Guest:  Dr Levy Ndou

In conversation with Lorenzo Davids on why he is a little bit pessimistic about the upcoming national and provincial elections. He is of the view that the country’s elections are largely being directed and influenced by political funders, and according to him this can’t be right.  

GUEST: Lorenzo Davids, Independent political analyst 

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has rejected reports that two South African soldiers deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to the M23 rebels as it has been widely reported. The organisation’s spokesperson Sphiwe Dlamini has warned that this is not the first time such unfounded and baseless news articles have been written about the SANDF since its deployment in the DRC under the SADeC mission. He joins us now to elaborate further on this..... 

GUEST: Sphiwe Dlamini, Spokesperson for the SA National Defence Force 

As you’ve heard in the news that the DA says it has won its bid to have the ANC and its Secretary-General found in contempt of the February 2023 court ruling that ordered it to hand over its full cadre deployment records dating back to January 2013 to the DA. According to the party’s Dr Leon Schreiber, the judgment was handed down today* in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. To explain what today’s ruling is about and what happened the last time in court, Dr Schreiber now joins us on the line…. 

Guest: Dr Leon Schreiber - DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration 

Japan, Taiwan and the Phillipines have issued tsunami warnings after a massive earthquake hit Taiwan. Taiwan experienced a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, and its depth was about 35 kilometres and we understand that this was Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years. Rescue operations are currently underway as 131 people are currently trapped. So what could have caused an earthquake of this magnitude?  

GUEST: Dr Gideon Groenewald, Independent Geologist from Clarance in the Free State 

The Public Servants Association says that it remains gravely concerned regarding the failure by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health to fulfil its commitment to appoint unemployed doctors. This they say was a pledge made by the Minister of Health that the doctors will be placed at different health facilities by the 1st of April 2024. They go on to say that KZN Health Department has not provided their plan yet. To tell us more on this, we are joined by... 

Guest: Mlungisi Ndlovu – KZN Provincial Chairperson of the Public Servants Association 

The ANC Youth League bemoans the negative impact that technology has on job opportunities in the country. They argue that many banks and restaurants are leaving certain parts of their operations to technology, a move that leads to job losses. According to them, this is catastrophic given the country’s high unemployment rate.  

GUEST: Mtuwoxolo Ngudle, Secretary General of the ANC Youth League 

The latest election news from KZN is that the NPA has charged one of uMkhonto weSizwe Party leaders, Visvin Reddy with inciting violence. Reddy is expected to appear before the Chatsworth Magistrate's Court tomorrow (Wednesday) after he threatened violence should the IEC and the courts take unfavourable decisions against former president Jacob Zuma. He now joins us on the line to respond to the reports and what exactly he’s being charged with…. 

Guest: Sabeena Chetty – Member of the MK Political Party

We tell you more about this new exciting technology that is aimed at transforming various newsrooms. A local strategic technology development company, Bonafelal-AI, has designed and built a brand-new AI driven tool called the ‘Stream Text to Video Use’ which converts the text on news articles into professional videos in real time. Joining us to tell us more in terms of how this new technology works is..... 

GUEST: Jerry Matjila, CEO of Bonafela 

Motorists have expressed outrage over yet another fuel price hike which will take effect from 12 midnight. The Energy Department says the price of 93 unleaded petrol will increase by 65 cents per litre and 95 unleaded by 67 cents. Diesel with higher sulphur content will go up by just more than three cents a litre while low sulphur diesel will decrease by one-point-seven-eight cents. Is the outrage warranted and what more can we expect? To talk us on this and what we can attribute this increase to, we are joined by… 

Guest: Robert Maake – Director of fuel Pricing in the Department of Minerals and Resources