The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has expressed concern over the continued poaching of rhino, with the latest 23 having taken place over a 36-hour period. Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park accounted for seven of the poached rhino, while KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape accounted for six and four, respectively. The country has seen thousands of rhino poached for their horns in the past few years. Udo Carelse spoke to SAN Parks Spokesperson, Ike Phaahla…

Today marks International Migration day. South Africa hosts the largest number of immigrants on the African continent. According to official estimates, the country is home to about 2.9 million immigrants, which would account for slightly less than 5 percent of the overall population of 60 million people. However, this number is thought to be an underestimate because of the presence of large numbers of unauthorised migrants, particularly from neighbouring countries. The numbers of migrants has increase significantly since the dawn of democracy in 1914. Udo Carelse spoke to UNICEF South Africa Child Protection Specialist, Helen Nyangoya, 19-year-old Refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Shekinah and ambassador for UNICEF's social messaging tool, U-Report, Ofentse

This week, South Africans commemorated Reconciliation Day, a day steeped in a painful and often layered history. To help us unpack what the architects of our democracy intended with the day and what reconciliation means in 2021, Udo Carelse spoke to former cabinet member of the last Apartheid Government, negotiator at CODESA, Leon Wessels and Khulumani Support Group, National Director Dr Marjorie Jobson 

Traffic officials have warned that authorities are implementing a zero tolerance approach to lawlessness on the country's roads this festive season. This comes as thousands of South Africans head to their holiday destinations for the festive season. By Wednesday morning, over 1500 vehicles had been recorded at one of the country's busiest plazas, the Kranskop toll plaza, near Modimolle, Limpopo. Udo Carelse spoke to Road Traffic Management Corporation Spokesperson, Simon Zwane.

Former President Thabo Mbeki says the local economy is in crisis as it is failing to grow and create much needed  jobs. Mbeki was speaking during a lecture in honour of Chief Nkosi  Albert Luthuli on the 60th Anniversary of his receipt of the Nobel Peace Price. 

The South African Tourism industry could possibly lose between 20 and 30 billion rand this festive season. This is due to the high number of booking cancellations, following the discovery Omicron - the latest COVID-19 variant.  Several countries including the United States and United Kingdom imposed travel bans to and from South Africa, during the peak holiday season.  With a rapid increase in the number of infections locally, many holidaymakers have also put their domestic travel plans on hold

The South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) says its turnaround strategy is working wonders as its licence and royalties collection grew by 4% from R325.8 Million to R338.8 Million in 2020. The organisation also says that its online revenue has increased by 110% and that it has also improved its solvency position due to lower debtor and cash management. SAMRO is also calling for pubs, mobile DJs, clubs, restaurants and shopping malls to pay their fair share in royalties for playing local artists music.

Community service doctors for 2022 have threatened to haul the National Department of Health before the high court if their demands for clarity on their placements are not met, The threat of legal action is a result of the department's lack of funding to put community service doctors on placements after the department said that it had 2 252 posts that needed to be filled, but could only fill 1 588 as there was funding for only that number of posts, leaving over 600 doctors in limbo.

South Africa is officially on the fourth wave of the covid 19 pandemic. Health Minister Joe Phaahla made the announcement. He says, while they are still trying to understand the newly discovered Omicron variant, what they have discovered so far is that the variant is highly infectious. Phaahla has raised concern over the sharp increase in the number of positive cases in Gauteng and fears that the holiday season may accelerate the variant to spread to other provinces. Over 11-thousand new positive cases have been identified in South Africa and over 8-thousand of those were in Gauteng alone.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the recent travel bans on South Africa and other African nations after the detection of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron. Ramaphosa warned against the risk of "health apartheid" as he took aim at travel bans imposed on Southern African countries after it detected the new variant. On a visit to Ivory Coast, he said the curbs, which many countries have also applied to countries across southern Africa, were "regrettable, unfair and unscientific." Ramaphosa says "Given that it was our own African scientists who first detected the Omicron variant, it is also a slap in the face of African excellence and expertise," Ramaphosa was on  a week long visit to Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal.