The Daily Discourse

Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande has rejected as absurd an allegation by the DA that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme is going to write-off historic debt. Nzimande explained that the amount of one-point-nine-six-billion rand as referred to by the DA, amounted to irregular expenditure and was not counted as a loss to the fiscus. For clarity on yesterday’s briefing, we are joined on the line by…
Guest: NSFAS administrator, Dr Randall Carolissen

We hear now from the student body as to what it is that stood out for them and the problems still faced by students on the ground as we welcome….
Guest: Misheck Mugabe - South African Union of Students

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

Let’s tell you now about a textbook aimed at diversity management in the workplace. It was edited by 10 academics across the country and one of the things it has revealed is that race and gender representation remains largely elusive, in both the public and private sectors. One of the other revelations is that government is the highest employer of the African population group at all levels while transformation in the private sector, is slow, with white professionals still in the majority, especially in managerial and skilled positions.
Guest: Prof Nasima Carrim - An associate professor in UP’s Department of Human Resource Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and a registered industrial psychologist

For new listeners we are on pillar cornerstone 2 of what makes up a financial plan. Over the last few weeks, we have dealt with estate planning, importance of the Will, protection for families in the event of premature death and disability. In the last two weeks we have been discussing methods of saving for retirement, and last week we dealt with, ‘do you know exactly what your financial position is with regards to the long-term journey of planning for retirement.’
This morning Bryan is dealing with a formula of calculating how much capital you will need at retirement to provide you with sufficient income.

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

There have been claims that hand sanitizer can cause a car to explode if left in direct sunlight. This after a car exploded in America. Officials had said this was caused by a hand sanitizer. But there has been conflicting information on this matter. People across the world have been using hand sanitizer in an attempt to prevent the spread of covid-19.

Guest: DR RICHARD WALLS – HEAD OF FIRE ENGINEERING RESEARCH UNIT AT UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH – HE IS ON THE LINE

As the economy is still under a partial lockdown, the latest quarterly debt index from DebtBusters shows that even before the lockdown South Africans were facing increased financial strain. One of the scary revelations is that the debt of top earners has increased by 63%. What is going on here and what are some of the contributing factors?
Guest: Benay Sager - Chief Operating Officer at DebtBusters’

On Friday Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that he was hopeful that the Covid-19 test backlogs, as a result of test kit shortages, will be cleared soon. Mkhize was addressing President Cyril Ramamphosa who's was on an assessment visit on the readiness of the Western Cape to deal with Covid-19. A number of experts have expressed concern that the planned number of daily tests were not conducted during the early part of the lockdown. The National Health Laboratory Service is also sitting with a huge backlog of tests to be conducted. Speaking to our reporter Vanessa Poonah this is what the Western Cape Premier Alan Winde had to say….
Guest: Eric Kweleta - Nehawu's provincial secretary in the Western Cape

Guest: Prof Gesine Meyer-Rath - Medical at the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE2RO), a collaboration between Boston University and the University of the Witwatersrand.

As schools open today, the Public Servants Association has raised its concerns about the missing PPE’s in the province of KwaZulu-Natal that were meant for schools. What have they found out and also what is the situation regarding rural schools?

Guest: Mlungisi Ndlovu - KZN manager for the Public Servants Association

Some of us often think that we are too old to continue with our studies as we get caught up in life’s everyday problems. There are also those who may think they are too young to focus on pursuing their dreams just yet. But this has not been the case for 77-year old Dr. Ittamar Avin and 19-year old Clermentine Ngidi who were studying at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and graduated virtually.

Guest: Oldest student Dr. Ittamar Avin
Guest: Youngest Clermentine Ngidi