The Daily Discourse

This morning the Talking Point is coming to you live from the Mother City, Cape Town. We are here for the 25th Annual Investing in African Mining Indaba, which will take place from today until - Thursday, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, under the theme Invest in SA Mining. Mineral Resources Minister, Gwede Mantashe is expected to officially open the annual Investing Mining Indaba. The event, which is celebrating 25 years of progress in African mining, will see approximately 7 000 delegates from across the globe. The Mining Indaba is a forum aimed at building and maintaining cross-continental business relationships in the mining sector.

Guest: Dr Geoffrey

This morning the Talking Point is coming to you live from the Mother City, Cape Town. We are here for the 25th Annual Investing in African Mining Indaba, which will take place from today until - Thursday, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, under the theme Invest in SA Mining. Mineral Resources Minister, Gwede Mantashe is expected to officially open the annual Investing Mining Indaba. The event, which is celebrating 25 years of progress in African mining, will see approximately 7 000 delegates from across the globe. The Mining Indaba is a forum aimed at building and maintaining cross-continental business relationships in the mining sector. For more on this we are now joined by Ross Harvey, a Senior Researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs – SAIIA, to speak to us about what to expect at this year’s Mining Indaba, the challenges facing the industry and also the relations between government and the mining industry.

GUEST: Mr Ross Harvey, A Senior Researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs - SAIIA:

Are "Workplace foods a source of unhealthy calories?" Foods eaten in workplaces - whether purchased in cafeterias, or available to employees for free - are usually unhealthy, this according to a recent study in the United States. A survey of what working adults ate over the course of a week found that one in four people got food at work one or more times, and that it was generally high in empty calories, salt, fat and sugar. On the Talking Point this morning we are asking you: Are workplace foods leading to unhealthy eating

GUEST: Mbali Mapholi –A dietitian, her Interests Are in Gut Health, Heart Diseases and Weight Loss.

Who owns the patent of the Please Call Me idea? Vodacom has admitted that MTN invented the Please Call Me. Nkosana Makate, the Please Call Me inventor, says he invented the concept when he worked for Vodacom 18 years ago. However, Ari Kahn, a former MTN consultant, came out publicly in 2013 claiming he is the actual patent owner of Please Call Me. On the Talking Point this morning we will On the Talking Point this morning we will look at the current patent laws in South Africa, who gets patents, how do patents work, how to secure patent protection here and abroad, we will also look at the cost of securing and maintaining such patent protection.

GUEST: Elaine Bergenthuin –Who is a Managing Director and Intellectual Property Attorney at De Beer Attorneys

The South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC will conduct a skills audit process into the competency of its employees, to ensure the sustainability of the public broadcaster. This after the SABC scrapped its plans to retrench over two-thousand permanent staff and freelance workers by invoking Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act. For more on this we are now joined on the line by SABC spokesperson, Neo Momodu

GUEST: SABC spokesperson, Neo Momodu

Vodacom has shut down its headquarters and Vodacom World mall ahead of protest action by the Please Call Me movement and other Lobby Groups. The Movement is demanding for Vodacom to compensate Please Call Me inventor, Nkosana Makate by 10am today.

GUEST: Vodacom's head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Nkateko Nyoka

The Please Call Me Movement and political parties have given Vodacom until 10AM this morning to compensate the inventor, Nkosana Makate. The movement says it will continue with its plan to shut down Vodaworld in Midrand, Johannesburg, this morning. Protestors are demanding Vodacom to pay Makate R70 billion for his Please Call Me concept. For more on this we are now joined by Gauteng education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, in his personal capacity

GUEST: Guest: Modise Setoaba, from the Please Call Me Movement

The ANC has recently released a campaign video featuring a model, in the lead up to the 2019 elections in May. The video, described as “sultry”, features shots of the model winking to camera and giving looks over her shoulder. It got mixed reaction on social media, with the party being accused of exploiting female sexuality in a bid to convince the electorate to vote for them in May, while others have described it as sexist and patriarchal. Recently the DA also unveiled a billboard with a message reading “The ANC is killing us”, which other people felt was taking it too far, and the family of the names featured on the billboard having expression their opposition to it.

This morning we discuss political party campaign messaging, where or when does it go wrong?

GUEST: Professor Mcebisi Ndletyana - Professor of politics at the University of Johannesburg

The Trump administration recently imposed sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company on Monday, seeking to cripple the government of embattled President Nicolás Maduro by cutting off its main source of cash. Yesterday, a day after the Trump administration’s imposition of sanctions on the state-owned oil firm PDVSA, senior U.S. and Venezuelan diplomats traded jibes at a U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament. The move marked the first punitive step by the United States to force Mr. Maduro to give up power since the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, declared himself interim president last week after years of accusations of corruption in Venezuela at the expense of its people.

GUEST: Dr Shingai Mutizwa-Mangiza – From the Political Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape

This morning we are in conversation with "Please Call Me" inventor Nkosana Makate, who has been negotiating with Vodacom for several years in an attempt to get "reasonable compensation" his role in the launch of the Please Call Me concept. Currently there are threats by the Please Call Me Movement and politicians to shut down Vodacom on the thirty-first of January if the company does not pay Nkosana Makate. Meanwhile Vodacom says the Please Call Me was an idea, but not an original one, it had already been invented and subsequently patented by MTN.

GUEST: Nkosana Makate, a South African who invented the "Please Call Me" concept.