University of the Witwatersrand

And I mean it very sincerely when we say special because we are on the home turf of where fees must fall actually all began in that 2015, 2016 year.

We are on the Wits University campus joined by my esteemed panelists and also a live audience.

Hello audience.

yes and so from the vitz campus to the streets and seeing the ripple effect of protest what we want to truly explore in this conversation today is the power and the politics that goes into protest and beyond that What kind of lasting impact and hopefully positive impact does protest have? I certainly don't have the answers and this is exactly why we want to have this conversation that will hopefully uplift you, inspire you and educate you as we move the needle of this country forward.

And I'm going to make two very specific examples.

And I'll start with the premier of Gauteng.

If Gauteng wasn't voted in and he didn't get the position he got and he never came up with the idea of the Gauteng Academy region bursary, the judiciary bursary, I probably wouldn't even have been at Wits University.

Because as an individual, I was rejected by NSWIS, but I still couldn't afford to come here.

Don't worry, we'll do a recap and head over to primediaplus.com or download the app so that you can get an opportunity to catch up if you missed the first episode.

Joining us again is Dr. Malerato Ramela, specialist forensic pathologist at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Pathology at Wits University.

Welcome back, Dogotela.

Thank you for having me again.

I left the story at the time thinking, there's a lot more to talk about here.

A 2018 Wits University study authored by academic Kaliarendwe Tenga has broadly found that quote-unquote the traditional healer who practices muti-murder will often appoint someone to carry out the murder and thus they are not directly involved and that quote-unquote cultural beliefs and financial gain are common motives for carrying out such heinous crimes.

We were fortunate to get an interview with traditional healer Mpo Mpedi, who's running a church from Soweto's Orlando West.

Her knowledge complements the study's findings.

It does raise an important question.

Why are parents turning away from vaccines that are free and proven to save lives? Someone who is front and center in this debate is Professor Shabir Mahdi, who is dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and professor of vaccinology at Wits University here in Johannesburg.

Professor, welcome back to the program.

How does a country with free childhood vaccines then end up with more than a third of infants receiving none at all? What's happening here?

So it also poses a risk to individuals that are immunocompromised, both adults as well as children, that are unable to be vaccinated by virtue of their medical condition, who then become sort of victims to others not having been vaccinated and allowing for a virus such as measles to circulate.

Professor Shabir Mahdi, thank you very much indeed.

Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University.

Professor, thank you so much.