Friday the 8th of March will mark International Women’s Day with the UN’s division saying that investing in women is the best solution to face the growing crisis. They go on to say that as conflict, climate change and polarizing societies are eroding decades of progress in gender equality. To tell us more on this and also how would they describe the current state of inequality among women in 2024 especially in a country like ours

Guest: Agnes Phiri – Partnerships Specialist at UN Women South Africa’s Multi-Country Office

The train is moving says Nomsa Masuku, who is commissioner at the IEC’s. She goes on to say that “Anyone who is preparing to contest the elections should know that once an election date is proclaimed, the train starts moving because we have an election timetable. The context is that parties have until this coming Friday the 8th of March to submit their lists of candidates and also get signatures. Some of them are very unhappy with these rules. 

Guest: Jabu Rakwena – Spokesperson for the Azanian People’s Organization, AZAPO

Guest: Yongama Zigebe – General Secretary of the United Democratic Front

Usually every last Tuesday of the month Bryan deals with all questions you have sent to him of a similar nature, but unfortunately due to an outside broadcast we had, he could not deal with that segment.

Guest: Bryan Hirsch, Chairperson of Bryan Hirsch, Colley; Associates (Pty) Limited 

Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo has just finished delivering his 2024 Gauteng Budget which focused on economic growth, job creation, and enhancing living standards in underprivileged areas. Mamabolo joins us to talk about some of the reasons behind his allocations to the different departments and also the state of finance in the Gauteng Province and some of his achievements seeing that this is his last Budget Speech under the current administration

Guest: Jacob Mamabolo – Gauteng MEC for Finance

Last week Monday we focused on the state of our health sector and NHI being sold as the perfect solution to turn things around. The guests we had on the programme were very critical of the NHI as they feel it is not the solution. Let’s give you a snippet of how the conversation went. We had Professor Alex Van Den Heever – from the Wits School of Governance, Louis Boshoff from AfriForum, Matthew Parks from Cosatu and Baxolisile Mali from Nehawu….

Guest: Dr Nicolas Crisp - Deputy Director General for National Health Insurance, Department of Health

There has been mixed reaction to the announcement of the new National Minimum Wage which was announced by Employment and Labour Minister, Thulas Nxesi. The new figures which started on the 1st of March 2024 will go from R25.42 to R27.58. Some unions feel it won’t make a difference, while others feel it’s just too little. Most of the time those who are affected the most are domestic workers.

Guest: Pinky Mashiane - Founder of the United Domestic Workers of South Africa 

Guest: Aggy Moiloa – Inspector General in the Department of Employment and Labour

We ease into the weekend with a young RnB/ Soul musician who hails from Nelspruit Mpumalanga. Her passion for music grew after graduating high school and began a YouTube page where she was singing covers. She then began to make music of her own. She is currently a graduate with a Higher Certificate in Performing Arts and Bachelor’s in Motion Picture majoring in Film Directing and Producing. Mary – Jane is also the co-founder of UPPERROOM, which is a live event that aims to unite the young and upcoming talented musicians with the well-known and established musicians.

Guest: Mary Jane – Soul/ RnB musician 

2024 is not only marking 30 years of our democracy but also an election year. Parties have already started campaigning convincing voters to give them a chance to bring change to the country. This morning we speak to veteran politician, Themba Godi, leader of the African People’s Convention, APC. He is no stranger as he was Chair of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa. His party didn’t do well in the last elections and this time around, what is he hoping to do to convince the voter to give him a chance? 

Guest: Themba Godi – Leader of the African People’s Convention

Tomorrow (Thursday the 29th) is Rare Disease Day which is used to raise awareness for rare diseases and to improve access to treatment and medical representation for individuals with rare diseases and their families. According to the medical fraternity, there are 7,000 identified rare diseases to date, with some widely recognized by name, such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and sickle cell, while others are less known, such as cat eye syndrome. In a country like ours, this must be very heart-breaking as we are an unequal society, what happens then if you are poor and your child need special treatment knowing how expensive it can get? 

Guest: Bada Pharasi - CEO of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association of South Africa

Guest: Mahlatse Mashala - Living with Neurofibromatosis

This past Monday the Electoral Commission briefed the media at its headquarters in Centurion, where it outlined milestones related to the 2024 national and provincial elections. The IEC says political parties have been given adequate time to comply with the signature requirements to contest the elections. The elections timetable follows the gazetting of the 29th of May as the date for the polls. The Commission says the timetable, published on the 24th of February, was drafted in consultation with registered political parties and relates to the cut-off dates and times of key activities for registered citizens and election contestants. 

Guest: Sy Mamabolo – Chief Electoral Officer