The Daily Discourse

American Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee is a National Board Certified Teacher with a passion for helping diverse learners grow through authentic, relevant, interdisciplinary curricula. Chaffee believes that education is an essential tool to work towards social justice. She is an avid supporter of incorporating social justice into her teaching and encourages active collaboration and participation both inside the classroom and at home. How does she do this?

GUEST: American Teacher of the Year, Sydney Chaffee

At the recent Economic Forum session of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Construction Economics and Management, Dr Zweli Mkhize spoke about implementing a Municipal Recovery Programme working with the National Treasury as well as provincial government. He also spoke of the interventions the department is affecting and the Back2Basics programme.

GUEST : Honorable, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Cooperative Governance

The recent announcement of the new mining charter has highlighted a number of BEE changes including providing the community with 10% equity or the equity equivalent. The intention behind supporting the community with funds that go towards the upliftment and employment opportunities is commendable, but is it realistic? This is a question raised by Janine Espin. Janine Espin, MD at EDS Holdings feels that this could have a negative impact on the mining industry and the communities situated near the mines. Espin believes that more onerous legislation and compliance in addition to Social and Labour Plans (SLPs) can lead to further non-compliance as we are seeing with many mining houses.

GUEST: Janine Espin, MD at EDS Holdings, a company that provides economic development services designed to provide customised solutions to the Renewable Energy, Mining, Government and Corporate Sectors,
GUEST: Mr Blessings Ramoba the President Mining Forum of South Africa

Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape has officially been renamed to Makhanda. In June this year, Arts and Culture Minister, Nathi Mthethwa announced a name change for Grahamstown in the Government Gazette. There have been 332 objections to the name change. Minister Mthethwa made a final determination on the name change last week Tuesday. For more on this, we are now joined on the line by the chief sub at News24, Glenn Bownes, who has written an opinion piece on "Why we should celebrate Grahamstown being renamed Makhanda".

GUEST: Glenn Bownes, the chief sub at News24, in Cape Town

Time now for our regular Friday Music Wind Down feature. Today we profile Swaziland born singer Nomzamo Dlamini, popularly known by her fans as Zamo. Zamo fell in love with music at the tender age of six. She joins us now in studio to tell us more about her musical journey and of course her latest project.

GUEST (In studio): Swaziland born singer Nomzamo Dlamini

As part of our Heritage as Africans we talk about the importance of getting our basics right in terms of nurturing future generations. What then happens when generations of men abdicate this important role? Can some of the social ills be attributed to this lack of mentoring? How important is it, for African boys to me mentored into manhood? What form should this process take? Culturally speaking – how did ancient generations groom young boys and what’s wrong with today’s methodology of doing things?

GUEST: Professor Mathole Motshekga, Chairperson and founder of the Kara Heritage Institute

Professor Cyril Nhlanhla Mbatha of Unisa's Graduate School of Business Leadership says some of the problems associated with the failure of South Africa's land reform projects are linked to limited market access for emerging Black farmers. Professor Mbatha says these problems will not go away unless they are systematically reviewed and replaced with workable strategies. He now joins us on the line to outline some key production and marketing strategies to be considered for emerging Black smallholders.

GUEST: Professor Cyril Nhlanhla Mbatha, of Unisa's Graduate School of Business Leadership

Appeals for help spread through social media following businessman SkinnySbu’s tweet where he said “HONESTLY I feel like giving up now - I've used all I have, sold my car to save the business…Things are not as fancy. I'M TIRED, I'M DRAINED, I'M JUST HERE” This morning we ask: As we encourage people to be entrepreneurs, are we also being realistic to the challenges and struggles that come with entrepreneurship? What is needed to support entrepreneurs in SA? Can everyone be an entrepreneur, what exactly does it take, where emotional intelligence and preparedness is concerned?

GUEST: Jabu Stone, who is the founder of Jabu Stone Natural Hair, a company which promotes natural hair care and pride in natural looks and heritage to Africans worldwide

According to Howard Feldman News24 columnist, speaker, and corporate workshop facilitator , Women in corporate South African have it tough. Black women more so. The double whammy of misogyny and racism (both probably more covert than overt) often places them in a more difficult position, says, a weekly
Feldman notes that black women have it tough in walking the line between remaining true to their cultural upbringing, and global corporate expectations. But, he says, the empowerment of Black women in the boardroom should be prioritised, and for that to happen, honest discourse is an imperative.

Guest: Howard Feldman – News24 columnist, speaker, corporate workshop facilitator and author of Carry on Baggage and Tightrope

Today is World Teachers' Day, also known as International Teachers Day. Teachers Day is held annually on the fifth of October. Since its set up in 1994, the day celebrates the marking of the “teaching in Freedom" in 1996. In commemoration of this day we will look at the role of teacher unions in South Africa when it comes to issues pertaining to teachers. Are teaching unions in touch with the needs of teachers? What are they doing to prevent any form of violence committed against teachers by learners or any other member of society whilst performing their duties? And is the leadership of our teaching unions’ representative of most teachers?

GUEST: Nkosana Dolopi, who is the deputy general secretary, of South African Democratic Teachers Union

GUEST: Ted Townsend - Media Liaison Officer at the South African Teacher's Union