we will bring you all of the reports from the red carpet here on bbc news throughout the coming hours. 5m? here on bbc news throughout the coming hem-— now on bbc news... world questions: south africa. from cape town, south africa, this is world questions from the bbc world service. a country rich in potential, weighed down by history, south africa faces mighty challenges. can its new coalition rise to the occasion? welcome to the homecoming centre in district six, just round the corner from city hall, where nelson mandela made his famous speech after decades as a political prisoner. "our march to freedom," he said, "is irreversible." 30 years after democracy

was established and the rainbow nation proclaimed, the golden glow of those times seems distant. this is the largest economy in africa — a country rich in minerals and metals. huge strides have been made. a peaceful transition followed when the african national congress lost its majority for the first time this year. but the country is deeply unequal. crime is rampant. six out of ten young people are without a job. there is no doubting this country's potential, but the scars of division and poverty run deep, whilst crime and corruption are disabling the state. with me to debate questions from our cape town audience is our panel. khalid sayed is leader of the opposition in the provincial parliament here in western cape, a region of some 7.5 million people. he is also the regional spokesperson for the african national congress, or anc. his party holds the presidency of south africa, and it's the leading partner

in the current national government. solly malatsi is an mp for the anc�*s traditional rivals, the democratic alliance, now in the coalition government. he is ministerfor communications and digital technologies. naledi chirwa is a former student activist and mp, now a delegate of south africa's upper chamber, the national council of provinces. she's a member of the economic freedom fighters, one of the major parties that remain in opposition. ashley qhoeke sauls mp is a pastor, a comedian, and the parliamentary leader of the patriotic alliance, which is part of the government of national unity. the pa is a relatively new party and he was elected as an mp for the first time in this year's elections. your panel. applause. let's go to our first question.

good evening, everyone. good evening to the panellists. so, my question is to all the panellists. - since 1994, black people l did not get true liberation. how do you plan to deliver economic liberation- for black people? thank you. thank you, sir. thank you. of businesses on the johannesburg stock exchange, only 30% are black owned. unemployment amongst black africans is far, far higher than white south africans. naledi chirwa from economic freedom fighters. thank you so much for your question. i think we have to first give it historical context on what entails the oppression of black people in south africa. historically, that solely lies on colonisation. you cannot undo colonisation, but by first undoing the first tenet of colonisation, which is the dispossession of land of our people.

that is why, as the eff, we strongly advocate and call for the expropriation of all land, of all south africa's land without compensation for equitable redistribution. and second to that, we need to create jobs. there hasn't been adequate answering to the question of unemployment, of young people being unemployed in south africa, and as the eff, we kindly propose that, first and foremost, there must be industrialisation that's done in the country. there should be government intervention. so we start meeting our people at their point of need, that the land is given back to our people because we can't speak of undoing the chains of oppression without going back to the root. we can't address oppression without dealing with the land question. thank you. cheering and applause. thank you. ashley sauls. ashley sauls from the patriotic alliance. thank you, johnny. and i think... let me first introduce myself and pronounce the name that is so important to me,

given the fact that i recently discovered my roots, my second name, qhoeke. forgive me. i mispronounced that in the introduction. i did warn the audience here that i would mispronounce. that's fine, but there's a reason why, because i want to link it to my response. thank you. qhoeke is a bushman name, a san name, the original and first inhabitants of the southern part of this continent. when we say "black" politically and we talk about how to create economic opportunity for black people, for centuries even the term "black" has excluded the bushman. applause. and... and i know you'll have my fellow colleagues in the different other parties say to me that while there's a definition in our political framework that says "blacks in general, "and african in particular", and what that really means is that

the previously disadvantaged are black, but not everyone is african in particular. now, unfortunately, the sacrificial lambs are the so—called coloured people, which is the majority in this... applause. ..in this... and, johnny, you must note that the people are clapping because most often the realities that we experience in this country is not spoken of. so, coloured people... so coloured people, forgive me, just for those that don't know, is used in general to describe people of mixed race in south africa. that's correct. thank you. people of mixed race. and predominantly living in this particular province, the western cape. and so, when you talk about equal opportunity, that race is literally excluded, including...including the first inhabitants.

we're talking about ownership of land. for centuries, the discourse around ownership of land has been amongst those who doesn't own the land. it has been... it has been amongst those who has dispossessed the original inhabitants, which is the khoi and the san, the indigenous people here. and so, if we are going to shift the economic landscape in this country, the first thing that has to happen is coloureds — bushmen, khoi and san, has to be recognised has to be recognised as african in particular, as african in particular, has to receive first nation has to receive first nation status here so that there's status here so that there's an understanding that an understanding that when you want to talk when you want to talk about who owns the land, about who owns the land, when you have a discourse when you have a discourse around inequality, let us zoom around inequality, let us zoom in to the economic in to the economic disadvantage for coloureds, disadvantage for coloureds, and khoi and san. and khoi and san. we are african in particular, we are african in particular, notjust black in general. notjust black in general. 0k. 0k.

thank you. thank you. solly malatsi, minister solly malatsi, minister in the government and from the democratic alliance, in the government and from the call has gone out for expropriation, for expropriation, for the seizure of land for the seizure of land without compensation, without compensation, as a way of delivering economic as a way of delivering economic liberation for black people back so many black south in this country. do you agree with that? do you agree with that? well, i think before well, i think before you even get to that, you even get to that, i think it is to recognise i think it is to recognise that the history of race that the history of race relations in our country relations in our country and the economic welfare of the country in general is a scar that reminds everyone about the division that this country has endured over a period of time. i think for south africa to resolve the issue of expropriation of land is guided by what our constitution says. and the economic welfare right? we are a country that respects the law, and the constitution is clear. i think the key thing is, how do you use land to give dignity to people and have the economic means to build their lives? there's got to be title deeds that is given to those individuals that have access to their land. without title deed, you don't have the security of tenure that you can use to pursue your opportunities,

and that is what is holding

africa, you are liberating south africans economically, but they do not have dignified living spaces. i mean, one in ten south africans still live in what's called "informal housing", for which you can really read "living in shacks". no, most certainly — we are not saying that there has not been challenges, but compared to an environment, a legacy of apartheid, where there was absolutely nothing, at least we've got to admit that the anc has taken us somewhere. our policies speak about expropriation of land without compensation, but within the constitutional framework, we must not use language around land reform which is also going to turn away investors. 0k. we will leave that one there. thank you. i want to go briefly, if i could, back to our questioner. thank you. i think i'm happy with the - response from naledi chirwa, but the other panellists, i

they are just diverting from the actual crux of the matter. and i mean, withoutl land, everything else we can't achieve. thank you, sir, and thank you for your question as well. i'm going to move on. our second question comes from clint white. clint. gangsterism is a huge. problem stifling growth in our communities, l particularly our youth. what real plan of action does the government. have to eradicate this? thank you. i mean, you can pick from any number of statistics. there have been 70 murders a day, on average, in the first half of this year. companies large and small report economic blackmail from gangs, 1.6 million counts of serious crime in 2023. solly malatsi, minister for communications and digital technology. yeah. look, i think gangsterism is one of, you know, those ills that really have

crippled south africa and the progress that we could be making, destroying the lives of young people. and i think it's because of two things. one is the sense of desperation that exists amongst some communities in order to provide for themselves, and a failure, to be honest, of law enforcement. our law enforcement do not have, you know, the resources — one, to do the detection... i think the people who end up being on the street as runners of drug sales, or even the shooters on the ground, those are just the little guys, you know? the big guys are the ones that are unseen underground. so, i think the key thing is about, one, the early detection system, from an intelligence perspective, in identifying who are the real masters behind the runners on the ground. and secondly, we need an overhaul of our criminal justice system. the rate of the convictions from such crimes is very, very low, and it's largely driven by the fact that the detectives who have to do the investigations are overburdened. on average, one detective

faces over 80 dockets. that's why we have this little conviction rate that we have. thank you. ashley sauls, i think you have some understanding of this. your party leader is described as a reformed gangster. he spent time in prison. does he... does your party have specific ideas for dealing with gangsterism ? our party president indeed comes from a life of gangsterism. i grew up in a community faced with the same...the same ills. and...what is important to note is that what we, or who we call gangsters in this country, remember, those are people. those are people that before they became gangsters, looked for better lives. but the make—up of the system makes it difficult for especially coloured people to get economic opportunity. that's the reality.

scattered applause. my president, gayton mckenzie, who is my mentor, indeed was in prison for gangsterism. but even to date in this country, look at all the media platforms. he is still called a gangster. yet that is 30 years ago. so are you suggesting that because there is no forgiveness, then there can be no solutions? yes. and that there is no... the general public does not believe that someone like our president can change, no matter what he has proven. thank you. khalid sayed from the anc. look, i think it's a multi—pronged approach. so number one, and i do agree with the minister, and i hope that the minister is taking up these issues inside of cabinet, that we do need to strengthen our law enforcement capacity, and i think that has started — if you look at some of the high—profile arrests of gang leaders,

especially here in cape town, and the trials that are currently under way. also, government needs to work together within the context of the gnu — i think you spoke about the gnu context. it's very important. thank you. naledi chirwa from the economic freedom fighters. yes. thank you so much, johnny. i think, first and foremost, we need to start restoring the human face of the people that we're talking about. at some point, they were six—year—olds, like all of us, who wanted to be doctors, to be president, to be all these things that they wanted to be when they grew up, but opportunity lost them along the way. we've got police who get paid by crime. crime pays in south africa. it pays the police really well. and the first start to be able to address this is to also make sure that there is growth that happens when you become a policeman. we find policemen that have been in the industry for 30 to 40 years, but have been

in the same rank for decades on end. there's no incentive that gratifies you for having stood up for the country, and that makes you depart and detach yourself from protecting your country, to pledging allegiance to politicians, to criminals, and no longer south africans. thank you. i'm going to... i'm going to move on, if i may. on to a related question. good evening. my name is benjamin zondo. and firstly, ijust i want to thank you. i see young faces here. this is a wonderful thing in the new south africa. | applause. and my question is, - would the panel support the death penalty, since we are already suffering j to this extreme crime - that we are failing to solve? thank you. i'm going to ask you all to keep your answers relatively short, if you can. the death penalty was abolished here injune 1995. i'm going to start, if i may, with ashley sauls

from the patriotic alliance. yes. thank you! khalid sayed? we would most definitely not support it because... applause. ..we believe in reform. we believe in reforming people. er, we also understand that it would be unfair if there's a slightest mistake... 0k. ..in court and someone goes to the gallows for a crime that they may have not committed. it's unfair. naledi chirwa? the first right that's protected by our constitution is the right to life. and we always have to defend that right. and we do know that people are rehabilitatable. we've seen this happen. it'sjust our systems are currently failing and they are unable to address social ills from ground up. so what happens is that a system now develops and creates criminals and then punishes them by killing them. it doesn't make sense. you must address what makes people criminals and deal with it ground up, instead of taking away life,

because then you're becoming a government that's a crime itself... the argument... ..that takes life. the argument is made. may i? the argument is made... the argument is made by some that death penalty is a deterrent. what it will do, it will embolden criminals because then they won't leave evidence behind. if they rob you, they kill you. if they rape you, they kill you because you can't speak against them. that is what it will do. and we know our systems. they are very futile and fragile. now you go to court, the victim is no longer there, they are dead. they can't... 0k... they can't find the perpetrators when we are still alive... naledi. ..what more when we are dead? naledi. thank you. naledi chirwa, thank you. solly malatsi from the democratic alliance, would you support the death penalty? absolutely not. i think as constitutionalists and having watched south africa's journey and what happened prior to democracy, the death penalty does not deter crime from happening. i think our efforts should go into boosting crime—fighting activities and making sure that we get the convictions for the crimes that

