On our Election Watch feature today we speak to Mr Babu Baijoo who sounds very optimistic about the future of the country. He penned an article in The Witness where he points out some of the good things our democracy has produced and feels that more can be done to take the country forward. He now joins us on the line to share his views….    

Guest: Babu Baijoo - Former speaker of the Msunduzi Municipality and a member of the ANC Veterans League

The defense in the Senzo Meyiwa trial has informed the court that there are outstanding funds to pay for  their own expert and therefore are unable to cross examine ballistic expert Chris Mangena at this stage. The trial was postponed 3 weeks ago to allow the defense to prepare for the cross examination of Mangena- who has linked a gun found in possession of accused number 3 - to the Meyiwa murder. Five men are on trial for the murder of the Bafana Bafana soccer star who was shot and killed in 2014. Defence counsel Charles Mnisi says although the family of the accused has raised some money, it's not enough to pay for their ballistic expert.

GUEST: Pearl Magubane, SABC News reporter

The South African National Roads Agency is highlighting the problem of trucks that are not complying with the country’s regulations. Some of the things they point to is overloaded trucks that don’t adhere to load specifications and the impact they have on the road causing millions of rands in damages to the road. To tell us more on this, we are joined on the line by…

Guest: Mr Layton Leseane, Project Manager, SANRAL Northern Region

Popular on-line publication, the Daily Maverick has shut down for the day in an effort to highlight the plight of journalism in the country. They go on to say that our profession, journalism is experiencing a market failure and at risk of collapse. To discuss this further, we are joined by…

Guest: Heather Robertson, Editor of Daily Maverick

Clashes are getting harder and harder to contain in the Middle East. After Iran launched a massive barrage of over 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend. Iranian officials said the attack was in response to an airstrike from earlier this month that hit Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria. So as tensions continue to run high in the Middle East – are global leaders capable of quelling the ongoing tensions in the region? For more on this, we are joined by…..

GUEST: Thembisa Fakude, Senior Research fellow at Africa Asia Dialogues (Afraisd)

AfriForum Youth has vowed to challenge the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill if it gets approved by the National Council of Provinces. The organisation picketed at the Union Buildings in Pretoria this morning, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to amend the bill and refer it back to parliament before it gets approved by the National Council of Provinces as they argue that it is undesirable and impracticable. The BELA bill as it is popularly known, will among others, give provincial education departments powers to decide on language policies in schools instead of governing bodies and AfriFourm Youth is of the view that this will politicise education. 

GUEST: Louis Boshoff, AfriForum Youth spokesperson 

Kindly share your thoughts in terms of “How do you deal with drama kings and queens by the gravesite, who always threaten to throw themselves in the grave or start asking loud questions to the dead corpse”  

GUEST (Studio): Ringo Madlingozi, South African musician, politician, songwriter and producer

Following the Electoral Commission’s decision to lodge an urgent and direct appeal to the Constitutional Court relating to the order of the Electoral Court setting aside its decision following the appeal by the MK Party. We continue to give you more analysis on the subject and this time around we speak to Qaanitah Hunter who is going to share her thoughts on why she thinks it's important for the IEC to appeal the Electoral Court judgment.  

GUEST: Qaanitah Hunter, Assistant Editor: Politics and Opinions @News24  

Following the scrapping of e-tolls, we speak to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) about the importance of civil society activism in safeguarding our democracy.  

GUEST: Stefanie Fick, Executive Director of the Accountability Division @OUTA 

The Electoral Commission has lodged an urgent and direct appeal to the Constitutional Court relating to the order of the Electoral Court setting aside its decision following the appeal by the MK Party. The commission wants the court to prove more clarity on the proper interpretation of section 47(1)(e) and its interplay with the powers of the commission to adjudicate objections to candidates. However, what makes this issue even more interesting is the fact that former deputy chairperson of the commission, Terry Tselane who is currently the Executive Chairperson of the Institute of Election Management Services in Africa is of the view that the IEC is not supposed to be challenging this matter as it doesn’t have powers to do so. Take a listen to what Terry told our colleague Bongiwe Zwane earlier this afternoon…… 

GUEST: Professor Koos Malan, Constitutional Jurist of Pretoria