The Weekend View

A Commonwealth team has arrived  in Zimbabwe to assess the country's suitability for re-admission to the group of mainly former British colonies. The country voluntarily withdrew from the body in 2003 after being suspended for human rights abuses under former president Robert Mugabe. The Commonwealth visit comes as Zimbabwe's opposition groups say there is a renewed crackdown on their supporters.  We spoke to Beatrice Mtetwa , a prominent Human Rights lawyer in Zimbabwe. 

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has lost yet another high profile case after the North Gauteng High Court declared another report involving the South African Revenue Service (Sars), unlawful and invalid. The Public Protector's report, released in April, had found that Sars had irregularly appointed a company to provide a 100 million rand  IT services contract. But the court on Friday set aside all findings and remedial action. The Public Protector's office has also been ordered to pay Sars' legal costs incurred in the review of this report. This comes as Parliament's impeachment inquiry probes legal expenditure by the Public Protector's office. In another case on Thursday, the Constitutional Court banged the last nail in the coffin of the infamous and discredited report into the SARS "rogue unit", dismissing the suspended Mkhwebane's application for leave to appeal. We spoke to  Advocate Paul Hoffman, Director at Accountability Now...

The forceful eviction of farm workers after they retire or when there is a change of farm ownership has always been an emotional subject. Many have been left destitute and homeless after they have been removed from places they used to call home for decades. It is against this backdrop that academics, Non profit Organisations and other stake holders met THIS WEEK to discuss how labour tenants can be better handled. The Office of the Special Master of Labour Tenants together with the University of Johannesburg, the Association For Rural Advancement and Labour Tenant organisations  have joined hands to highlight historical and current struggles of Labour Tenants and how their rights can be recognized.We spoke to Professor Richard Levin, Special Master of Labour Tenants...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa needs about one point five trillion rand over the next five years for its plans to cut carbon emissions, harness economic opportunities from the energy transition and support affected communities. Ramaphosa was speaking ahead of his departure for the COP 27 climate talks which start today in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. At the last Cop summit, Western nations pledged around one tenth of that amount toward South Africa's just energy transition from coal to cleaner energy like solar and wind. 

We spoke to Liz McDaid, Spokesperson of environmental group 'The Green Connection' AND Prof. Patrick Bond from the University of Johannesburg.

Some 73% of children and youth felt they needed mental health support over the past year, with more than half, 38%, actively seeking help. This is according to the latest UNICEF South Africa U-Report poll. The findings also show that 67% of young respondents stepped up to support a friend's mental well being. This reflects a 10% rise on the same question in 2021. Unicef says their  U-Report poll system points to an ongoing need to prioritize holistic mental health. We spoke to UNICEF South Africa Representative, Christine Muhigana...

Africa and the rest of the world were this week breathing a sigh of relief after the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan leaders signed a truce in Pretoria to end the two year brutal war in the north of the country.  The agreement gave fresh hope of opennng up the flow of aid and other humanitarian assistance to those at risk of famine.  More than a million people have been displaced since heavy fighting resumed in August and many are dying of treatable diseases as hospitals have run out of basic drugs. Questions however remain over whether the truce will succeed. We spoke to our Ethiopia correspondent, Coletta Wanjohi

Pharmaceutical retail giant, DISCHEM, recently got heavy criticism, which included a brief consumer boycott, from some quarters after it announced that it would stop employing and promoting white South Africans in a bid to boost it's transformation agenda. The memo signed by DISCHEM CEO, Ivan Saltzman, was seen by others as contravening the Employment Equity Act and labour union SOLIDARITY threatened to take legal action if the directive was not withdrawn.  The Hatch Institute, which promotes culture driven business leadership, has come to the defence of DISCHEM saying the company's decision is right and deserves support and not condemnation. We spoke to the Institute's CEO, Ian Fuhr

As the summer initiation season starts this weekend, the Eastern Cape House of Traditional and Khoi-San leaders is calling on initiation schools, parents, health workers and NGO partners to ensure that the 2022 initiation season takes place safely without putting the health and lives of young men at risk. The Eastern Cape's  summer initiation season began YESTERDAY with over 40 000 young men expected to participate. The past decade has seen hundreds of young men die in initiation schools for a variety of reasons. We spoke to  Nkosi Mpumalanga Gwadiso, Chairperson of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional and Khiosan Leaders.

As the latest fuel price hike starts to bite, South African motorists are being warned about fuel saving gimmicks that are in circulation. Many of these gimmicks seem out of the ordinary, however desperate motorists may fall victim and end up damaging their vehicles or putting their lives in danger. Some of the false fuel saving advice doing the rounds include pouring Coca Cola, dish-washing tablets and tomato sauce into your fuel tank, to name a few.We spoke to Motoring Journalist, Adam Ford...

Inkamana Abbey, South Africa's third oldest monastery is this morning celebrating its centenary. The abbey, which also runs a prestigious school which is now a heritage site, was founded by the Catholic Church as a mission in 1922. Based in Vryheid - KZN, Inkamana has leaders in both the private and public sectors among its eminent alumni.  We spoke to Prior Boniface