The Daily Discourse

The recently launched University Business Challenge (UBC) will see South African students participate in teams in a business simulation competition designed to develop their entrepreneurship skills. The competition basically is designed to engage and develop students’ employability and enterprise skills so that they’re given a head start in life. In other words. The live finals will be held during the last week in August during National Student Entrepreneurship Week. The aim of the UBC, now in its 20th year, is to tackle South Africa’s high level of youth unemployment. The competition simulates a business environment and students are given a problem to solve. The simulation is designed to foster skills such as analytical thinking, problem solving, commercial awareness and team-working. The teams taking part will also have a chance to win up to R50, 000.

GUEST: Tope Toogun, development advisor and CEO of Cognity Advisory, adviser to governments at regional and national levels in Africa. He works on developing and implementing strategies for building market relevant skills in the economy, creating employment and promoting economic growth

(The have had a lead up to Mandela Day, by starting the procedures from the beginning of the month)
The University of the Western Cape’s Faculty of Dentistry is celebrating 40 years of excellence in July 2018 - since producing its very first crop of graduates in 1978. This Mandela Day the Faculty of Dentistry will make 100 senior citizens smiles from ear to ear when they receive new dentures in July, in celebration of Mandela Day 2018. The Faculty makes 5,000 dentures per year, but in honour of former President Nelson Mandela, 100 extra will be made in service to senior citizens.

GUEST: Dentistry Deputy Dean, Dr Emile Prince,
He is responsible for providing incisive professional leadership as well as assistance in managing the Clinical Training platform of the faculty.

Each and every year Park Meadows management team gives 67 Blankets a centre court allocation to celebrate not only Tata Madiba's birthday but also to showcase our initiative and this year is no exception. However, this year the theme of the show stand is focused on his centenary and the displays, blankets and scarves will have a Proudly South African twist to the event.
We will be collaborating with resident and renowned fine artist Solomon Mugutso who will have completed a life size portrait of Tata Madiba.

GUEST: Lynton Lefevre - 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day Ambassador and the event organizer for the event below.
He will also chat about the 27 KM scarf event happening on the 29th of July.

On Thursday, 19 July 2018, Future Nation Schools will host their inaugural The 2018 Nelson Mandela School SleepOut where students, parents, and teachers will be challenged to spend the night outdoors on their school grounds.

The Nelson Mandela School SleepOut Empowered by Liliesleaf: For The Tomorrow Trust will see learners, parents and teachers spend a night outdoors, gaining empathy for vulnerable communities and collecting items for Satellite Beneficiaries, in solidary with The Nelson Mandela Legacy SleepOut - Robben Island Edition. The students and teachers are proud to have had the opportunity to take part in Mandela Day this year and be a part of The Nelson Mandela School SleepOut

GUEST: Mampho Langa - head of schools for future nation

For a long time South Africa’s level of unemployment has been critical. Unemployment disproportionately affects black people along the Apartheid era racial classification lines. Over the years the government has come up with several economic policies that promised mass job creation but these have all failed. Some business oriented economists and commentators have blamed the high unemployment on SA’s lack of skills and the education system’s failure to deliver. In today’s show we revisit the unemployment crisis and interrogate the notion of a lack of skills in South Africa.

GUESTS:

1. Ivor Baatjes - Director at the Centre for Integrated Post-school Education and Training (CIPSET), at the Nelson Mandela University, in Port Elizabeth and also Chair of the Education Policy Consortium (EPC)

2. Nhlanhla Ndlovu - From the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII)

Meanwhile, KwaZulu Natal still has the highest number of people living with HIV, followed by Mpumalanga and the Free State. There's an increase in the number of new infections in the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. For more, we are now joined by…

GUEST: KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo

The number of new HIV Infections in South Africa has dropped significantly since 2012 by 44 percent, this according to a recent report by the Human Sciences Research Council. The 2017 HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey shows that 4.4 million people living with HIV are on treatment. The late former President, Nelson Mandela was concerned about the impact of HIV in the country and commissioned research into the epidemic for the first time in 2002. For more on this we are now joined on the line by....

GUEST: Mark Heywood, the executive director of Section27. Mr Heywood who is a prominent activist has been involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS

Douglas Gibson pays tribute to our late former President Nelson Mandela and talks about how opposition parties used to view/tackle the ruling party during the days of Madiba.

GUEST: Douglas Gibson, former SA’s Ambassador to Thailand

Time now for the African Perspective. Today the spotlight is on Eritrea, a northeast African country on the Red Sea coast, which won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year war. Between 1998 and 2000 Eritrea and Ethiopia engaged in a full-scale war in which 70,000 people are thought to have been killed, after the two countries expelled each other’s' envoys. And now, Eritrea and Ethiopia have so far agreed to re-open embassies, develop ports and restart flights. For more we are now joined on the line by....

GUEST: Professor Iqbal Jhazbhay, a full Professor at the University of South Africa. He served for four years and six months as South Africa's Ambassador to the State of Eritrea and is currently, completing a book with the title: Why Has the Eritrean State Not Collapsed?

The state of SA’s power sector, power sector growth across the continent, and opportunities for foreign investors. Amid ongoing questions about the state of South Africa’s power infrastructure and utilities management, other countries across Africa are moving toward legislative reform to pave the way for progressive new infrastructure partnerships with compelling investment potential. Could SA be missing its chance to be a top infrastructure investment opportunity?
GUEST: Gareth Gregory, Africa Head, Strategic Energy and Client Delivery in the commercial division, Energy Security Services Africa (ESSA), and Advisory board member of POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa.