The Land Expropriation Act being signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa has caused major debate among political parties with some threatening to take legal action over section 12(3) surrounding nil compensation payable for the expropriation of land. Some civil society organizations have shared their concern surrounding the authority given to the Minister of Public Works and raised concerns given and how that could impact the release of regulations.

The Act deals with the process by which the state can take private property for public use, under specific conditions. The Act provides a legal framework that governs how the government can expropriate land or property, and what compensation the owner is entitled to. To help us understand, we are joined by...

Guest: Benedict Phiri - Managing Director of IusPrudentia Specialist Counsel

Guest: Prof. Ruth Hall - (Acting) Director of PLAAS and South African Research Chair in Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of Western Cape

Guest: Mpho Raboeane - Executive Director of Ndifuna Ukwazi

Guest: Clifford Mabe, Gift of Givers

Usually this time of the year the focus is all on education and today we are coming to you live from Galeshewe in Kimberley. This is because the SABC is fulfilling a request by the principal of Tetlanyo Secondary School. He requested laptops as he says that out of the 30 computers they have, only 14 are functional. In an age of technology, computers are compulsory. One can’t imagine any young person who is not computer literate. Let’s speak now to the principal to tell us a bit about the school….

Guest: Olehile Hammer, Tetlanyo Secondary School Principal

Guest: Katleho Tsholo, SABC CSI Manager

Usually this time of the year the focus is all on education and today we are coming to you live from Galeshewe in Kimberley. This is because the SABC is fulfilling a request by the principal of Tetlanyo Secondary School. He requested laptops as he says that out of the 30 computers they have, only 14 are functional. In an age of technology, computers are compulsory. One can’t imagine any young person who is not computer literate. Let’s speak now to the principal to tell us a bit about the school….

After a hectic week in the news end off with opera sounds can be very refreshing and soothing. Taking us to the weekend on our Friday Wind Down is Noluvuyiso Mpofu who is an opera soprano singer. She has been a leading voice in so many opera arrangements. Highly talented is how some of the opera lovers refer to her. She now joins us to talk about how it all started for her and what attracted her. Also just how easy or difficult is it to become an opera singer? Well, hopefully she can give us first-hand account of her journey…

Guest: Noluvuyiso Mpofu – Opera singer (Soprano)

Usually this time of the year the focus is all on education and today we are coming to you live from Galeshewe in Kimberley. This is because the SABC is fulfilling a request by the principal of Tetlanyo Secondary School. He requested laptops as he says that out of the 30 computers they have, only 14 are functional. In an age of technology, computers are compulsory. One can’t imagine any young person who is not computer literate. Let’s speak now to the principal to tell us a bit about the school….

Guest: Mandla Mbusi, SABC Northern Cape and Free State Regional Manager

Usually this time of the year the focus is all on education and today we are coming to you live from Galeshewe in Kimberley. This is because the SABC is fulfilling a request by the principal of Tetlanyo Secondary School. He requested laptops as he says that out of the 30 computers they have, only 14 are functional. In an age of technology, computers are compulsory. One can’t imagine any young person who is not computer literate. Let’s speak now to the principal to tell us a bit about the school…

Today we visit the Makana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape internationally famous for the National Arts Festival. It's also where Rhodes University is situated. They have been having a lot of problems especially around water. The town’s mayor blames the problems on old infrastructure and appealed for patience from residents who have been complaining that water shortages are just too much. They go on to day that water pipes burst on a daily basis. To understand what is going on there and how long the problem has been persisting, we are joined by…

Guest: Makaya Dungu - Acting for Engineering and Technical Services at the Makana Local Municipality

Guest: Archbishop Nkosinathi Ngesi – Chairperson of the Makana Concerned Residents Association.

Guest : Jay Kruuse – Director of The Public Service Accountability Monitor at Rhodes University

As we round off the first month of 2025, numerous international headlines that has changed how we look at geo-politics: from the South Korean president getting indicted after trying to enforce Marshall law; the inauguration of the US President Trump; the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire; the Ukrainian-Russian conflict; South Africa's first month in charge of the G20 and ongoing conflicts in the DRC as well as Sudan. The changes in governance may affect national intelligence and political securities strategies. Our next guest has worked in the field of developing national security policies in transitional democracies for decades. She is an academic with interests in international relations, public policy and security studies. She has also trained government officials in SA as well as on the continent. More recently, she chaired the special report into the July 2021 Riots to the Presidency and will hopefully share if the recommendations of that report made while addressing the weaknesses of security cluster since that year. She takes on a new role as the Head of Research. To tell us more about this new venture and the role of trans-disciplinary research in national policy-making in shifting geo-political times

Guest: Dr. Sandy Africa - Director of Research at MISTRA

The past week has seen major changes in international grant funding, especially in the public health sector. US President Donald Trump has a signed an executive order that has halted their existing and new foreign aid projects over the next 90 days around the world. President Trump has also signed an executive order to withdraw from the World Health Organization in the next 12 months. The US is the largest contributor to the international health organization.

In South Africa, one of the biggest ways we have benefitted from foreign aid from the US is through public health initiatives such as PEPFAR. The PEPFAR initiatives have contributed to 17% of National Department of Health's budget of R44 billion towards HIV & TB programming. Let us listen to Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi addressing the media on the freeze of funding.

The PEPFAR intiatives helps fund some of the staff at some ARV programmes. It also funds much of the prevention and information effort, including ARV user clubs, medical circumcision and public messaging. This halt will also affect public health research in HIV. This order affects how these organizations operate for the next 90 days. Further, this halt could have a huge impact on patients and their access to treatment for 5,6 million South Africans. In a 2024 medical study, an interruption of ARV treatment could lead to a greater risk of death. In this hour, we talk about how grant funding impacts our health system and if we can withstand a crisis on this magnitude. To help us navigate this discussion, we are joined by….

Guest: Fatima Hassen - Founder of the Health Justice Initiative

 Guest: Anele Yawa - the General Secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)

Guest: Russell Rensburg is the executive director of the Rural Health Advocacy Project