The Daily Discourse

As the class of 2019 sits for the exams, concerns are being raised over whether they are eating properly? Strange enough is that potatoes are said to be one of those foods recommended for the brain. Let’s learn more on this as we welcome….

GUEST: Mbali Mapholi - Consultant Dietitian at Potatoes South Africa

As we are already in the 4th Industrial revolution, we face a lot of challenges especially in the business sector. Just look around and see how many things have been advanced by technology. The scary part is that businesses don’t have a choice but to embrace it. Lauren du Plooy, director at Rae & Associates and an Intuit QuickBooks trainer says that businesses that embrace technology and empower their employees with fourth industrial revolution skills enjoy better growth and become more resilient. She goes on to say that a fear of change could mean a business gets left behind. What are the trends and why would a business not want to embrace technology?

GUEST: Lauren du Plooy, director at Rae & Associates and an Intuit QuickBooks trainer

Households, government and businesses owe municipalities 165-billion rand. Municipalities' debts for water and electricity amounts to 39-billion-rand. The South African Local Government Association SALGA says this is why municipalities have been struggling to pay both Eskom and Rand Water. SALGA president Thembi Nkadimeng says they will look into ways of compelling consumers to pay. She has also called on government who owes 10 billion rand and businesses who owes 24 billion rand to pay their municipal bills...

GUEST: Thembi Nkadimeng, President of the South African Local Government Association, SALGA

Yesterday family and friends paid tribute to veteran journalist Xolani Gwala at a memorial service at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Rivonia, north of Johannesburg. Gwala died on Friday aged 44 after losing the battle with colon cancer. He will be buried in his home village of Impendle in Kwa-Zulu Natal on Saturday…

Addressing the second Investment Summit in Sandton yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the ease of doing business in South Africa had significantly been improved. He says it's now faster and easier to register a business than was the case in the past. On the sidelines, some of the delegates were raising issues pertaining to the SMME sector. Where is the voice of the small business sector and do these summits understand the contribution of the SMME sector to the larger economy?

GUEST: Tebogo Khaas – President of the SMME Forum

Several pledges have been made towards South Africa's economy at the second Investment Conference in Sandton, Johannesburg. The private sector and public entities have pledged to boost the country's ailing economy. President Cyril Ramaphosa has told local and international investors that government is tirelessly working to create a business environment that is competitive and conducive for investment. Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small Business Development, Tourism, Employment and Labour, Mandla Rayi, says this conference will have a positive impact on the country's challenges of unemployment and economic growth. To elaborate further, he now joins us on the line...

GUEST: Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small Business Development, Tourism, Employment and Labour, Mandla Rayi

As we enter Disability Month, we highlight the plight of people living with disabilities and talk about how this hard earned democracy is including them. Those who travel by public transport will tell you that taxi drivers don’t pick them up and how our buses are still not equipped for wheelchairs. Traffic lights are still not beeping for those who are blind. Let’s reflect now and find out where we are in this democracy when it comes to issues of people living with disabilities…

GUEST: Selaelo Makgato - Director Special Programmes in the Office of the Limpopo Premier

American President Donald Trump’s administration has formally notified the United Nations that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. What does this move entail for climate change, the work that has been done, the likes of other signatories, how will global climate diplomats to plot a way forward without the cooperation of the world's largest economy? In 2017 Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement. He said there were moves to negotiate a new deal that would not disadvantage the US would begin. Take a listen…

GUEST: Happy Khambule, Greenpeace Africa's Senior Political Advisor

Last week Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, delivered his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement to Parliament and the nation. It has been described as an austerity budget that has won support from big business. The minister has put forward proposals for deep cuts in the state’s budget that has met the ire of trade unions and NGO’s. Cosatu unions and Saftu have threatened resistance and even war with the state. In today’s show we look closely at the MTBPS and its implications for workers and the broader working class.

GUEST: Hameda Deedat, Acting Executive Director at Naledi, the research arm of Cosatu's Research Unit

GUEST: Dr Dale McKinley, Independent political and labour analyst

Former minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils joins us in studio this morning to talk about his latest book entitled Catching Tadpoles: The Shaping of a Young Rebel. This memoir makes you ponder on what turned a white youngster from a modest background into a lifelong revolutionary of note. It was not an easy journey for him as a white person standing for what is right and being irked by the injustices black South Africans were subjected to by the then apartheid system. Let’s take a walk down memory lane with him through his memoir…

GUEST: Ronnie Kasrils – Former minister of Intelligence and anti-apartheid activist