The Weekend View

Heavy fighting between warring parties has continued in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and other cities ahead of the ceasefire talks today. Air strikes and artillery continue to pound Khartoum after Sudan's warring army and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary failed to agree to a ceasefire despite committing to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access. A so-called declaration of principles was signed in Saudi Arabia late on Thursday after nearly a week of talks between the two factions, which had shared power before falling out over a transition to civilian rule. The conflict has paralyzed Sudan's economy and strangled its trade, aggravating a ballooning humanitarian crisis with the United Nations saying that 200,000 people have now fled into neighbouring states. Many UN and other agencies have suspended aid to Sudan and in particular Khartoum, awaiting guarantees that their supplies and staff will be safe. The World Health Organization has said at least 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting, but that real numbers are likely much higher. To understand why the agreement in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has not delivered a permanent ceasefire and what it will take to silence the guns in Sudan, We spoke to Sudanese ambassador to South Africa, Osama Mahjoub Hassan Dirar .

The International Relations Department has confirmed that the US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety has apologized for alleging that the country sold weapons to Russia to use in the war against Ukraine. On Thursday Brigety told local media that US intelligence was confident that arms and ammunition had been loaded onto a Russian ship near Cape Town in December last year. Dirco spokesperson, Clayson Monyela has confirmed the US ambassador's apology.  Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed that he has spoken to his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor telephonically. A short State Department statement has under-scored the importance of the US-South African strategic partnership. The Presidency has said the government has undertaken to set up an "independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge into the Russian ammunition accusations. We spoke to Guy Martin, editor of DefenceWeb, an online African Defence and Security news publication AND Prof. Waldo Krugell from the School of Economics at North West University

The Competition Commission has approved the majority sale of SAA to Takatso Consortium. The announcement follows the Commission's investigation into the acquisition of a 51 percent stake in SAA by Takatso Consortium. The Competition Commission says it approved the deal on condition that Takatso agrees to retain a minimum number of employees. Another condition includes starting a process to allow some shareholders in the consortium to exit the deal in the spirit of fair competition in the domestic airline. This after the Commission found that the merger was likely to result in limited competition as some Takatso shareholders were linked to SAA's rival company Lift airline. We spoke to Tamara Paremoer who is the Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at  the Competition Commission

The South African chapter of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will today hold a rally to mark 75 years of Palestine's ongoing struggle for liberation. The gathering is part of global events taking place in Europe, Australia and North and South America demanding justice and supporting Palestinian resistance. The rally in South Africa, to be held this afternoon at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, comes as Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired rockets towards the Jerusalem area, for the first time, in the latest escalation of fighting with Israeli forces. 31 people have been killed in Gaza since Tuesday morning, when Israel began its latest operation against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the heaviest fighting in nine months.  We spoke to Palestine Solidarity Campaign Chairperson, Jaamia Gallant,

There is a shortage of qualified South African cellphone repairers or mobile device repair technicians in the country, and soon; scores of young South Africans in Gauteng will soon be trained to become skilled distributors and repairers of devices such as cellphones, laptops, tablets and wearables. The project is led by the SA Mobile Devices Distributors and Repairers Association (Samddra), with funding from the Gauteng provincial government  with the aim to organize the mobile device distribution and repair industry. We spoke to Loyiso Tyira, SAMDDRA's Chairperson..

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says Eskom will spend about R30bn in the current financial year as it tries to mitigate the severity of load-shedding. During a media briefing on Friday, Ramokgopa said the demand is expected to increase by between 32,000MW to 37,000MW in winter. Meanwhile, the North Gauteng High Court made a ruling that all hospitals, clinics, schools, and police stations should be spared from electricity disruptions. Judge Norman Davis ordered the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan to "take all reasonable steps" within 60 days to ensure that public health establishments, state schools, and the South African Police Service are not affected by load shedding. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to the CEO of South African Oil & Gas Alliance (SAOGA), Craig Morkel, AND South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi... 

The three metros in Gauteng, have had a revolving door for mayors. Since the local government elections in November 2021- the city of Johannesburg has had four mayors (Democratic Alliance's Mpho Phalatse, ANC's Dada Morero, Al-Jamah's Thapelo Amad and now Al- Jamah's Kabelo Gwamanda has taken over the position of executive mayor) - Ekurhuleni has two mayors (Tanya Campbell and currently AIC's Sivuyile Ngodwana is serving as mayor) while the city of Tshwane has had three mayors namely- (DA's Randall Williams, COPE's Murunwa Makwarela and now DA's Cilliers Brink is serving as mayor). The Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (cogta) Mzi Khumalo says he plans to set up conflict resolution mechanisms to better handle disputes between political parties within municipalities, in order to ensure motions of no confidence became a last resort. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Political Analyst, Dr. Peit Croucamp... 

Today, King Charles the Third will be formally crowned. The 74-year-old will be crowned in front of 2,200 invited guests from across the political, royal, and celebrity worlds. It is eight months since he ascended to the throne, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September last year. The ceremony will be held at Westminster Abbey in London, the setting for every coronation since 1066 and it will be officiated by the archbishop of Canterbury, the highest Church of England cleric in the country. Sebenzile Nkambule spoke to the spokesperson of the Durban chapter of the British Cultural and Heritage Association, Illa Thompson

Today, King Charles the Third will be formally crowned. The 74-year-old will be crowned in front of 2,200 invited guests from across the political, royal, and celebrity worlds. It is eight months since he ascended to the throne, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September last year. The ceremony will be held at Westminster Abbey in London, the setting for every coronation since 1066 and it will be officiated by the archbishop of Canterbury, the highest Church of England cleric in the country. Sebenzile Nkambule spoke to SABC News Correspondent in London, Laura Isherwood... 

Al-Jama-ah councillor Kabelo Gwamanda has been voted in as the new executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg. Gwamanda garnered the majority of the votes, he got 139, followed by the DA's Mpho Phalatse with 68 and ActionSA's Funzi Ngobeni with 59.  The city has been without a mayor for over a week following the resignation of former mayor Thapelo Amad, also of Al-Jama-ah. He resigned a day before a motion of no confidence was to be tabled against him. Sebenzile Nkambule spoke to  DA Gauteng provincial chairperson, Fred Nel...