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Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Mboweni - rising debt-to-GDP ratio is a serious concern
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni warned in his mid-term budget that the upward trajectory of the debt-to GDP ration in South Africa is a serious concern. It is set to reach 60.2% in 2023/2024 and 60.1% the following year. He said the danger of talking about a debt trap is that…
Mboweni cuts business flights and fancy cars for public officials
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni outlined the cost of fiscal leakage and wastage in South Africa in his mid-term budget and says he is planning to end the huge wastage of public resources. Mboweni said one of the high costs to the government is litigation. He is also taking measures to…
Eskom power plan; Rand fizzles; unemployment high; Sibanye eyes NY; SA scientists discover early man in Botswana
The government issued its big plan to save Eskom, but the details were a disappointment for many hoping to see faster, firmer action. In particular, Eskom’s debt burden hasn’t been dealt with, worry analysts. The rand weakened as much as 1% against the dollar after the release of the plan,…
Invictus II – Rugby can unite South Africa again - John Carlin
After spending time in South Africa where he witnessed South Africa becoming a democracy, John Carlin wrote the book, “Playing the enemy - Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation.” It told the story of how Nelson Mandela, the country’s newly elected leader forged a friendship with Springbok…
Eskom’s long awaited rescue plan - Pravin Gordhan
The weight of Eskom on our economy is like the world that the Greek god Atlas had on his shoulders. It was his punishment handed down by Zeus; in South Africa’s case it was a burden handed down to all of us by the Zuma administration. And if I can…
Sasol boost as CEOs jump ship; SA may escape downgrade; Palladium soars; Joburg water cuts; Brexit delay
Sasol’s share price jumped when its CEOs jumped ship. The board decided a leadership reset was needed following a bad investment in the US. Sasol named a new chief executive officer to replace co-CEOs Bongani Nqwababa and Stephen Cornell as the company seeks to draw a line under the disastrous development…
Dylan Stevenson: Back story to making Fourways Mall into one of SA's biggest
In this special podcast, RMB's Dylan Stevenson shares the story of the R2.4bn expansion of the Fourways Mall, doubling the centre to a 180,000 square metre giant that's now one of the largest of its kind in South Africa. The project was initiated bottom-up, with property owner Accelerate being approached…
No more SOE bailouts; Pvt sector impatient with CR; R35bn exports reviewed; Mantashe journalist bribe?
In this week's business headlines: The focus this week will be on Wednesday’s mid-term budget by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni followed by Moody’s credit-rating review on Friday. Opposition parties have urged the government not to give any more bailouts to the state owned enterprises. Meanwhile the DA has appointed…
PIC dismissal Ayo-linked; Tesla surprise; Clicks growth; VW Uitenhage off-grid; SA business ease slips; Don’t mention Harvard
In today's business news headlines: The Public Investment Corporation has dismissed a portfolio manager linked to the R4.3bn investment in Ayo Technology Solutions. Tesla gained as much as 20% after it posted its first quarterly profit in almost a year. The Clicks Group reported a 16.8% rise in full-year earnings…
DA leader quits; Inflation down, SOEs fail audits; ABB flags Eskom payments, Putin eyes Africa; flights resume.
In today's business headlines: The DA leader Mmusi Maimane has quite the party saying the DA is no longer the party of his vision. Soon after the party's chairperson Athol Trollip also decided to pack it in. The party will meet today to discuss the way ahead. South Africa’s…
Helen Zille 'shocked' by Maimane and other resignations
Helen Zille's return to the Democratic Alliance was always going to be contentious. Known for her controversial tweets about colonialism, she stepped aside as leader of the DA to make way for Mmusi Maimane. But she was never far from the spotlight and became known for her tempestuous relationships with…
Maimane's valedictory speech as leaderless DA also lose Trollip
When the Democratic Alliance did not perform as expected in the May 2019 elections; the party was looking for somebody to blame. The party lost supporters to the Freedom Front Plus and could not grow their support among urban blacks ending 2% down from its 2014 results. The spotlight was…
Taxpayers give Eskom R54bn; Deloitte in corruption scandal; DA implodes; SA's Tencent tourism deal; airline groundings; Pick n Pay
Taxpayers are to fund another R54bn to bail out Eskom. The Special Appropriation Bill will see the government give the troubled power utility R26bn in the year through March and R33 bn the following year, according to Bloomberg. Eskom wants Deloitte to pay back about R200m after it benefitted from…
Qhubeka helps 100,000 people, mostly pupils to own a bike – Anthony Fitchenry
Qhubeka has a noble mission - to put every school kid in the country on a bicycle. In a country where it is estimated that the average pupil spends two hours a day walking to school and back home every single school day; it means that kids have more time…
Ramaphosa says pay up; SA debt crisis; Mashaba quits; Boeing rocked; Pound perks up
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on citizens to pay their electricity bills. Eskom is owed about R24bn. With the National Treasury’s medium-term budget due for release towards the end of the month, economists in a Bloomberg survey expect a fiscal gap of 6.1% of gross domestic product for this year…
#ImStaying is growing rapidly and wants to create business opportunities
The pessimism in our national psyche has reached epic proportions and yes we do have real issues to worry about; Eskom, the economy and polarisation fuelled by political parties like the Economic Freedom Fighters. The feeling of being “gatvol” is pervasive and is sometimes only lifted in moments when we…
Zille back; More loadshedding? Green energy thumbs-up; PIC on Eskom, Moyo; Brexit; Boks
Helen Zille has been elected as the head of the Democratic Alliance’s Federal Council in a return to a leadership role in the party. The power blackouts that gripped South Africa last week ended on Saturday as Eskom’s power supplies improved, but the utility warned that the shortages may not…
Eskom slashes SA growth; Zim pot smoking hot; investment bankers steal millions; Brexit; Mediclinic
Eskom's blackouts could cost SA R5bn a day, a leading economist has warned. The Zimbabwe government has launched the country's first legal cannabis farm in the Harare Central Prison, but it insists that prisoners won't get a whiff. The corporate side of corruption in Africa has been laid bare in…
Metaco – a David that won't bend its knee to Comair’s Goliath
What follows in this episode of the Rational Perspective is extraordinary. Not just because of what Metaco’s MD Barbara Walsh and her colleagues are experiencing. Unfortunately, blatant abuse of power by big businesses occurs far too often - but because of advertising muscle, far too many of these stories get…
Eskom power cuts rand - junk status warning; Zim dark days; retail sales; Mediclinic boost; Brexit tensions
Loadshedding was the big story of the day on Wednesday, with the rand weakening as Eskom, the state-owned South African utility that provides about 95% of the nation’s power, said it would cut 2,000 megawatts of electricity from the national grid because of a shortage of generation capacity, reports Bloomberg…