have been committed. thank you. ashley, ashley sauls, you were admirably brief. a quick response to what you've just heard here. yes. my party manifesto is that the death penalty must come back, and the same audience that is clapping now is the same audience that is complaining of innocent lives that are being taken, and nothing is done to those that takes innocent lives. take it from someone that comes from prison, he understands that criminals fear death. if you kill anybody, you must be killed, i maintain. thank you. i want to hearfrom our audience, if i can, on this question. would you support the death penalty when crime is high? madam, i think you wanted to make a point. firstly, i do want to applaud naledi chirwa over there. i i stand firmly with her point. but i quite frankly find it. ironic that someone whose president is a reformed, um... ..prison...jailbird — - sorry — but someone who's reformed and is from prison, j is a person who stands firmly with the death penalty. because if your president

is the living proof that i someone from prison can be rehabilitated, what preventsj your political party- from standing with it? thank you. thank you, madam. i'm going to come back to our questioner, mr zondo. thank you. i'm so much interested to hear more. - but we are struggling, . as a country, with crime. if we look at the solutions - that you have as the government to fight this crime, . they are not working. put fear to these criminals i that if you kill, you are gone. crime will go down. go to countries like china, where if they catch - you with drugs, you are gone. we just want to softenl this democracy and say we are a democratic country, we are... i you know, it's not working. people are dying. thank you. any other thoughts? hi, good evening, everyone. it was really interesting listening to the different perspectives on the death penalty, but i think the elephant in the room is also ourjustice system.

we can have a death penalty, we can have all of those very, very strict policies, but if we do not have a capable and competentjustice system that isn't understaffed, isn't under—trained and is actually competent to do the job, we wouldn't even need such strict measures in order to actually implement what's in our constitution. so, that's all i want to say. we are almost at the end. i will have time for one more question, and it comes from hlengiwe mkebe. good evening. my name is hlengiwe mkebe. i'm from the pondoland, - formerly known as transkei. my question is, what is. stopping our government, south africa, from creating an ibiza as a portion... - ..um, using a portion of robben island? - thank you. the question, what is stopping south africa from creating an ibiza, that is a sort of holiday island off the coast of spain currently, on a portion of robben island? robben island, perhaps most famous for having a prison on it for many political

prisoners. um... were should we...? where should we start now? naledi chirwa, would you like to see an ibiza on the island of robben island? i think the government has already explored that. there's already touring facilities. what i want to take us, in regards to this question on tourism in particular, because that's also an industry that is still dominated by white people and they've got inter... they've got municipal contracts that go on for 100 years. but there are young creatives, young people in the townships who've got businesses, restaurants who want to go out into industries that are owned by government that are unable to do so. naledi, thank you. ashley sauls, what would you make of robben island being further exploited? hell to the no. i'll tell you why. nelson mandela was not the only one — and we love our father of the nation — that was incarcerated on robben island. the first man to be incarcerated was harry de strandloper autshumao.

and he was incarcerated there, and the first one to swim from there back to shore — a bushman. so what i'm saying is when you do that, you are meddling with my core heritage. so hell to the no. thank you. solly malatsi from the democratic alliance. yeah, look, i think it wouldn't be right to relegate a national heritage site like robben island to be like an entertainment hub or, you know, a resort. i think the true measure of how do you best position robben island to be able to leverage the tourist potential that it has, because over a period of years there was a period of neglect of robben island. at one stage, the ferry wasn't even working to take the tourists there. so i think it's about maintaining its... ..its...its presence, and making sure that even the affordability... ..element of it so that every south african has a fair chance, whether you're

from khayelitsha or you are a tourist, to be able to afford the ferry and go to robben island and experience the journey of south africa's transition from a very painful and dark past into our democracy. and for that, it must be protected to remain as that symbol of south africa's transition to democracy, because we need that daily reminder. thank you. the last word on the last question goes to khalid sayed from the anc. thank you. i want to agree with all the speakers on the panel. this is a cultural heritage site, but beyond that, we need to ensure that robben island is given the sanctity that it deserves. turning it into an ibiza or a party—going place isjust... it should not even be on the table. you had a question on education previously. i think that visits to robben island ought to be part and parcel of what is required at schools. young people need to be taken on reconciliation day.

