The Daily Discourse

Sudan's military leaders have reached an agreement with the opposition alliance to share power before holding elections. The two sides have agreed to rotate control of the sovereign council - the top tier of power where both want a majority. Reports say news of the agreement has sparked frenzied street celebrations. Sudan has been in turmoil since the military ousted President Omar al-Bashir in April.

GUEST: Sabir Ebrahim, a Representative of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, here in South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has applauded the signing of an agreement to establish a statutory National Legislative Reform Authority in Lesotho. The Lesotho government and its opposition signed the agreement yesterday - to open Parliament to legislative reforms. While the agreement is being hailed a bold step to stabilize the political tensions there, the opposition is not making guarantees about the motion of no confidence in Prime Minister, Tom Thabane. Ramaphosa addressed the media during his working visit to the country - in his capacity as Southern African Development Community facilitator for Lesotho...

GUEST: Tlohang Letsie, Senior lecturer of political administration studies at the University of Lesotho

As per our promise yesterday; this morning we will continue our discussion on the Johannesburg High Court ruling in favour of the National Credit Regulator (NCR) against Standard Bank on debt settlement. The ruling prevents Standard Bank from deducting money from its customer's accounts to settle debts without their permission.

GUEST: Nthupang Magolego- Senior Legal Adviser at the National Credit Regulator (NCR)

Anti-fracking organisation, the Treasure Karoo Action Group (TKAG), has welcomed yesterday's ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal - which found that Ministers of Mineral Resources do not have the power to make regulations for petroleum exploration and production. The regulations governed the exploration and production of petroleum - including shale gas through the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking is the process whereby a liquid is injected at high pressure into rocks below the earth's surface - forcing open crevices to extract gas or oil. Civil rights organisation, AfriForum, and TKAG have now succeeded in their appeal to aside the regulation, as promulgated in 2015, which allows for fracking in South Africa.

GUEST: Jonathan Deal, CEO of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group

The National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel) say the four commissions investigating allegations of corruption and state capture need to be broadened and not targeted at a few individuals. Nadel says there seems to be perceptions that the State Capture inquiry, the SARS commission, the Public Investment Corporation, PIC commission and the NPA commission are going after what they term “soft targets”. To elaborate further on this we are now joined on the line by…

GUEST: Mvuzo Notyesi, President of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel)

The South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is launching an investigation into the morality of a by-law in the City of Cape Town that compels homeless people to be fined for sleeping on pavements or erecting illegal structures. The City has begun issuing fines to the homeless community for obstructing pavements and erecting shelters in undesignated areas. The fines range from 300-rand to 1500-rand…

GUEST: Chris Nissen, the Human Rights Commissioner in the Western Cape

The SABC workers' union BEMAWU is demanding answers related to the conditions the public broadcaster must meet before it can receive a bailout. Previously it emerged that one of the conditions would be staff retrenchments. However BEMAWU and other unions are opposed to any retrenchment of workers. BEMAWU has denied suggestions that the SABC is over-staffed. Yesterday Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams told Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications that National Treasury had rejected the SABC's turnaround strategy. The SABC needs a three-point-two-billion-rand government guarantee to get it out of its financial difficulties. BEMAWU president Hannes du Buisson says they will write a letter today to all stakeholders to seek clarity on the bailout conditions

GUEST: Dr. Craig van Rooyen, the acting chief operations officer of the SABC

In a time of increased retrenchments and many young innovative entrepreneurs having doors shut on them - 10xe (an accelerator organization) say they have the solution to this. How are we upskilling entrepreneurs to ensure that they can create jobs for others? How do we accelerate entrepreneurs in times of increasing numbers on retrenchments?

GUEST: S'onqoba Vuba - COO of 10xe (an accelerator organization)

We recently launched a new feature “Water is Life”. We did so cognizant of the fact that South Africa is a water scarce country and guided by research on the ever so present threat of global warming. This feature therefore looks at the role of water boards in water collection, preservation and distribution. We also look at service delivery at these water utilities - their ability to connect South Africans to piped water, prevent water wastage, and provide clean water as well as management. Today we look at Sedibeng water in Mmabatho in the North-West.

GUEST: Mr Mpheteng Patrick Mokubung, Acting Chief Operations Officer at Sedibeng Water

This week we look at the compensation that workers can expect when they are injured or pick up a disease as a result of conditions at workplaces. Central to determining compensation for workers affected by injuries at work or work related diseases is a piece of legislation known as the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act or simply COIDA. In this show we will learn more about this legislation and its importance.

Guest: Vuyo Mafata - The Compensation Fund Commissioner
Dr Sophia Kisting - Occupational Injuries, diseases and
compensation expert and consultant