The Weekend View

A meeting between US president Donald Trump and his Ukrainian Counterpart Volodomyr Zelensky has ended in an unprecedented diplomatic spat, in full view of the world's media…and Trump declaring that Zelensky is not ready for peace with Russia. Trump took to his social media platform Truth, after the meeting, to accuse Zelensky of disrespecting the oval office after an exchange of words which was sparked by Vice President JD Vance, suggesting that Ukraine is in a hopeless position without support of the United states, in its war with Russia. The furious exchange of words was sparked by Vance questioning why Ukraine needs to conscript troops… in order to sustain its military efforts against the enemy, Russia. For more Udo Carelse spoke to Let's now speak to Anthoni Van Nieuwkerk, Professor of International Relations at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs 

The United Nations Security Council has entered the Eastern DRC fray. The Council has unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the M23 rebel group to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from all controlled areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The text - supported by all 15 members of the Council -also called on the Rwanda Defence Forces to cease support to the M23 and to immediately withdraw from the DRC territory without preconditions. The draft further expresses a readiness to consider additional measures against those who contribute to the continuation of the conflict in the DRC. The UN resolution also warns that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime.

To discuss this issue in greater detail  Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Willem Els from the ENACT Programme at the Institute for Security Studies and Prof. Ntsikelelo Breakfast, Director for the Centre for Security, Peace, and Conflict Resolution at Nelson Mandela University.

Recent news of the recovery of R670-million by the liquidators of VBS Mutual Bank brought relief that verified creditors will be reimbursed monies deposited to the institution before it collapsed in 2018. The good news has however turned sour for individual depositors who have now learnt that they have been put at the back of the queue and may have wait a lot longer to recover their money. Many have been left wondering why municipalities, whose financial and political bosses corruptly deposited funds into the now defunct Limpopo based bank, will be first to be paid out while genuine depositors have been relegated to the back of the line. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Madambi Muvhalawa , one of the unhappy VBS bank depositors 

Eskom has THIS MORNING escalated loadshedding to Stage six  until further notice.  Yesterday afternoon, the power utility announced the implementation of stage three loadshedding after 3 weeks without rolling blackouts. We reached out to the power utility but spokesperson Daphne Mokoena said she will only speak to the media after today's press briefing. But to get a sense of the current situation Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Prof. Samson Mamphweli, energy expert from the South African National Energy Development Institute 

More families of the SANDF soldiers killed in the DRC bury their loved ones THIS WEEKEND. Rifleman Derrick Maluleke was the first of the 14 South African soldiers killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be buried last weekend. The remaining 13 burials are happening this weekend with the final one set down for the 1st of  March. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to SABC reporters Katlego Nyoni in Phalaborwa , Limpopo and Zebilon Maine in Mahikeng in the North West 

The Film and Publication Board has raised concerns over a video clip posted on various social media platforms showing a group of men being assaulted at Zanzou Club in Pretoria. The men were being forced to perform explicit sexual acts.  According to the FPB this violates or shows disrespect for the right to human dignity. Now the FPB is warning that it is a criminal offence to distribute in public content which contains explicit sexual conduct on social media platforms . To find out more Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Ephraim Tlhako, Technology and Platform Monitoring Executive at the Film and Publication Board 

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign will TODAY hold a mass rally at Sea Point in Cape Town to, among other things, denounce the plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. Under the plan, which has since been rejected by many countries, US president Donald Trump envisages that Gaza will be remodeled, under US ownership and control, as an international resort. Today's rally is also set to make several demands to the South African government. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Palestine Solidarity Campaign's Secretary Jaamia Galant 

International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Ronald Lamola has hailed the G20 Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting as historic.  He briefed the media following the gathering of international envoys from the world's influential economies, who've been discussing several global issues. 
This comes as the world is battling with multiple challenges, from geopolitical tensions to climate change, inequality and poverty. 

To talk further on the G20 foreign ministers' meeting and strained US -SA relations, Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Senior Research Fellow for the Centre of African Diplomacy and Leadership at the University of Johannesburg, Dr. Oscar van Heerden.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy THIS WEEK said Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement on its fate reached by Russia and the US without Kyiv's involvement. He called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war. The Ukrainian leader made the comments, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and announced the start of negotiations. The US has denied that they have betrayed Kyiv by launching negotiations about its future without its full involvement. Trump has also dimmed Ukraine's hopes of getting all land seized by Russia back and it's desire to join NATO. YESTERDAY Trump's Ukraine envoy told the Munich Security Conference that Europe would not have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, a position that has angered European allies who are now set to hold their own emergency summit on Ukraine in the coming days. To discuss this Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Denys Reva, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies....

Congenital heart defects are the number one birth defects in the world and affect 1 in every 100 babies. The defects, which affect the structure and function of the heart, also present here in South Africa, where there is a serious lack of facilities dealing with children born with this illness.  Grateful Hearts, a non-profit organisation, is aiming to raise awareness about this silent killer and garner support to fill the skills gap to train paediatric cardiac specialists to be placed in the South African healthcare system. To tell us more Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Nhlamulo Tlakula-Sesing, founder of Grateful Hearts...