BizNews Radio (OLD)
Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Fallout from Eskom lights out; Palladium record; Manufacturing production falls; Changing spending habits; Comair CEO
• President Cyril Ramaphosa is cutting short a trip abroad to deal with the escalating crisis at Eskom while mining companies cut production and cel phone companies are struggling to cope. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Affairs is considering short-and medium term interventions to address the electricity shortage…
Smart investing: 12J and renewable tax incentives deliver effective 21%pa
It took a while for the market to warm up to the SA government's section 12J tax incentive designed to encourage private investment into the small business sector. But with private sector innovation now having sucked in billions, the State has decided to cap the maximum investment per taxpayer -…
Disrupting SA education: High school from home and get into Harvard, Stanford, Oxford
In early 2017, the Robert and Sam Paddock pocketed R1.8bn when selling their Cape-headquartered online education business Getsmarter.co.za to Nasdaq listed 2U. Getsmarter has relationships with the world's great universities, offering its global student base access to MIT, Harvard and Oxford degrees through online studies. Having served their obligatory earn-out…
Stage 6 loadshedding; Prasa follows SAA; Ramaphosa’s tough love; Zim can't pay SAA; Prosus and Just Eat
In today's business headlines: Eskom intensified rolling blackouts to a record stage 6, signalling a deepening crisis at the debt-ridden utility and raising the risk of a second recession in South Africa. The Passenger and Rail Agency has been put under administration and its interim board has been dissolved. This…
Insider on Eskom's loadshedding debacle: It goes far beyond "wet coal".
Former Eskom coal scientist turned energy consultant Mike Blenkinsop has as good a handle on the state of the SOE as anyone - and in this fascinating interview provides a comprehensive perspective on the latest loadshedding debacle. Having trained under the late Mark van der Riet, the CEO of NET…
Wet coal extends loadshedding; SAA’s bailouts can’t continue; Cricket SA loses sponsor; Teflon Musk
In today's business headlines: Stage 2 load shedding is set to continue this week, after Eskom has been battling to keep the lights on since the end of last week. South African Airways can’t keep counting on bailouts. That was according to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan who told the…
Investec dons Santa’s hat: Cancels mortgage bonds on 3,600 properties in Gauteng townships
The Rupert Family handed out full freehold title deeds to 70 residents of Aberdeen in the Karoo in November this year and a further 326 title deeds have been sponsored in Stellenbosch by Johan Rupert and his wife Gaynor. It represents land reform, not enforced by government but out of…
SAA bankruptcy protection; Loadshedding strikes back; Trump's impeachment; Glencore and bribes
In today's business headlines: Glencore is being investigated for bribery by UK authorities, deepening the legal troubles that threaten the world’s biggest commodities trader. The company’s shares fell as much as 8.6% to a three-year low in London, while on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange the fall was more than 5%…
Meet Jerry Selwane: Bringing moral progress to the nation through animal care
Mahatma Ghandi advocated that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Jerry Selwane, founder of the Soweto Animal Rescue and Advisory Centre (SARAC), is providing the means for our youth to carry out this legacy. During his 18…
Johan van Loggerenberg: Tito's right - SARS needs "intrusive" investigative units
A policeman by experience and lawyer by training, Johann van Loggerenberg is best known for heading the ill-fated SA Revenue Services Investigative Unit. As he wrote in his co-authored book "Rogue", miscreants got the unit closed down through the combination of a fake news campaign and a dodgy KPMG report…
'Dark kitchens' - a new force to be reckoned with in SA take-away delivery market
Ghost or so-called dark or virtual kitchens are a well-known concept in many overseas destinations. A Cape Town based start-up is pioneering the concept in South Africa and have announced the launch of Darth Kitchen. The company has secured seed capital in excess of R5m to date with a further R30m…
ANC controls Joburg again; Private sector activity shrinks; RBM shuttered; Mining charter in court
In today's business headlines: The ANC is back in power in Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub after Geoff Makhubo was elected as the city’s mayor. Activity in the private sector in South Africa shrank for the seventh consecutive month due to reduced output, less new orders and a contraction…
Tracey Davies takes us into Sasol's feisty AGM where activists roared
Environmental activist investor Tracey Davies of JustShare helped turn Sasol's AGM last week into a feisty affair. In the latest episode of Rational Radio, she reports back on the meeting, and explains her beef with SA's second largest polluter. The day after the Sasol slugfest, Davies went along to a…
Duncan Artus on Allan Gray's poor performance, the Sasol disaster and buying Naspers
Once in a while, the country's biggest investors lift the veil on their strategy, sharing ideas on how they intend applying the hundreds of billions entrusted to them. That's exactly what Allan Gray director and portfolio manager Duncan Artus did for us in the latest episode of Rational Radio where…
SA recession risk rises; SAA close to collapse; Zimbabwe starvation crisis; PIC demands Steinhoff reports
In today's headlines: SA is staring down a recession, says Bloomberg. South Africa’s economy contracted for a second quarter this year economy hasn’t expanded at more than 2% annually since 2013. SAA is on the brink of collapse. Its bosses are trying to buy more time by asking all the…
Chris Logan: Where Tongaat has gone, Hulamin, Nampak are following.
Back in 2014, independent money manager Chris Logan spoke out publicly against the strategy being followed by KZN's leading company, Tongaat Hulett. He urged the board and executives to drop their approach of selling off prime commercial real estate to pump the cash into the sugar sector - an area…
David Shapiro: Making sense of Adrian Gore's R1.4bn share transaction
In the latest episode of Rational Radio, South Africa's favourite market commentator David Shapiro unpacked the massive (and complex) put and call options entered into this week by Discovery founder and CEO Adrian Gore. The trades reported on the Stock Exchange News Service relate to Gore's decision to borrow money…
MTN, Vodacom ordered to slash data prices; Worse than Eskom: SA water crisis looms; manufacturing slumps
In the headlines today: President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that South Africa faces a grave water crisis. In his weekly letter to citizens, he says: “Unless we take drastic measures to conserve water sources and promote efficient use, water insecurity will become the biggest developmental and economic challenge facing this…
Azar Jammine: IMF's shout out to Ramaphosa - bring Alliance onside. Quick.
A bit like a multinational Stokvel, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund acts as the banker of last resort for member countries which get themselves into difficulties. To prepare itself, the IMF has a regular programme of sending surveillance teams to assess its potential exposure - and where it finds problems,…
Companies losing faith in SAA; Inflated Tongaat Hulett profits; Zuma’s date with justice; tweeting for Africa
In today's business headlines: Companies are starting to lose faith that South African Airways can and will be saved. Sanlam Travel Insurance Consultants said it would exclude SAA from its insolvency cover and Flight Centre has stopped selling SAA tickets. An investigation into alleged wrongdoing at Tongaat Hulett found that…