The View Point

Despite president Cyril Ramaphosa promising to address South Africa’s power crisis with urgency, he has delayed the announcement of a new minister of electricity and a shake-up of his cabinet by almost an entire month. Many had expected the cabinet reshuffle before the State of the Nation Address on 9 February, but the president instead surprised the nation by announcing a new minister of electricity.

He said that the minister would be situated within the office of the presidency and would singularly focus on resolving load shedding and broader power crisis. Given the deteriorating energy situation – and having declared a national state of disaster over the crisis – the expectation was then that immediate action would be taken and the relevant appointments made. However, it was then said that the president wanted to wait until the Budget Speech on 22 February to reshuffle.

Guest: Prof Sampson Mamphweli, Head of the Department of Science and Innovation’s Energy Secretariat at SANEDI

Our next guest works with communities to address one of the biggest social ills in the country: Crime. His work at the Gauteng Provincial Community Police Board makes him responsible for promoting community-police relations. Their work provides oversight on the police working and assist the MEC of Community Safety in Gauteng to do oversight and account to the Gauteng Legislature Portfolio Committee Committee Safety.

Guest: Thokozane Masilela Executive Chairperson of the Gauteng Community Policing Forum 

#TuesdayTakeOver - Guest Interview

 TJ Masilela will be in conversation with Francis Lucas on school safety and gang violence. How does this impact our communities?

Guest: Francina Lucas ] Position AND org.: [• Chairperson of the Western Cape Community Policing Forum ]

 How do you stage elections for more than 93 million voters? With great difficulty, headaches, delays and technical issues, it turns out. More than 24 hours after the polls closed, some Nigerians were still voting in Africa’s largest democratic exercise. The numbers are staggering; Nigeria has 176,606 polling units and voting passed without incident in most of them. However, it was overshadowed by widespread reports of delays, technical issues, and attacks and voter intimidation at some polling stations.

We're in conversation with Yiaga Africa, a non-profit civic group that deployed 3,836 observers across the country. They have expressed their disappointment with the elections, saying that the country has not overcome and resolved, perennially the logistical challenges with elections. This was supposed to be the year that the electoral commission would provide real-time results via its new portal, iReV. Yiaga said it was concerned that as of Saturday 10pm local time, when results were known from thousands of polling units, they had not been uploaded to the electoral commission’s voting portal

GUEST:  Moshood Isah Media Officer at Yiaga Africa 

Focus: Coalition politics has gained prominence in the public imagination in recent months following the breakdown in several local government councils including metropoliticans: Johannesburg and Tshwane. In response to this crisis, our next guest has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet to convene an independent panel. The proposed panel should assess the limitations of coalitions in South Africa to strengthen their effectiveness. By suggesting a suitable combination of remedies that the government, political parties and civic society then act upon, the panel can help create a pathway toward a stabler system capable of delivering for citizens.

GUEST: Pranish Desai Senior Data Analyst at Good Governance Africa

New research has revealed that the world’s largest trial of a 4 day week are largely consistent with existing global evidence, further demonstrating the benefits of reduced-hour, output-focused working. The Four-Day week trial has taken place in over 60 companies and almost 3,000 workers through a six-months with no loss of pay for workers. Companies rated their overall experience of the trials an average of 8.5/10, with business productivity and business performance each scoring 7.5/10. Revenue rose by 35% over the trial periods when compared to similar periods from the previous year. To talk about how it works and if it will make it to SA shores, we are joined by…

Guest: Dr Dale Whelehan, Chief Executive Officerat the 4 Day Week Global

The African Human Rights Yearbook is a peer-reviewed journal dealing with the aspects of the African human rights system covering its norms and the operation of its institutions. The Yearbook also looks into the connection between human rights and the theme of the African Union: ‘Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent. The theme looks into the strengthening AGRO-food systems, health and social protection systems for the acceleration of development’. To unpack the importance of this work, we are joined by

Guest: Dr. Tresor Makunya, Postdoctoral Fellow and Publications Coordinator at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria

Blind or visually impaired persons access documents by using a screen reader that reads a text out loud or displays it on a special hardware braille device. However, a large body of technical and scientific material remains inaccessible to them because mathematical equations and diagrams are represented as images and not as text that a screen reader can read. Our next guest has found a new method that could make it easier for visually impaired persons to read graphical information. We are joined by…

Guest: Dr. Rynhardt Kruger, Researcher and Developer in Voice Computing at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) 

Every year, the world takes a moment to commemorate the work that non-governmental organizations do for communities around the world. The day is commemorated by 89 countries over six continents and celebrates over 10 million NGOs that advance human rights on daily basis. Closer to home, the Department of Social Development and its agencies celebrated the day by commemorating how NGOs are servicing the most vulnerable members of the community. To unpack the importance of this work, we are joined by…

Guest: Dr Valentia Andrews, National Spokesperson of Alliance of NPO Network (ANNET)

Late last year, the University of Johannesburg appointed its deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Letlhokwa George Mpedi, as the new Vice-Chancellor and principal. He will step into his new role next week Wednesday, on the 01st of March. Announcing Mpedi’s appointment, the UJ council said the panel were impressed with his commitment to continuing with the university’s strategic objectives and its values of transformation, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

Until his appointment as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic in 2021, Mpedi was the executive dean of the Faculty of Law at UJ. In January 2018, he was elected to the Board of Governors of the International Association of Law Schools (IALS). In 2017, Mpedi was awarded the Titans: Building Nations, Continental Award for Education and Training: Academic. Earlier that year, he walked away with both the South African and SADC Regional awards in this sector. He completed his B Juris degree in 1996 and LLB degree in 1998 at Vista University. He holds an LLM in Labour Law from the Rand Afrikaans University (now UJ) and an LLD in Mercantile Law from UJ.

Guest:  Letlhokwa Mpedi Vice-Chancellor at the University of Johannesburg] 

 #TuesdayTakeOver: Guest Interview

Law and Justice in South Africa

Guest: Mbuyiseli Madlanga ] Position AND org.: [• Judge of Constitutional Court ]

Focus: When the Taliban had taken power in Afghanistan a year ago, many people fled due to persecution based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Our next guest has released a report on the lived experiences of 22 queer Afghan as they shared their stories of beatings, sexual assault, or arbitrary detention. Further, many of the participants were unaware that they were being pursued by the Ministry of Prevention of Vice and have had their loved ones threatened. This report follows an initial report: “Even If You Go to the Skies, We’ll Find You” with the Human Rights Watch last year.

Guest:  Neela Ghoshal Senior Director of Law and Policy at Outright International