“Democracy, therefore, is a farce, a gimmick or a scheme that rests on the magic of numbers rather than substance. On this pathetic basis, I daresay that democracy is essentially overrated” – these are views of Sankarist, activist and Law academic, David Letsoalo.  

He questions the effectiveness of the outcome of an election and how the outcome we’ve seen in the past 27 years could possibly represent the will of the people.

Title:                [• Mr.]   

Name:             [• David Letsoalo]  

Position at organisation:  [• Sankarist, an activist and Law academic] 

He’s been on the show a couple of times before; raising issues about the plight of people in the creative industry. He has also questioned why artists are supposed to help foster nation building, yet their grievances never make it to the agenda when issues of national importance are being discussed.  

Ayanda Roda is the Secretary General of the the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA), a music promoter, a publisher, an analyst and a cultural activist. He is also a self-taught Arts Administrator.

Title:                [• Mr.]   

Name:             [• Ayanda Roda]  

Position at organisation:  [• Secretary-general of the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA)] 

  Title:                             [• Mr.]   

  Name:                                    [•  Mzwakhe Khancela]  

  Position at organisation:   [• Praise Poet, Musician, Actor, radio broadcaster and content producer]

Africa’s Travel and Tourism Summit is seen as an innovative initiative for promoting intra-Africa tourism and for sharing insights into the ‘state of readiness’ for South Africa and the rest of Africa to welcome the world during and post-Covid-19 pandemic.

Following a difficult period for the tourism industry, the Summit, was meant to be a catalyst for engagement on the current state of tourism on the African continent and to explore areas of collaboration to drive recovery.

Delegates from Africa’s tourism community, Ministers of Tourism, industry associations and boards, were in attendance.

Title:                    [• Mr.]   

Name:                  [• Mzilikazi Khumalo]

Position at organisation:  [• Chief marketing officer – SA Tourism ]

Contact details:     [•   ]  

Title:                    [• Mr.]   

Name:                  [• Sthembiso Dlamini]

Position at organisation:  [•  Chief operations officer – SA Tourism]

Defending and promoting Human Rights must be foremost in our minds in preparing for the upcoming Municipal elections. It is for this, and many other reasons that the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC), supported by like-minded NGOs and faith-based organisations across the country, is putting issues of homelessness into the spotlight ahead of the South African municipal elections.

The DHC is the lead in eThekwini of a series of initiatives to campaign for the implementation of a National Homeless Manifesto through the National Homeless Network. They have drafted a Homeless Manifesto for these municipal elections and the areas of focus are Shelter, Health, Sanitation, Safety and Work.  Part of this campaign is to support the homeless community in being able to register and vote and the DHC hosted the IEC for the past voter registration this weekend with a particular focus on homeless voters.

Title:                [• Mr.]   

Name:             [• Raymond Perrier]  

Position at organisation:  [•Director of the Denis Hurley Centre] 

Compromised record-keeping at provincial hospitals, a legal system ill-equipped to deal with medical negligence claims and the absence of legislation that regulates legal claims in the medical field are some of the existing problems in the medical sector. As a result, the country’s nine provincial health departments are facing medical malpractice suits that run well beyond their ability to settle them.

But is this problem unique only to the government sector? Is there no medical malpractice in the private sector? When should you become a victim, where do you start suing? 

Title:                   [• Mr.]   

Name:                [• Mthokozisi Maphumulo]

Position at organisation:  [• Senior Associate and Litigation Attorney at Adams and Adams]

In September last year, we had a conversation Nombulelo Shange from the University of the Free State and she had written an opinion piece about how African Knowledge Systems should be built into the way knowledge is produced, the way healthcare systems are run, how new technologies are built.

She’s back again and she says, although a lot more needs to be done, we are seeing a rise in African intellectuals, practices and solutions. In the academy, she’s seeing this in the calls for decolonised education, which has emphasised the importance of Southern African scholarly contributions locally and internationally. She also make reference to our day-to-day lives, where we see the shift towards reclaiming African solutions to deal with modern-day challenges

Title:                              [• Ms]   

  Name:                            [• Nombulelo Shange]  

  Position at organisation:   [• Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State]

As Managing Director of MSC Cruises South Africa, Ross Volk is responsible for growing the cruising market in South Africa. He joined MSC Cruises South Africa in 2015 as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, following a varied and successful auditing career at KPMG. His 12 years at KPMG instilled in him a love for travel, visiting over 75 countries while working as a Senior Manager for the company.

Title:                [• Mr.]   

Name:            [• Ross Volk]  

Position at organisation:  [• Managing Director – MSC Cruises)] 

Title:         [• Mr.]   

Name:    [• Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa]  

Position at organisation:  [• CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA)]   

Title:         [•Mr.]   

Name:     [• Andy Payne]  

Position at organisation:  [• Chairman of Thornybush Lodges]  

Business in Zimbabwe is worried after the power distribution company, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), announced that it will continue with the roll-out of daily 12-hour power cuts due to limited generation at its thermal plant. The Zimbabwean power utility says repairs on the dam at Kariba Hydro Power Station have compounded its challenges. The country's Chamber of Commerce says these outages continue to cripple an already battered economy.

The load shedding is being implemented countrywide, and it includes industrial areas as well as agriculture. The load shedding is expected to be particularly painful for wheat farmers, who are currently irrigating their crops. Will Zimbabwe ever get over its economic woes?

Guinea

An elite Special Forces unit stormed the presidential palace in the capital, Conakry, detaining the 83-year-old president Alpha Conde. Hours later, coup leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya appeared on state broadcaster Radio Television Guineenne, introducing himself the country’s new leader of Guinea. Are we seeing a trend of coups in former French colonies?  

Title:                    [• Mr.]   

Name:                [• Nixon Katembo]

Position at organisation:  [•  African Affairs analyst at Channel Africa]

Most people who care about measuring poverty—policymakers, academics, non-profit organisations, and the like—agree that the way the government currently determines poverty levels and social security policy does not work.

According to the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), the national poverty line figures were of great concern, particularly because the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SDG) of R350, does not even meet the food poverty line, now set at R624 a month. They believe that the setting of poverty lines is a choice about what poor people deserve to have, and it is always a choice made by non -poor experts.

Title:                   [• Mr.]   

Name:                 [• Nkululeka Majozi]  

Position at organisation:  [• Researcher at the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII)] 

As the world continues to navigate these uncertain times, mental health matters have come into the spotlight. In the midst of social distancing, lockdown, and a global pandemic, anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges are a very real concern. But why is it that children often don’t have a voice or a space to articulate their struggles in such times? 

For many children, these are strange and scary times, particularly as they absorb what they see on their screens, the emotional temperature of their immediate environment, and the abrupt changes happening in their world.

Title:            [•  Ms]   

Name:                      [• Tiyese Jeranji]

Position at organisation:  [•  Health journalist at Spotlight NSP]