This morning we feature Benjamin Jephta as he’s just released a new album entitled Born Coloured, Not Born-Free. In this latest project he reflects on his experiences as a so-called ‘Coloured’ male in post-Apartheid, democratic South Africa and the challenges and difficulties that come with labelling people. He now joins us in studio to talk about his journey and why he chose to go by this title raising issues of being labelled…  

Guests: Benjamin Jephta – South African Bassist and award-winning composer 

This week the community of Diepsloot again took to the streets in protest against service delivery and crime. Eskom yesterday (Wednesday) announced that they are withdrawing their services as they fear for the safety of their technicians. Some of the reports talk about the lack of water, residents sharing communal taps, roads not serviced. Crime adds to their problems. Let’s use this opportunity now to speak to the different stakeholders to get an understanding of finding a solution for that community as their issues are not new

Guest: Lefa Nkala – Community leader from the Patriot Community Forum

Guest(Zoom): Velile Madlingozi  – Customer Services Manager at Eskom in Gauteng (Diepsloot)

Guest: - the City of Johannesburg

Guest: Elias Mawela - Gauteng Police Commissioner (Won’t stay for the full duration as he’s at another operation. Said I must check during the discussion)

Let’s wrap-up the show by getting to understand the General Education Certificate. It’s punted as one of the flagship programme of the Department of Basic Education aimed at giving learners from Grade 9 the opportunity to advance themselves through TVET colleges. But then lots of questions are being raised about just how much weight they carry and whether it’s a good strategy to take seeing how shaky the state of our education is in the country. To explain more on this why the department is considering it, we are joined by….

Guest: James Donald - Executive Director, the DBE’s E3 Program

It is extremely worrisome that a Stats SA report released two months ago stated that about 84% of children experienced corporal punishment at school. It is concerning that we see no reaction from society and very little action being taken against such teachers.

In South Africa, corporal punishment was abolished in 1997, yet we still see  blatant disregard from teachers who violate this law while not being mindful of the impact on the violated child. Sadly, as recent as last week, a news report detailed a horrifying story of a KwaZulu-Natal woman who was arrested for severely beating her 14-year-old niece. This is just one of many horrific stories of how children suffer abuse at the hands of adults, all in the name of discipline and correcting behaviour.

Guest: Dr Linda Ncube - Nkomo - Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund

Guest : Nthabi Ramothwala - Educational Psychologist

Local government has faced greater challenges than ever before to regain the trust of South Africans and to provide essential services in a prompt, financially responsible manner. In recent years, the decline of local government has been characterised by service dysfunctional municipalities, administrative instability, financial mismanagement and crumbling municipal infrastructure.

Guest: Tsakani Maluleke  - Auditor-General of South Africa

Doctors are warning those who are embarking on a hair transplant to be very careful in how they choose an experienced and qualified doctor. When one watches lifestyle shows, there are so many bogus doctors out there who’ve botched surgeries  with devastating effects. So this morning, we take a look at this issue to find out how those who would like this procedure should look out for and also just how popular is it? To educate us on this, we are joined by…. 

Guest: Dr Kashmal Kalan - Medical Director of Alvi Armani South Africa

On Monday this week, we received a voice note from one of our listeners, Val in Cape Town. She was talking about a job ad she saw in the newspaper for a manger’s post, but the salary did not match the position. To help us understand how the salaries are matched to the post and also whether this is something new, we are joined by

Guest : Samantha-Jane Gravett - Africa Director at Robert Walters (Robert Walters has been following recruitment & salary trends in recent years)

Guest : Prof. Elrie Botha - Industrial Psychologist (He is affiliated with North West University)

The Human Sciences Research Council is working alongside the National Treasury’s Cities Support Programme and Economic Policy Unit to release new information on the economic performance of municipalities. The initiative is set to  monitor the economic conditions of  municipalities and provide critical data to inform policy planning that will address questions surrounding urbanisation, uneven development and territorial disparities. Our next guest(s) will unpack the ways in which they are closing the gap when it comes to getting credible economic data. We are joined by…

Guest: Dr Justin Visagie - Senior Research Specialist in the Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) research division of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

Guest: Karen Harrison - Lead of the Economic Development Component for the Cities Support Programme at National Treasury

This morning, Brendan talks about what are the financial risks one may face after a persons has officially retired…

Guest: Brendan Gace – Head of Anchor Capital Private Clients (Bryan Hirsh is away until Tuesday, 11 July 2023)

Today (Monday 19th June) marks exactly one-hundred-and-ten years since the passing of the 1913 Natives Land Act. This Act limited African land ownership to 7% and later changed to 13% through the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act of South Africa. Since the dawn of democracy, the various regimes from Nelson Mandela’s government to Cyril Ramaphosa have not really come up with concrete solutions on the land issue. The other criticism is that those who managed to get their land back don’t really know what to do with it. On the other hand government has been criticised for not doing enough to support those who got their land back. Before we get into the conversant, let’s take a listen to a summary of this Act from 1913 till 1993 and how it was being used by the then apartheid regime to forcefully remove people from their land...

Guest: Dr Tony Kambi Masha – Public Management lecturer at the Walter Sisulu University’s Komani campus. He is also a social realist, academic and accidental writer on land matters

Guest: Prof. Ben Cousin - Emeritus Professor, University of the Western Cape

Guest: Nolundi Luwaya - Director of the Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) at the University of Cape Town