The Daily Discourse

How much is too much when it comes to cologne? I've heard many women say that the best thing about men is the way they smell. There is even scientific research that suggests that a good smelling man automatically earns bonus points on the attractiveness scale. Why do some men wear so much cologne that it can smelled from across a room? Although are focus is on men, I suppose this applies to women and perfume, too. So how much cologne should you spray? How do you know when you've sprayed too much cologne?

The National Lotteries Commission is warning the public about illegal lotteries operating in South Africa. The Commission says there are opportunistic operators offering bets on results of the National Lottery and lotteries from other countries with the intention to target unsuspecting players, by acting as agents to place bets on behalf of South Africans in the UK and USA lotteries.

GUEST: Philemon Letwaba, the Chief Operations Officer of the National Lotteries Commission

Recently ANC branches nominated former president Jacob Zuma to the party list is a strong statement regarding the state of the party, while he is still ANC NEC Member. Recently President Jacob Zuma posted videos on his social media, saying he supports nationalizing land. This as the country's ruling party takes steps to change the country's constitution to make it easier to take it without compensation. Many people have criticized him for causing confusion, and asked why he not addressed the issue land while he was still president, while others were saying he should allow for President Cyril Ramaphosa lead the country. This morning we ask: Are there terms and conditions on how former presidents should carry themselves, following their term in presidency?

GUEST: Ralph Mathekga - A Fellow at the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI): African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg. He is author of When Zuma Goes and the upcoming book, Ramaphosa's Turn.

The ANC says the Methodist Church of South Africa has implored it to allow the Presiding Bishop, Ziphozihle Siwa, to internally deal with the allegations against one of its reverends. The governing party has announced that the Reverend Vukile Mehana who is also the Chaplain-General of the ANC will no longer officiate at the ANC's January 8th Statement in Durban next week. This comes after the derogatory utterances Mehana allegedly made relating to female church ministers.

Guest: Ziphozihle Siwa - The current President of the South African Council of Churches

Guest: Cikizwa Dabula, Head of Communications at the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO)

Police Minister Bheki Cele visited Monwabisi beach as part of his New Year’s Day safety program. Following the incident that took place at Clifton Beach, Police Minister promised to deal with the saga. Yesterday however he briefed the media at the South African Police Service (SAPS) central liquor storage facility in Belhar where 10,000 litres of alcohol was destroyed. He stated that alcohol is one of the main drivers of crime, especially over the festive season.

Guest: Minister of Police Bheki Cele

The South African Communist Party (SACP) will commemorate the death of its former general secretary and anti-Apartheid activist Joe Slovo, this weekend. The Communist Party will address the 24th annual commemoration ceremony of the death of Joe Slovo at the Avalon Cemetery in Soweto, this Sunday. Slovo died of cancer on the sixth of January 1995, after years of service to both the SACP and ANC.

GUEST: SACP second deputy general-secretary, Solly Mapaila

Understanding the difference between Independent Examination Board (IEB) and the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations

FOCUS: Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi has expressed dissatisfaction with Umalusi for adjusting upwards Maths marks for the Independent Examination Board (IEB) / Private Schools, while taking raw marks for public schools. Panyaza has asked if this is an admission that public education is starting to perform much better than private education? He has also called for a single examination for all our children, which he says is "rational and urgent".

GUEST: Mary Metcalfe, professor of education and senior researcher, at the University of Johannesburg, UJ

Being an addict is not a difficult. It take one try and, depending on the type of person you are, one try is all it take to be hooked. We’ve in conversation with Nani Matsosi – a recovering addict who has founded a movement called #DrugsMustFall. After seeing the turmoil that was caused by his addiction and how the neighbors had turned against his mother, he decided to go clean and recruit others on this clean frenzy!!

Guest: Nani Matsoso- A recovering addict who has founded a movement called #DrugsMustFall

Umalusi has approved the release of the 2018 national examinations results after successfully conducting the quality assurance of the management and administration of exit point examinations

GUEST: Department spokesperson, Elijah Mahlangu

In an opinion piece, Francois Baird - Founder of FairPlay gives reasons why ethanol should be a priority in SA. He says the country produces abundant amounts of sugar, from which more than 60% of the world’s fuel ethanol is made. However, much of this sugar is exported at a loss, because production exceeds local demand. Together with rising imports, the result is that the South African sugar industry and thousands of jobs in poverty-stricken rural areas are at risk

He further states that another important consideration is that a sugar-based fuel ethanol industry would not impact on SA’s food security, because no production would be diverted from human and animal consumption needs to ethanol. This is not the case with grains, particularly maize, which is grown in large volumes in the United States for the production of biodiesel.

Guest: Lebogang Chaka – Spokesperson for Sugar at FairPlay