Guest: Steve Swart - ACDP

Guest: Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA Shadow Minister of Finance

How will the ANC led government implement strategic plans that were proposed and outlined by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni this afternoon?

Guest: Pule Mabe, ANC National spokesperson

The minister also mentioned that proposals have been made about streamlining applications for new ports, and opening up the railways to force heavy freight off our roads, ease congestion and improve safety. On e-tolls he urged the public to pay their bills as not paying has already led to our roads deteriorating.

Guest: Paul Browning - Independent public transport expert

The Finance minister did not say much about the issue of unemployment in his Medium Term Budget Policy statement today. He only mentioned that President Cyril Ramaphosa, is driving the Youth Employment Service known as YES! through expanding the employment tax incentive. He also said that government’s economic strategy priorotises job-creating sectors, such as agriculture and tourism.

Guest: Thapelo Maleke- President of the South African Youth Chamber

The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance reacts to Finance Minister’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. They expect the finance minister to present a ‘turn-around strategy’ to reduce alcohol-attributable harm in South Africa. According to them, the alcohol-attributable harm cost to the country in 2016 was estimated at R245 billion.

Guest: Maurice Smithers, National Coordinator at the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance

When presenting his Midterm Budget Policy Statement this afternoon, finance minister Tito Mboweni said one of the biggest challenges this country is facing is that we spend more than we earn. To stabilise debt, he revealed that government will target a primary balance by 2022/23 and he went on to say, we also need to deal with the challenges of the wage bill, state-owned companies, executive remuneration and benefits and fiscal leakages.

Guest: Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu)

We tackle the issue of unemployment, asking - what is the main cause of unemployment in South Africa and why are we failing to solve it? The results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2019 released by Statistics South Africa earlier on today, indicate that the official unemployment rate has increased by 0,1 of a percentage point to 29,1% compared to the second quarter of 2019.

Guest: Xhanti Payi - Economist

Guest: Malerato Mosiane

The main opposition party in Botswana, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) will be challenging the results of last week’s elections whereby the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won with 38 seats.

Guest on the line (Botswana): Spencer Mogapi, Deputy Editor of Botswana's Sunday Standard newspaper

The petrol price is expected to decrease next month. The Automobile Association (AA) anticipates a petrol price drop of between 8 and 18 cents a litre, 14 cents for diesel and 21 cents for illuminating paraffin.

Guest: Layton Beared - Spokesperson for Automobile Association (AA)