two years ago, i attended an event, and it speaks also to the points raised by our respected leader of the patriotic alliance, where we had leaders of the nguni tribes, but also the khoisan leadership. we could start to use the space also, not only to visit prisons but to have tough conversations around identity and around where we need to go. we should use it as a sacred space, also to hold... i would like to see bbc hopefully one day having a similar panel discussion on robben island. we would be very, very happy to do that. thank you. that's it for world questions south africa in cape town. a big thank you to our panel — solly malatsi, naledi chirwa, khalid sayed, and ashley sauls. thanks also to our wonderful questioners here in cape town and all the contributors to our debate here in district six. thank you.

cheering and applause. hello there. good afternoon. across the southern half of the uk, the snow where we've seen it has now turned back to rain. and there's been some added snow melt too, in that milder feeling air. but across northern england there is still an amber met 0ffice weather warning in force for snow. and that covers these areas, particularly the higher ground of the pennines and the cumbrian fells, where we could still see some more accumulations of sleet, mix of rain and some wet snow i think towards lower levels, but the possibility of some drifting snow still too, with brisk easterly winds across the higher ground, some of the snow making its way into the southern uplands, but a sunshine for northern scotland perhaps. it remains windy towards coastal areas and there'll be

a lot of spray with that snow melt and extra rain across the southern half of england and wales, where it's mild, 12 or 13 c, but it remains very cold further north. and the milder air never quite gets here either, so it's likely that we'll see everything refreeze onto the roads and the pavements through the overnight period with that colder feeling air. so lots of ice into tomorrow morning and again, plenty of rain at times just curling across the midlands and into east anglia. by the time we get to the start of the day tomorrow. so icy surfaces still mild though in the far south and east. so next week an icy start is going to be an issue, i think into monday morning for many and it will stay cold. it's going to turn colder to where we've had that milder air across east anglia and south east england. as that low curls away and we draw down the northerly wind again on monday. so it's another blustery day, particularly for these north sea facing coasts. some rain here to start that moves away. wintry showers across eastern scotland running down through northeast england. perhaps also some wintriness in these showers across

northern ireland into many parts of wales and down through the moors. temperatures dipping throughout the day across east anglia, southeast england and elsewhere. i don't think we'll get much past 2 or 3 c, so there'll be a widespread frost on monday night into tuesday, as those winds inland tend to lighten. we're staying in the cold air as we head through the rest of the week. take a look at wednesday. this area of low pressure could start to graze the southern part of england and on the leading edge, there could possibly be a little bit of snow on it as well. so the possibility of some snow in the south. but generally speaking, it's quiet next week, there will be overnight frost again, some icy surfaces, but also some sunshine and very cold.

live from london. this is bbc news. a severe weather alert is in place for parts of northern england after heavy snow overnight, causing travel disruption. though manchester, liverpool and leeds bradford airports have reopened their runways after temporarily closing for a few hours. live in leeds, yorkshire is one of the worst hit areas. bradford has reopened the airport in the last half an hour but there is still a do not travel alert in force for northern rail. snow is also spreading across parts of the us. weather warnings affecting 60 million people have been issued for a storm that

could bring the heaviest snowfall in over a decade. reports of further israeli strikes overnight in gaza. local officials say areas of the central part of the strip have been hit. the uk health secretary, wes streeting hits back at tech billionaire, elon musk, after his social media attacks on the uk government's response to grooming gangs. the 82nd golden globes will take place in los angeles later — wicked, emilia perez, conclave, and the brutalist are all in the running for top prizes. hello, i'm martine croxall. heavy snow and freezing rain is causing widespread disruption across the uk with amber warnings in place in parts of northern england and the midlands. forecasters say up to a0 centimetres of snow could fall in some places, and temperatures overnight fell as low as minus 11 celsius. after earlier closures

due to snow and ice, the runways at liverpool, manchester and leeds bradford