As today marks three years since Russia invaded Ukraine, we examine the ongoing conflict and the damage it has caused in both countries, asking what have they won and lost in three years of war and should we be hopeful that this war will end soon, given the ongoing peace talks that the Trump administration has initiated?

GUEST (Russia): Dr Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council

Ann Bernstein explains why her organisation (CDE) wants the department of small business and development to shut down. According to her, the flawed belief that government can create businesses must be abandoned and that small business development must be placed firmly in the hands of the private sector. She joins us now to elaborate further on this…….

GUEST: Ann Bernstein, Executive Director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE)

Yesterday, many South Africans woke up to the awful news of stage 6 load shedding after about twenty days of no incident. According to Eskom, four units went down at Camden Power station, at about 01:30am on Sunday morning, necessitating the escalation of load shedding to stage 6. So does this mean that load shedding is back in full force? For more analysis on this, we are joined by…..

GUEST: Tshepo Kgadima, Independent Economic & Energy analyst

Today we speak to someone who rose to prominence in the 1990s as Commissioner and Head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Investigative Unit. He is also widely known for championing and promoting the concept of alternative dispute resolution in South Africa, and I’m talking about Advocate / Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza.

GUEST: Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza, Justice of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights & former Head of the TRC Investigative Unit

The Budget Justice Coalition reaffirmed their position that a VAT hike, particularly a 2% increase, is a regressive and unjust approach. Instead, the coalition believes that this moment calls for progressive fiscal policy proposals that foreground the rights and livelihoods of the most vulnerable. To tell us more about this, I am joined on the line by…

GUEST: Mahfouz Raffee is a member of the Budget Justice Coalition and a researcher at Equal Education

The Eastern Cape Premier, Oscar Mabuyane as well as the Free State Premier, Maqueen Letsoha Mathae, delivered their respective State of the Province Address today. SOPA’s generally cover wide-ranging political, economic and social matters and also considers the general state of a Province. 2 SABC News Reporters will join me on the line to share key points from today’s addresses…

GUEST: Sidima Mfeku, SABC News Reporter (Eastern Cape)

GUEST: Kamogelo Seekoei, SABC News Reporter (Free State)

Yesterday, I spoke to a SABC News Reporter based in KZN about the deaths in the province that happened due to mudslides after torrential rains. Earlier today, the KZN MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma went to visit families who lost loved ones. For more on this, I am joined on the line by…

GUEST: Siboniso Duma, MEC for Transport and Human Settlements in KZN

Today marks the final day of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting. A lot of issues have been discussed but interestingly, South Africa is pushing for Africa’s inclusion into the global agenda. Another key issue is that yesterday President Cyril Ramaphosa called for cooperation amid geopolitical tensions and rising intolerance. So was this a fruitful meeting even without the attendance of the United States of America? To answer this question, we are joined by…..

GUEST: Khayelihle Khumalo, from the SABC International News Desk

Earlier today, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu released the quarterly crime stats for 2024/2025. According to Mchunu, his department has observed an overall decrease in several categories of crime, encouragingly, a 9.8% decrease in murder cases. Reacting to the latest crime stats, Action Society has welcomed Minister Mchunu’s invitation for stronger partnerships between the South African police and communities in the ongoing war against crime.

GUEST: Juanita du Preez, National spokesperson of Action Society

As the war continues in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.S Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on James Kabarebe, Rwandas Minister of State for Regional Integration and a senior member of the M23 group Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston. The two leaders are accused of enabling the RDF and M23’s destabilising activities in the eastern DRC. But why sanction a minister and not President Paul Kagame? Just how influential is minister Kabarebe? For more on this, we are joined by……

GUEST: Nixon Katembo, African Affairs commentator & works for Channel Africa as well