#2024 African Continental Free Trade Agreement Business Forum

The three-day 2024 African Continental Free Trade Agreement Business Forum (AfCTFA), which got under way at the Cape Town International Conference Centre on Sunday, is the first in-person forum of its kind since AfCTFA was established in July 2019, and is aimed at implementing an actionable plan arising out of their first report “AfCTFA: A new Era for global business and investment in Africa.”

The AfCFTA aims to progressively eliminate tariffs and make it easier for African businesses to trade within the continent, to benefit from the growing African market which currently stands at some 1.3 billion consumers.

Guest: Lily Sommer, AfCFTA Programme Manager at the International Trade Centre  

Guest: Prof. Bonang Mohale, President of Business Unity South Africa

Guest: Connie Mulder, Head of Research at Solidarity  

Guest: Matthew Parks , COSATU’s Parliamentary coordinator  

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Employment Equity Bill into law. The Employment Equity Amendment Bill, 2020 was passed by Parliament in May 2022.

According to the Presidency, the new laws will promote diversity and equality in the workplace and empower the government to set specific equity targets by sector and region, where transformation initiatives have lagged.

The law requires companies with more than 50 employees to submit employment equity plans for their companies on how to meet these targets, and then submit annual reports to the Department of Employment and Labour. And companies seeking to do business with the state will be required to submit a certificate from the Department confirming that they are in compliance with the Employment Equity Act. 

The objectives of the amendments are to empower the Employment and Labour Minister to regulate sector-specific Employment Equity (EE) targets and to regulate compliance criteria to issue EE Compliance Certificates in terms of Section 53 of the EE Act.

Guest: Joan van Dyk, News Editor at Bhekisisa

We’re in conversation with Joan van Dyk, the news editor at Bhekisisa. She recently wrote an article that speaks about how the past three health ministers have failed the nursing profession by not speeding up on the necessary amendments to give nurses more authority in prescribing and dispensing medicines, and eventually easing the burden on the public health system. 

Medicines such as antidepressants are grouped under schedule five and the prescription schedule for narcotic painkillers such as morphine is one level higher. Medicines at these levels have a moderate to high risk of dependence and so they can only be prescribed by doctors at the moment.

Because Aaron Motsoaledi, Zweli Mkhize and Joe Phaahla all failed to complete the final steps required for the new regulations to kick in, South African nurses’ prescribing rules are stuck in 1984, when they were first published.

In practice, this means nurses can be trained to prescribe and dispense medicines only up to schedule four (which includes antibiotics and HIV treatment, for instance).

As we are all aware by now, it appears that the man who works for Eskom that switches our power on and off has returned from leave, with loadshedding having been reimplemented and now the country is on stage 6.

Apart from loadshedding being an annoyance and inconvenience to many South Africans, it can also result in individuals and businesses suffering damage in various forms.

Does Eskom have the right to simply deny us power as and when it deems fit? Is a person entitled to take legal action against Eskom if they or their business suffer financial or other damages as a result of the same?

Guest: Tshepo Mojapelo ,Director at Mojapelo Attorneys (a civil litigation law firm) 

Guest: Mr koffi Kouakou, Analyst with interest in France Politics

#What to expect from this week's pension protests in France

Guest:  Prof. Pitika Ntuli, South African sculptor, poet, writer, and academic

#Durban Art Gallery to stage Pitika Ntuli’s acclaimed exhibition

#TUESDAYTAKEOVER - Dr Sithembiso Bhengu – Director at Chris Hani Institute

Guest: Dr. Sithembiso Bhengu , Director at Chris Hani Institute  

Guest: Prof. Mandla J. Radebe ,Associate Professor in the Department of Strategic Communication and the Director for the Centre for Data and Digital Communications at University of Johannesburg.]  

Guest: Ms Theresa Michel, CEO Afrika Tikkun Bambanani

Bambanani - Creating a better future for children through education - Bambanani Sifunde = Coming Together To Learn

The South African public  had until the 25th of February to respond to the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill, B1 – 2023, that intends to amend section 6 of the constitution in such a way that South African Sign Language (SASL) is added to the list of 11 existing official languages.

Prof Theadorus du Plessis of the University of the Free State says it is not necessary to make SASL an official language. He says this will merely grant symbolic recognition to the language, which will not necessarily grant more rights to persons with hearing impairment than they currently already enjoy. He fears that the obsession with the officialisation of SASL will end up being just another smokescreen for neglect of duty by the state.

Guest: Prof Theodorus du Plessis, Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies, University of the Free State 

The South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) should advocate more for the profession, and supervisors must undergo a specific training course and be accredited with the Council. This is according to Dr Sandra Bredell, who believes that this is necessary in order for the council to be able to support social workers and help them with their work-life balance.

In an attempt to gain an understanding of how social workers perceive their work-life balance and their subjective wellbeing, Dr Bredell interviewed frontline social workers and managers. Her findings reveal that more than half of the social workers who participated in her study wanted to quit their job within the first five years because of deteriorating working conditions.

Social Work is an integral part of our lives and if the practitioners are not being supported, what effect will this have on the community and on families?

Guest: Dr Sandra Bredell