announced that it is considering closing five magazines and two newspapers as well as out-sourcing and reducing the frequency of its remaining monthly magazines which could leave Five-hundred-and-ten people unemployed. In Limpopo, more than 50 people have been laid off as Anglo Platinum's Twickenham mine closed some operations at its Mopetsi camp outside Burgersfort. These three announcements happened in one day adding to the high unemployment rate. Do these companies have a choice, if yes, what is a workable solution?
Guest: Advocate Tertius Wessels – Labour Specialist and Legal Director at Strata-g Labour Solutions

Today being Tuesday, we continue bringing you the UIF representative to field your questions and deal with your problems. Please remember to keep your questions very brief and listen on the radio for answers.

GUEST: Tshiamo Molema – Manager for Monitoring and Evaluation in the Commissioner’s Office

Information has been circulating around the country about a planned truck driver strike all trucking companies to remove non-South African drivers and replace them with local drivers. So far the transport department has not said a word and didn’t answer calls from our producer or text messages. Let’s find out now what the issues are as we welcome….
Guest: Siphesihle Mutwa – General Secretary of National Truck Drivers Foundation (They are in support of the strike)
Guest: Denis Juru – Chairperson of the International Truck Drivers Union (Their interests are to protect foreign truck drivers

Over the last eight weeks Bryan has been dealing with ‘What are the cornerstones of a financial plan?’ This morning he deals with the third principle, which is, Investment Planning….

GUEST: Bryan Hirsch, Chairperson of Bryan Hirsch, Colley & Associates (Pty) Limited

For a few months since the lockdown we have been receiving videos, text and audio messages from those in jail about the harsh conditions they are facing. They complain about overcrowding and prison officials not taking care of them. They’ve also sent pictures of injures prisoners painting a very gloomy picture. Also calling on officials to allow visitations from family members. Let’s hear now from the Department of Correctional Services about the situation in our jails and whether these allegations are true. Also what is the situation regarding visitation and protective gear for officials.

Guest: Singabakho Nxumalo – Spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services

Veteran South African Actress, Mary Twala- Mhlongo, has been described as a legend - someone who was good at her craft, with a great sense of humour. Twala- Mhlongo - who was 80 - passed away at the Park Lane Hospital in Johannesburg on Saturday. She had an extensive career in film and TV, and was recently awarded The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Pearl Magubane filed this report…

CLIP-MARY

LINK: We speak now with someone who does not need much of an introduction, someone who has worked with her and many others in the field….

Guest: Duma ka Ndlovu – TV producer, Filmmaker, poet, playwright

The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association is continuing its fight through the courts to force government to lift the ban on the sale of cigarettes. They have applied for leave to appeal the ruling of the Pretoria High Court. Last month the court dismissed the association's application to have the ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products during the lockdown period lifted. The other problem is that illegal cigarettes is being sold underground. On the other police officers are arrested for reselling confiscated cigarettes. We have also seen over the years how top members of syndicates in the trade have been killed. The involvement of SARS officials and so on. Well, let’s get an inside on how this the trade operates and the role of the big companies in it as we welcome…
Guest: Telita Snyckers – An illicit trade expert and author of Dirty Tobacco, Spies, lies and Mega Profits and also former SARS

The incident of Bulalani Qolani, the man who was thrown out of his shack naked got many people angry. The footage was widely circulated on social media and on news bulletins. The City of Cape Town felt justified as they say that piece of land is earmarked for a water project. This incident makes us question the practice of evictions under the lockdown. Was the city correct or should they have waited for things to normalise? Also how should we address the question of land invasion especially under the current setup?
Guest: Chris Nissen – Commissioner for the Human Rights Commission in the Western Cape
Guest: Vuyokazi Yokwe – Admitted attorney at the High Court

Guest: Mqapheli Bonono – Deputy President of Abahlali baseMjondolo –

Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga has acknowledged that since the Grade seven and 12 learners went back to school last month - there have been some unfortunate instances where learners, teachers and non-teaching staff have died of Covid-19 related illnesses. Eleven teachers, four non-teaching staff and three learners have died as a result of Covid-19. Motshekga was conducting an online media briefing from Pretoria. Grades six an11 learners will be going to school from today (Monday). So far there has been mixed reaction with some unions saying the schools are not ready. Let’s hear what the minister had to say yesterday…

CLIP-ANGIE

Guest: Allen Thompson – President of the National Teachers' Union (Not happy with extra grades being added.)