The Daily Discourse

Who remembers Zola Budd? A former female track and field's distance runner...Do you remember how the barefooted prodigy smashed world records? In 1984, at the age of 17, Budd made history when she twice broke the world 5000m record. However, because of South Africa's isolation from International sporting events at the time, Budd could not be awarded the title of world record holder. She eventually became a symbol of South Africa's oppression, and was even blamed for American middle-distance runner Mary Decker's Olympic fall, which became one of the most controversial races in Olympic history. This morning we are in conversation with Zola Budd's manager, Ray de Vries, who is a Sports media and Marketing Manager...

GUEST: Ray de Vries, who is Zola Budd's manager and a Sports media and Marketing Manager

Just a few weeks before the May 8 elections, South Africa is grappling with service delivery protests which have been spreading across the country since the now infamous Alex Shutdown. Are political parties instigating violence through these protests?

GUEST: Ralph Mathekga, who is a political analyst and author of When Zuma Goes and Ramaphosa's Turn.

We must stay clear of rejoicing over Sudan's supposed revolution, this according to Journalist Ray Mwareya. He says there is a new, dubious phenomenon sweeping across Africa's politics - army generals, pretending to defect or switch sides at the 11th hour of a people's revolt, and then suddenly grabbing the outcome - and throttling the result. Mwareya says Sudan's Omar al-Bashir's dramatic toppling in today's street protests via an army putsch is not his departure as the security web he carefully nurtured over 30 years, remains very much alive…

GUEST: Ray Mwareya, who is a Journalist and a fellow of PEN America "Artists at Risk Connection", writer and receiver of the 2016 UN Correspondents Association Media Prize.

SA elections are nearing and many sectors are relying on these elections to change the face of many sectors. The business sector is critical in SA and today we look at how will the 2019 elections impact the business sector?

GUEST: Busisiwe Mavuso, who is the chief operations officer (COO) of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA)

An Inter-Ministerial Committee has been established to attend to the issues raised by the residents of Alexandra with President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Committee comprises of the Ministers of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Environmental Affairs, Home Affairs, Police, Rural Development and Land Reform. This week the Ministers will meet with the Alex Shutdown leaders to discuss issues plaguing the community, with the renewal of Alexandra being pivotal.

GUEST: Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta)

South Africa's decision to downgrade its embassy in Tel Aviv is all about appeasing internal lobby groups, this according to Mzoxolo Mpolase, a managing director at Political Analysis South Africa. He says the decision is detriment of South Africa's international standing. Mzoxolo Mpolase further adds that without a clear foreign policy direction, trade objectives or national security strategy, the country has been reduced to a campaign office for every international social justice cause...

GUEST: Mzoxolo Mpolase, a managing director at Political Analysis South Africa

South Africa is often said to have some of the best policies in the world and yet, suffers a huge execution or implementation deficit. Another issue is whether policy makers actually have functional grasp of policies. At times we often see certain policies changed midstream, without a thorough analysis of why they have failed, hence perpetuating a cycle of ineffective policies. Is the caliber of our policy makers impacting on the quality of our policies?

GUEST: Professor Ben Turok, director of the Institute for African Alternatives

South Africa’s crime statistics consistently show that crime, especially violent crime, is disproportionately concentrated in metros and larger cities and towns, this is according to the 2018/2019 State of Urban Safety in South Africa Report launched on Thursday, 11 April in Braamfontein. The report offers an analytical update on the state of crime, violence and safety in South Africa’s nine largest cities. It presents crime data at a city-level and disaggregates the data to show changes over time. An incremental view on safety, crime and violence at city level.

Guest: Siphelele Ngobese, South African Cities Network (SACN) researcher for inclusion and wellbeing

Having a financial plan is critical and today we look at The importance of both spouses having their own financial plans?

Guest: Bryan Hirsch- Bryan Hirsch Colley and Associates (Pty) Ltd
@SadtuNational

The Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, will launch the Tshianeo Marwala Scholarship in honour of his grandmother, Tshianeo Marwala today,the 16 April 2019.

Guest: Professor Tshilidzi Marwala - Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg (UJ)