GUEST  Joost Strydom   [• Head of the Orania Movement] @StrydomJoost

GUEST    Karel Boshoff   [• Head of the Freedom Foundation - a research institute based in Orania ]

GUESTS   Ismail Lagardien]  [• Writer, Columnist and Political economist]

Tomorrow morning, the Department of Strategic Communication at UJ will host a webinar to discuss the importance of media freedom during conflicts in the digital age. The focus will be on the implications of the banning of the Russian-backed channel Russia Today (RT) by Western controlled platforms which affected broadcasters such as Multichoice.

As the media are always at the centre of global conflicts, issues such as disinformation, censorship and war propaganda are always present during a war.

Title:                          [• Prof. Mr.]

Name:                        [• Mandla Radebe]

Position AND org.:   [• Associate Professor in the Department of Strategic Communication at UJ AND author of ‘Constructing Hegemony: The South African Commercial Media and the (Mis)Representation of Nationalisation]   

Although the Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, announced a temporary emergency intervention to reduce the general fuel levy by R1.50 to cushion cash strapped consumers, the Mineral Resources and Energy Department has announced an increase in all grades of petrol, diesel and paraffin.

It remains to be seen how the intervention will help cushion consumers from sky high fuel prices; not even a week has passed since the announcement and the fuel price is going up again. Sizokhona mara hhhee! Ke life e?  

Title:                          [• Mr.]

Name:                        [• Layton Beard]

Position AND org.:   [• Spokesperson for the Automobile Association ]

The Department of Social Development handed the Early Childhood Development (ECD) function over to the Minister of Basic Education.

This handover came as a response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement during the 2019 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), that the responsibility for ECD centres would migrate from the Department of Social Development to Basic Education.

It is said that this migration is meant to enable children to receive quality education and best support during the early stages of their lives.

Title:                          [• Ms.]

Name:                        [• Isabela Sekawana]

Position AND org.:   [• Deputy Director Geberal for Social Welfare at the Department of Social Development ]  

South Africa’s champions of heritage were honoured at the National Heritage Council’s NHC) annual Golden Shield Heritage Awards.  According to the Chief Executive Officer of the NHC, Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni, these awards are a means for the NHC to be able to identify quality projects and put them on a platform for the project leaders to grow while others learn from them.

World renowned, Peter Gabriel was recognised with the Ubuntu Honour for his initiative on the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) movement founded in 1982 to drive job creation and cultural tourism. We’ll hear more about these awards and what the winners’ list looks like.  

Title:                   [• Dr ]   

Name:                 [• Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni ]  

Position at organisation:  [• CEO of the National Heritage Council of South Africa ]

We’re profiling a Researcher, Content Producer, Policy Academic and MSG Afrika’s Commercial & Stakeholder Relations Manager Sibongile Gangxa.

She is also a thought leader contributor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training, at the Cohesion Collective. Here, she delves into issues of organizational culture change, transformation and other nuanced lived experiences of marginalized members of society within the institutions they work for.

Title:                   [• Ms ]   

Name:                 [• Sibongile Gangxa ]  

Today Statistician General Risenge Maluleke announced the unemployment statistics for the last quarter of 2021 and it seem like South Africa will be grappling with high unemployment figures for quite some time. But job scarcity is not unique to South Africa alone. Despite having human capital and a vibrant workforce, many African countries are battling to create secure jobs for their citizens.   

We’re in conversation with Edwin Ikhuorai, Africa’s Executive Director at ONE, and they will be launching their Jobs Campaign. It is said that Africa needs 15 million new decent jobs every year to harness its demographic dividend that reflects a booming young population. But the potential benefits of Africa’s youthful population are unrealized and more than two-thirds of non-student youth are unemployed, discouraged, or only vulnerably employed.

The overall goal of the Jobs Campaign is to advocate for key policy commitments and reforms that create 15 million decent jobs annually in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025. Other launches are taking place in DRC and Kenya.

Title:                   [• Mr ]   

Name:                 [•Edwin Ikhuoria]  

Position at organisation:  [• ONE’s Africa Executive Director]

Optometry is a health care profession that is autonomous, educated and regulated, and Optometrists are the primary health care professionals of the eyes and visual system who provide comprehensive eye and vision care.

World Optometry is Day was celebrated last week, in the same week as World Optometry Week, and it is a day set aside to celebrate every optometrist and eye care professional worldwide.

We’re in conversation with St. John Eye Care, the oldest Non-Profit Organisation in the world, and they tell us about how they celebrated world optometry day, the relevance of World Optometry Week, some of the most common yet preventable eye problems that people have (in childhood or adulthood), the cost of eye care and the capacity of public institutions to cater to every citizen, accessibility of this health service and how St. Johns is easing the burden.

Title:                   [• Ms  ]   

Name:                 [• Sanchia Jogessar   ]  

Position at organisation:  [•  Optometrist at St. John Eye Care in Peitermaritzburg  ]

From 28 - 30 March, legal practitioners will come together for a workshop on how to better cooperate between agencies and countries on asset forfeiture cases. In a learning programme arranged by the Attorney General Alliance Africa (AGA-Africa) in collaboration with the Pan African Bar Association of South Africa (PABASA), a national association of advocate practitioners the workshop will cover vast issues relating to asset forfeiture and how countries can collaborate. This is very relevant as crime is something that has constantly been happening and affecting a lot of people.  

Title:                   [• Ms ]   

Name:                 [• Kim Robinson ]  

Position at organisation:  [• CEO of Renaissance Strategic Solutions ]

Title:                   [• Ms ]   

Name:                 [•Sha'ista Kazee]  

We’re in conversation with Abner Mariri, he recently launched his book titled THE DOOR. Abner says, “This isn’t your usual ‘township boy memoir’ - this is a gritty, scary and too real story that could happen to anyone”. The Door – An Addict’s Journey, candidly tells a story of a man who is in constant danger, depravity and has unquenchable thirst for repeated hits. He left his wife and children back home, but most shockingly, Abner was also leading an impractical double life of a practicing counsellor who, himself, was in dire need of social intercession.

Title:                   [•  Mr ]   

Name:                 [• Abner Mariri ]  

Position at organisation:  [•  Author of "The Door" ]