The authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan have announced that some industries will resume business. Wuhan is the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Key sectors such as public transport, medical supplies, and producers of daily necessities, will be allowed to return to work. More than three-thousand people have died in total in China, the majority in Wuhan and its province, Hubei. Meanwhile, an team of SANDF members has left to repatriate 121 South Africans from Wuhan. The mission is a first of its kind undertaken by the South African government. To date, the virus has claimed more than four-thousand lives globally.

Guest: SANDF spokesperson, Simphiwe Dlamini

Electricity tariff hikes are looming after Eskom won an appeal against the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa). The power utility won against Nersa's decision to stop the energy producer from upping their tariffs in 2018/19. The energy regulator had initially ruled that the power utility would not be allowed to increase their tariffs.

Guest: Chris Yelland, Energy analyst and managing director of EE Business Intelligence

Cable theft and how it’s affecting SA’s economy: The theft of overheads cables and railway equipment in South Africa has reached unprecedented levels with the impact being felt by critical industries such as the mining, automotive, steel and agriculture among others. The theft has forced Transnet to introduce use of Diesel trains but these efforts have been hampered by continued theft on the Prasa lines which leaves hanging cables exposed preventing the running of diesel trains.

Guest: Herbet Msagala, Acting COO @ Transnet Freight Rail

Last week Friday, the Zimbabwean government gazetted new legislation which will allow them to give back land that was controversially taken during their unpopular land reform programme that commenced in 2000.

Guest: Dr Ibbo Mandaza – Political analyst & Executive Chairman of the Southern African Political Economy Series Trust

Herman Mashaba has raised concerns over South Africa's illegal immigration issue, saying “we have become a soft target for foreign criminals fleeing their countries because of our deadly combination of zero border control and a criminal justice system that cannot tie its own shoelaces."

Guest: Herman Mashaba, former Mayor of JHB & founder of The People's Dialogue

BSS: The office of the presidency has welcomed a ruling by the High Court in Pretoria - that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's CR17 report be declared invalid and unlawful. The case was brought by President Cyril Ramaphosa, for a judicial review of Mkhwebane's report - into the funding of his 2017 ANC presidential election campaign. The full bench of judges says Mkhwebane acted recklessly and irrationally - and that she had no jurisdiction to investigate the CR17 campaign. The court has found that Ramaphosa was not obliged to disclose campaign funding and did not mislead parliament on the CR17 campaign. On Both sides of the Story we will look at whether this ruling will have any bearing on the pending parliamentary process where her fitness to hold office will be discussed...

Guest: Lawson Naidoo - Who is the Executive Secretary at the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC)
Guest: Dr Dale McKinley, who is a Political Analyst

Labour law experts have called for emergency regulations or amendments to be put in place in the event of employees possibly becoming infected with the coronavirus. So are there provisions for that in law. Our law recognises sick leave and that is when you have been diagnosed that you are sick and the doctor says you can't go to work. What we are faced with is unprecedented and the law doesn't really cater for such. To shed more light on the matter,

Guest: Thembinkosi Mkalipi, Chief Director of labour relations at the Department of Labour

Commissioner at the Competition Commission Thembinkosi Bonakele says negotiations with MTN and Telkom are at an advanced stage and a conclusion can be expected soon. Bonakele says the administrative delays in spectrum allocation - which can ensure further price reductions - comes at a high cost to the economy. His comments follow an announcement on a settlement agreement with Vodacom which agreed to reduce data prices by over 30-percent across all channels from the 1st of next month...

Guest:Thembinkosi Bonakela

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, NUMSA today approached the South Gauteng High Court to make an urgent application on behalf of striking Lanxess Chrome Mine workers in Rustenburg. The union wants to be able to provide food to workers, who staged a sit-in underground since the 11th of February this year. It was reported that the company would not allow the union to give the striking workers food. Workers are demanding that issues of corruption and exploitation amongst others to be addressed...

Guest: Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, NUMSA National Spokesperson

eThekwini city manager, Sipho Nzuza has been granted R50 000 bail following his arrest this morning. Nzuza is the latest senior official in eThekwini to be arrested in connection with the multi-million rand Durban Solid Waste tender scandal.

Guest: Xolani Dube, Researcher and political analyst from the XUBERA Institute for Research and Development