President Cyril Ramaphosa is today hosting Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. South Africa and Tanzania enjoy deep historical relations arising from Tanzania’s solidarity with South Africa’s liberation struggle. SABC’s Foreign Editor Sophie Mokoena joins us now to tell us more about bilateral relations between these two nations.

GUEST: Sophie Mokoena, SABC’s Foreign Editor

A settlement agreement between government and some unions in the public sector has been reached. This ends a strike that has been ongoing for weeks, with Nehawu leading the biggest group of striking workers. The workers were demanding a 10% salary increase while government was offering a 3% increase and a R1000 cash gratuity. Government says this paves the way for employees to get back to work. What does the agreement entail? We’re now joined by December Mavuso, Deputy General Secretary of Nehawu.

The ripple effect of Nehawu’s strike against government’s 3% salary increase is being felt in the funeral industry. The National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa says government mortuaries are experiencing a backlog across the country. Many families have had to delay funeral arrangements as some employees continue to take part in the strike. This means some people don’t get bodies of their loved ones collected on time and private mortuaries are getting overwhelmed. We’re now joined by Dududu Magano, Spokesperson for the National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa. 

LIVING ANUITY PART2: Today’s discussion is a continuation from the last interview that we did last week, which focussed more on educating you about what a living annuity is. So this afternoon we focus on ‘if you can amend a living annuity once you have one – how to go about it, and we will tell you more about the difference between a guaranteed annuity vs a living annuity’. 

GUEST: Michael Rossouw, Senior Investment Consultant 

Today marks exactly five months since the SABC last had a board. Some names in the group of 12 people recommended to President Cyril Ramaphosa to be members of the SABC board are being reconsidered, including Phathiswa Magopeni, the SABC’s former head of news. President Ramaphosa has asked for clarity on the three additional names. Members of parliament met last night to discuss the names. A decision on way forward will be made after the subcommittee responsible for selecting the board has received legal opinion on the matter.

Guest: Uyanda Siyotula, SOS National Coordinator. 

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says it’s all systems go for their national shutdown next Monday. This is despite the fact that some economists and business community have warned the party that its planned shutdown will have a negative impact on the economy. For more on how this planned protest will affect the country’s economy, we are joined by Frank Blackmore, lead economist @KPMG……. but before we speak to him - take a listen to Julius Malema, rebutting the fact that the shutdown will impact the country’s economy…….. 

GUEST: Frank Blackmore, lead economist @KPMG  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken begins his visit to Ethiopia today, hoping to reset relations between the United States and Ethiopia after the two countries fell out over allegations of war crimes committed in the northern region of Tigray. Human Rights Watch organisation says Blinken should use his visit to demand accountability for atrocities, as they believe that more still needs to be done in order to achieve political stability in the east African country.  

GUEST: Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa Director @Human Rights Watch  

As South Africa commemorates Human Rights Month, the Foundation for Human Rights has released a report looking into socio-economic disparities in the country over the past 8 years. The report titled “Socio-Economic Justice For All is a way to check the state of human rights in South Africa, against the backdrop of the country’s socio-economic context . The survey was done with South Africans in different part of the country. Among other things, the report reveals that 15% of South Africa adults could be termed ‘extremely poor’. It also shows that 16% of black African people are often experiencing deprivation of basic necessities compared to 2% of Indian/Asian and white people. What else did it find?

guest:  Kholekile Mnisi, Spokesperson for the Foundation for Human Rights.

The City of Cape Town has approached the Western Cape High Court for an urgent interdict against the EFF's planned national shutdown, which is due to take place on Monday next week. For further elucidation on this, we are joined by…..

GUEST: Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town Mayor

Some sad news for the South African music industry. Jazz musician and Samro board member, Gloria Bosman has passed away. Her family announced that she passed earlier today following a short illness. Bosman’s music career spans over 30 years with multiple music awards. He joined Samro as a board member in December. To discuss her contribution to the South African music industry, we’re now joined by arts and culture practitioner, Dr Sipho Sithole.