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The biggest stories from the Eastern Cape with news, investigations, lifestyle, sports, politics, and the latest issues and investigations highlighted by the team from South Africa’s renowned Daily Dispatch, with 150 years of publishing excellence.
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Weekly English South Africa News · Sports News
188 Episodes
1 – 20

NHI will not work - Trollip

Only a few weeks remain before South Africans cast ballots, and political parties have stepped up their campaign. In this episode, host Daron Mann speaks to Action SA Eastern Cape provincial chair Athol Trollip about his party's plan for the province.
18 May 15 min

DA ready for the polls - Steenhuisen

Only a few weeks remain before South Africans cast ballots, and political parties have stepped up their campaign. In this episode, host Daron Mann speaks to Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen about his party's state of readiness.
6 May 16 min

Foundation calls for individual rights

Government should not interfere with people's lives. That is a view of Free Market Foundation CEO David Ansara. The foundation recently launched is campaign for Home Rule which speaks of decentralization of governance, emphasizing individual rights, private property, and the role of local communities in decision-making. He chats to Daron…
15 Apr 16 min

Long and desperate property value chain stuck in metro's dawdling backlogs

If BCM's town planning unit does not sharpen up, construction companies will migrate to municipalities that don’t take two years to process an application. This warning comes from Contour Projects MD Henk Massyn, one of East London’s top township and infrastructure development companies. He chats to Ted Keenan in this…
9 Apr 8 min

UDM growing stronger in Eastern Cape, says Holomisa

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says he remains positive about his party’s future in the Eastern Cape and has issued a warning to those undermining former president Jacob Zuma’s popularity in the province in light of his new party uMkhonto weSizwe’s rise to prominence. He chats to DispatchLIVE's Mandilakhe Kwababana in…
8 Apr 16 min

Tensions rise over shipment of live animals

Amid the heated discussion over the export of South African livestock, Wednesday was a bustling day at the harbor in East London. 56,000 sheep, 1,500 cattle, and 200 goats were put into the animal carrier Al Messilah. They are to be taken to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for slaughter. Pieter…
5 Apr 19 min

World’s largest floating book fair docks in East London

The 12,519-tonne floating book fair is eagerly awaiting its next throng of visitors. The ship, which boasts more than 5,000 book titles, docked in East London last week and will be here for three weeks. In this episode, Daron Mann chats to Anastasia Leushkina about the ship and its activities.
1 Apr 9 min

History in the making

Daron Mann talks to Eastern Cape DA leader Andrew Whitfield about the party’s call for the devolution of police powers to the province to fight rising crime. Whitfield said he believes the country has a “rapidly increasing culture of lawlessness at every level of society” while Eastern Cape-born gender justice…
7 Mar 26 min

Breathing new life into a rundown former Transkei village

Umjelo Non-Profit Organisation, has taken on the Herculean task of turning the impoverished Mamolweni village, on the coast in the former Transkei, into a flourishing community. In this episode, Ted Keenan chats Templeton “Pinkie” Yoba about Umjelo’s objectives. Yoba was born in the former Transkei, worked as an agriculture extension…
1 Mar 11 min

Mabuyane paints upbeat picture of province

Premier Oscar Mabuyane has compared the Eastern Cape’s performance in 2023 to what the ANC government hoped to achieve in priority areas in its next five years — that is if it wins the national election in May. In many of the priority areas, the provincial government’s current performance was…
28 Feb 26 min

Sivenathi Nontshinga regains IBF title

Scores of fans from flocked to King Phalo Airport on Wednesday to give a rousing welcome to their superstar Sivenathi Nontshinga after his successful world boxing title victory in Mexico. The 25-year-old Chicken Farm fighter won back the IBF junior-flyweight belt from Adrian Curiel via a 10th-round stoppage on Saturday…
23 Feb 8 min

BCM's history lesson questioned

The Buffalo City Metro Development Agency has been left with an egg on its face after it put up incorrect information about the history of East London during the reign of King Phalo, one of the celebrated traditional rulers in the Xhosa nation. The historical events on two of the…
15 Feb 9 min

Bafana Bafana will win - Ronwen Williams' father

" My prayer for tonight is for a clean sheet" Ronwen Williams spectacularly saved four spot-kicks — an almost unheard of feat — in a penalty shoot-out that Bafana Bafana won 2-1 against Cape Verde to steer the South Africans to their first Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) semifinal in…
7 Feb 10 min

Fury as Gonubie beach remains closed due to sewage spills

The fallout over Buffalo City’s ailing infrastructure has reached Gonubie beach, which is still closed due to two extensive sewage spills. A large manhole hidden in the undergrowth and a second on a raised embankment along the river have been oozing chunky grey effluent into the sand since January 8…
5 Feb 22 min

New year, same old problems for EC Education

The start of the academic year in the Eastern Cape was a tale of two nations on Wednesday last week. But while the urban year started smoothly, hundreds of rural pupils had to stay at home staring at the rain. In this episode, Daron Mann has a discussion with provincial…
28 Jan 5 min

Last ditch efforts to save Komani SPCA

While the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) and other donors work to find a solution with the Enoch Mgijima municipality, donors have raised money to assist the animals housed at the troubled Komani SPCA, which is about to be evicted by the municipality. This after Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality informed…
19 Jan 8 min
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