Car hijackings on the increase in South Africa – but what informs this latest trend? We find our from….

GUEST: John Wessels, Data and Actuarial Science Manager at Blink by MiWay

Thabo Bester’s prison escape pre-trial hearing has been postponed to February 10 next year. Earlier, Judge Cagney Musi adjourned the matter to allow lawyers to confirm their availability and trial date. But interestingly, Bester is seeking the court’s intervention in what he says is unfair treatment by the Correctional Services Department.

GUEST: Makgala Masiteng, SABC News reporter….

There are fears the Middle East may witness an all-out war after Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in a guided strike on a residence in north Tehran. Politically speaking – what can we expect following the killings of these two high profile leaders?

GUEST: Zeenat Adam, Deputy Executive Director at the Afro-Middle East Centre

Hundreds of churches have joined civil society’s call for the Social Relief of Distress grant to be made permanent and become a universal basic income grant. At an event hosted in Woodstock, Cape Town last week, churches that are part of the World Communion of Reformed Churches pledged to urge the government to implement a UBIG.

GUEST: Reverend Dr. Bukelwa Hans

Earlier on we spoke to SADTU about the shooting of Phikiswayo Primary School teacher at the school yesterday. This incident has once again raised concerns around the safety of teachers in schools. Department of Basic Education spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga will be speaking to us about this issue.

GUEST: Elijah Mhlanga, Department of Basic Education spokesperson

Gauteng Judge President, Dunstan Mlambo, says the case loads of judges in Gauteng are heavier than anywhere else in the country. This has a negative impact on the performance of the courts. The high volume of cases, coupled with limited resources, has led to an overwhelming backlog of cases.

GUEST: Mbekezeli Benjamin, Research and advocacy officer for Judges Matter

Gauteng Education Department gave the Pretoria Girls High School’s SGB time to investigate allegations of racism and the school’s poor response on the matter. Today, the Principal of the School was suspended for 3 months.

guest: Nonhlanhla Matshingila 

Minister of sport, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie entered the debate surrounding Miss South Africa contestant, Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina's eligibility to compete for the title via a tweet last night. Adetshina has been subjected to scrutiny on social media due to her bloodline. She is a South African, born at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital to a Nigerian father and a mother of Mozambican descent. Another person who shared their views on this issue is one, Dr. Thebe Ikalafeng, who joins me on the line…

GUEST: Dr. Thebe Ikalafeng, Advocate for a brand-led African renaissance

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has revealed that more and more police officers are taking their own lives due to poor working conditions that impact their productivity. According to the union, about 300 police officers have taken their own lives since 2017. Surely this is concerning. But how best can we arrest this situation? For more on this, we are joined by….

GUEST: Richard Mamabolo, Spokesperson of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru)

InfoQuest says about 54% of young people in South Africa are not loyal to their employer. What is even more interesting is the fact that the youth in Gauteng show lower loyalty than those in other major cities.

GUEST: Claire