DispatchLIVE podcasts with Daron Mann

Songezo Zibi has one simple message to SA’s  people who are “gatvol“ with the government. “If you want to change the country, get off the side-lines.” Ted Keenan speaks to Zibi, who reckons “we get what deserve”, in terms of leaders. While happy to blow his own trumpet, he is now campaigning to chuck out President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cronies, and the 2024 election is his target date. Does he have the pedigree? Not as a politician he doesn’t, but then he is pretty scathing about most of the current crop of leaders, with so many of them having their noses so deep in the corruption trough that they cannot see the voters. If the country wants a president of high integrity, no cupboard skeletons, skilled in top-level communication, has had hands-on experience in many business sectors, was past editor of Financial Mail, and has written to books on how to reignite Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow Nation” philosophy, then he was the man, and his newly formed Rise Mzansi party was the people’s political party for the future. “By the next election we will have 3m supporters who are actively working to make SA a home for  their children and their children’s children.” Coalitions are the future.

Daron Mann speaks to Bulelwa Ganyaza, spokesperson for Chris Hani District Municipality, about the devastating recent devastating floods in the country, the flood damage, now estimated at R4.5bn for the Eastern Cape alone, and the declaration by President Cyril Ramaphosa of a state of disaster to deal with the aftermath.

In a landmark decision handed down by the Bhisho High Court this past week Judge Rob Griffiths ruled that the Eastern Eastern Cape Health Department must care a patient they injured. The precedent-setting decision could free the EC Health Department from making crippling cash payouts to settle negligence claims in future. Spokesperson for EC Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth, Mkhuluhli Ndamase, reflects on the implications of this ruling in the latest edition of THE DAILY DISPATCH IN DISCUSSION WITH DARON MANN

In light of reports that the ANC Youth League in the O.R. Tambo region will not be backing Cyril Ramaphosa at the party's upcoming National Elective Conference, Daron talks to the Melikhaya Mcitwa of the branch to find out more.

With The Eastern Cape Liqour Board recently launching its Campaign against the abuse  of alcohol by minors in a new culture of pens down parties, Daron invites Mgwebi Msiya, spokesperson for the ELCB, to discuss the campaign.

With growing concerns that Pondoland will lose out on the growing cannabis industry, Ted Keen talks to. Gavin Tessendorf and Jakes Jacobs about the challenges faced.

Ted Keenan interviews CEO of East London's Mercedes Benz Plant, Mr. Andreas Brand, in a discussion on the plant, successes and the challenges of the Company, as well as the role it plays being situated in East London.

WILD WATERS | Daron Mann talks to Dispatch's resident  surf aficionado Nick Pike about the recent storm swells  and unusual waves seen across the province in recent days.

With the Cannabis Industry growing significantly, it was only fitting for Ted Keenan to chat to an expert in the field, Dr. Shiksha Gallow.

Daily Dispatch senior reporter Sithandiwe Velaphi speaks to Daron Mann about the effect on the victims' families after repeated delays over the cause of death at the Enyobeni Tavern disaster and the confusion surrounding the constantly changing theories on what led to the deaths.

Daron Mann talks to Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya about the pain the city has gone through and Eastern Cape Liquor Board spokesperson Mgwebi Msiya about how the tavern was granted a licence.

A personal crusade in pursuit of animal welfare is set to take Daily Dispatch contributor Daron Mann to war-ravaged Ukraine within the next few days. Daron, who is responsible for the weekly online podcasts The Daily Dispatch in Discussion with Daron Mann and That Weekend Feeling, will be accompanying well-known bear and big cat rescue specialist Lionel de Lange on a mission to rescue lions, abandoned in zoos or by private individuals, fleeing the armed conflict.

ANC Eastern Cape provincial task team members Oscar Mabuyane, Babalo Madikizela and Mlibo Qoboshiyane are set to go head to head in the upcoming provincial elective conference. Madikizela, who is currently the ANC's provincial treasurer Eastern Cape MEC for Public Works and sitting premier Mabuyane talk to Daron Mann about the on-again-off-again scheduling of the conference, which was again announced to be going forward less than an hour after the interviews were recorded, followed by a statement refuting this.

Supporters for Sibongile Mani, the Walter Sisulu University student convicted of stealing NSFAS funds have started the #JusticeForSibongile to have her sentence reduced to stop her from serving jail time.

Rhodes University has won the first battle against anti-vaxxers opposed to the institution's mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy but the war is far from over.

Athol Trollip says ActionSA is ready to bring some "sanity to the circus and get rid of the clowns." The former DA federal leader tells Daily Dispatch about his move to the new party and his belief that pragmatic leaders, such as him and Herman Mashaba, can change the course of South Africa. While acknowledging that ActionSA had a long way to go, Trollip expressed his excitement at the party's future prospects. Trollip also talks about the loss of the Nelson Mandela Metro during his mayorship, touching on the issue of patronage and taking aim at "radical racists" in the Economic Freedom Front. He hit out at SA politicians, who he accused of enriching themselves by "having their fingers in the till". Trollip said that the ANC could not be counted on fixing what they themselves had broken and failed to rectify for 28 years and it was time for an alternative. DispatchLIVE

The cash-strapped Eastern Cape is losing 91 doctors, more than 500 nurses and numerous allied health professionals who were meant to continue working for the health department as per contractual agreements that were secured through the funding of study bursaries. With at least R358-million needed to retain the staff and a slashed operating budget, the province will be hard hit by the departures. DispatchLIVE's Daron Mann speaks to Dr Mawande Dlamini, one of the affected medical doctors, as well as Rolene Wagner, superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape health department, about what led to the situation and the path forward.

Daron Mann talks to environmental activist and teacher Dean Knox about the importance of the interim decision by Judge Gerald Bloem to bar Shell from conducting seismic blasts for oil and gas exploration off the Wild Coast and speaks to Johan Lorenz, from constitutional law specialists Richard Spoor Inc. Attorneys, who was the lead attorney in the legal action against the oil giant and outlines the way forward.

Not only did Maria Clarke, mom of murder victim Angelique Clarke Abrahams have to wait two years for justice, but she had to sit with her daughter's killer and hold back her own feelings every time he chose to visit her grandson in her own home.

As we reach the end of this year's 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign Daron Mann talks to Lesley Ann Foster, Executive Director at Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, about the surge of gender-based violence in South Africa and the Eastern Cape after a spate of violent killings of Eastern Cape woman. This month East London has seen guilty verdicts delivered against two men for the murder of their partners. Alutha Pasile was convicted of the horrific murder and dismemberment of Fort Hare law student Nosicelo Mtebeni while Carl Abrahams was convicted of killing his wife, Angelique Clarke-Abrahams, in front of their young son.