VOC Breakfast

Eskom announces stage 6 load-shedding

The situation at Eskom seems to worsen as Eskom announced stage 6 loadshedding yesterday evening. This follows after the power supplier lost additional generating units, resulting in unplanned breakdowns increasing to twelve thousand megawatt. Eskom has since warned that loadshedding is set to continue for the remainder of this week…

10 Dec 2019 8 min

Cape Town to impose harsh fines for high noise levels this festive season

With the festive season comes an increasingly high level of noise from all over Cape Town as residents celebrate the silly season. The City of Cape Town has since warned residents that high noise volumes could lead to fines and compliance notices served to the offenders. To give us more…

9 Dec 2019 8 min

GR Spices explains labeling error

So last week, the Mitchells Plain branch of Chikro and one of its suppliers GR Spice were forced to issue apologies to its Muslim consumers after a picture of a “halal” pack of sausage containing pork caused public outcry. In the image that did the rounds on social media last…

9 Dec 2019 17 min

‘Blue Light Protocol’ under review says JPSA

The Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) has withdrawn its endorsement of the blue light protocol, which it developed with the Road Traffic Management Corporation in 2013, saying it needs to be amended. This came after CCTV footage emerged of a woman being violently manhandled by Tshwane Metro Police Department officers…

9 Dec 2019 16 min

Icsa on halal certification

Following last week’s upset over the incorrect halal labelling of a pack of sausage bought at Chikros in MPlain, there was confusion as to whether Chikros is certified or not. We did confirm that Chrikos is not certified, but they are muslim owned. GR Spices, a company which supplies them…

8 Dec 2019 8 min

Should party members pay a percentage of their salary to their party?

So unfortunately, our labour law expert dropped us this morning and we can’t do the interview, but this whole Al Jama-ah story certainly got me thinking about the notion of paying a membership contribution to your party. Is that much of a percentage ethical? Zaahirah Grimwood, a political systems researcher…

6 Dec 2019 6 min

Tensions brewing in Al Jama-ah party

So tension is brewing in the Al Jamaah party after Isgak De Jager, a member of the provincial parliament claims he was kicked out of his seat for refusing to give half of his salary to the party. Mr De Jager has alleged that no disciplinary steps were taken against…

6 Dec 2019 14 min

Cape Coloured Congress registers as a party

So whether you like them or not, the Gatvol movement is here to stay and are now serious about venturing into the world of politics. They have now launched the Cape Coloured Congress which was registered with the IEC yesterday. That certainly means we’re going to have an interesting local…

5 Dec 2019 16 min

Spend wisely this festive season, January is a few weeks away!

For a consumer segment this morning, we chat about something that gives us all headaches – money over the festive season period. Many consumers complain that January is a long month and we all know it as Janu-worry! What makes it longer though, is how you spend your money during…

4 Dec 2019 12 min

Unveiling of Al-Azhar High School hall in Athlone

The Muslim Judicial Council yesterday unveiled a new hall at Al-Azhar High School in Athlone this morning, named as a the Shaykh Abdul Hamied Gabier Hall. Shaykh Gabier is a prominent local scholar and a pioneer of the Al Azhar Institute of Cape Town. The Al Azhar Institute was established…

4 Dec 2019 9 min

Parents warned to be alert ahead of ''Pens-down'' matric parties

So this is the time of year where parents get more headaches. We know that “Pens-down” parties have become a norm for matrics, as they end their examinations and bid farewell to their fellow matric friends. Already, things got off to a bad start this past weekend, as matric celebrations…

4 Dec 2019 8 min

Lower data costs or else Competition Commision tells Vodacom, MTN

South Africa’s two biggest mobile-phone companies have for years been under pressure to lower data prices for their poorest customers, and the country’s antitrust regulator is running out of patience. Vodacom Group Ltd. and MTN Group Ltd. must agree to reduce tariffs by a further 30% to 50% within two…

3 Dec 2019 7 min

Petrol price expected to go up on Wednesday

South Africa’s fuel price prognosis for December is a mixed bag for motorists, with petrol prices set to increase slightly, and diesel set to go down. At this stage, we’re not entirely sure how much, but lets chat to Layton Beard from the Automobile Association

2 Dec 2019 7 min

Tafelberg case arguments heard

Closing arguments in the Tafelberg school case were heard in the Western Cape high court on Friday, after being debated for the entire week. The City of Cape Town, the Western Cape government and the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School are arguing in favour the school being sold. Housing social…

2 Dec 2019 6 min

Calls to shut down arms factory in Somerset West

Macassar residents and anti-war activists are calling for the ammunitions manufacturer Rheinmetall Denel Munition to be shut down. This after a deadly blast at the factory in September, that killed 8 people. Members of the community held a public meeting last week, to raise their concerns. Community activist and the…

2 Dec 2019 18 min

Umalusi on NSC 2019 examination marking

So the matric exams are done and dusted and many matriculants are officially on holiday – as they anxiously await the results. The hard work continues though as thousands of markers will start marking the National Senior Cerficiate examination papers. Lucky Ditaunyane from UMALUSI, the Council for Quality Assurance in…

1 Dec 2019 9 min

Six month national firearms amnesty

Interesting news recentlythat the Minister of Police has announced a six month national firearms amnesty – the fourth in South Africa’s history – which began yesterday. As we are well aware, part of the crisis of gang violence in our community is because of the distribution of illegal guns. Over…

29 Nov 2019 10 min

Immediate action required to find solutions to targeted attacks

The attacks on Cape Town train services has become an almost daily occurrence. Yesterday, 18 carriages were destroyed in a fire, adding to the more than 20 train fires in the Western Cape this year. Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula visited Cape Town Train Station yesterday along with MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela,…

29 Nov 2019 22 min

Cape Town research scholar awarded prestigious bursary

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been featuring so many inspiring women on this show…and this morning, we have the pleasure of speaking to an outstanding research scholar from Cape Town, Lynn Hendricks. Lynn is a research psychologist who works at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Global Health. Recently, she was…

28 Nov 2019 8 min

Iqra academy faces imminent closure

We know that Muslim independent schools in South Africa are under enormous constraints to stay afloat in the current financial times. Yesterday, we heard that the Iqra Academy, a school in the working-class suburb of Belhar, is facing imminent closure unless urgent funds are raised to enable 140 students to…

28 Nov 2019 11 min