Johannesburg's new budget lays bare a city in financial distress: less than 10 days of cash reserves, a R220 billion infrastructure backlog, and revenue targets that ignore the fact that nearly half its water never gets billed. Alec Hogg dissects the numbers that every ratepayer and bondholder should see. Then: Jubilee Metals tries to win back the market with a credible operational update from Zambia; Araxi (formerly Capital Appreciation) posts softer headline numbers that mask an 80% surge in its core software earnings; a hostile takeover battle at Mustek nears its conclusion; and why a director selling shares at ASP Isotopes is not what it looks like. And in the second half — SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are heading for public markets with a combined valuation pipeline of over $3 trillion. Alec draws the parallels with 1999, and asks the question Wall Street is afraid to answer: are we at the top?

In today's Daybreak episode, OpenAI files for a fall IPO and SpaceX’s oversubscribed listing targets a $1.8 trillion valuation. Meanwhile, Israel and Iran ease strikes after Trump's intervention.

Locally, a new AGOA proposal allows South African firms to opt out of BEE to avoid US tariffs, PPC's 84% profit surge triggers stock volatility, Bernard Montgomery reminisces on the old JSE floor, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup struggles with tourism forecasts.

In June 1996, the JSE's open-outcry trading floor fell silent forever. Thirty years on, Irakli speaks to Bernie Montgomery — clerk-turned-broker — who recalls the chaos, camaraderie, and colourful lunches that defined an era before the screen took over.

Omnia and Sygnia deliver standout half-year numbers and shareholders cheer. PPC posts 84% profit growth and the stock drops 3.5%. Alec Hogg unpacks three SENS announcements that tell you everything about how markets actually work — and why beating expectations matters more than beating last year.

This morning’s Daybreak covers global market movements as oil ticks up amid Middle East tensions and tech shares slump globally.

Meanwhile, Apple prepares to unveil its overhauled Siri and new AI features at WWDC.

Locally, Lauren Evanthia addresses a massive R2 billion South African hospital scandal, Tara Roos breaks down Johannesburg's R200 billion infrastructure backlog and weak financial controls, and Sakeliga's Russell Lamberti proposes an AGOA "off-ramp" to shield compliant businesses from Pretoria's policy fallout.

As the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) faces bipartisan scrutiny in Washington ahead of its December 2026 deadline, South African business group Sakeliga has submitted a radical new proposal for "subnational differentiation". Russell Lamberti explains how the plan would allow individual companies, municipalities, and provinces—like the Western Cape—to bypass looming punitive US trade tariffs. By directly verifying compliance with free-market principles and formally dissenting from the ANC's race-based BEE and expropriation policies, businesses could protect their access to crucial US export markets regardless of national government action.

In the latest edition of NdB Sunday Show with Chris Steyn and Lauren Evanthia, the Founder of the Organic Humanity Movement, they talk about the authorities going after the R3million Bentley Continental GT that had belonged to President Cryil Ramaposa's nephew by marriage, Hangwani Morgan Maumela, who has been fingered as the Tembisa Hospital looting kingpin; criminal charges being laid against former Ekurhuleni City Manager Dr Imogen Mashazi who once turned up at a fashion event in an outfit estimated to have cost R3.5 million; NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim’s lifestyle under scrutiny with talk of a R5m custom-armoured BMW and an exclusive apartment; as well as the Zim wedding of a tenderpreneur’s son where the couple received US$20m in wedding gifts. Evanthia also comments on the re-defection of former MP Liam Jacobs back to the Democratic Alliance from the Patriotic Alliance; the deadly anti-immigrant riots; and plans to build South Africa’s biggest AI data centre in the Durban area.

Johannesburg’s financial crisis is deepening, with the Auditor-General revealing R9.5 billion in losses driven largely by electricity theft, water leaks and weak governance. An infrastructure backlog now estimated at R200 billion threatens service delivery in South Africa’s economic powerhouse. Analysts warn that years of poor oversight, mounting debt and a lack of accountability have left the city vulnerable to worsening power and water outages. With residents and businesses already feeling the strain, calls for urgent intervention are growing louder.

Today on BizNews Daybreak, global updates reveal the US passing a key Ukraine aid bill, leveling strict new sanctions against Cuba, and racing to contain a Texas screw worm outbreak.

Locally, Athol Trollip warns that slow cattle vaccinations are worsening South Africa's foot and mouth disease crisis.

Plus, The Economist's Chief Africa Correspondent, John McDermott, analyses the logistics of a deadly, unvaccinated Ebola strain currently spreading through the eastern DRC.

John McDermott explores the unfolding Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, unpacking how transmission occurs, why the crisis is spreading, and what makes this strain particularly dangerous. He examines strained health systems, limited aid funding, and the challenge of vaccine development. The discussion situates the outbreak within broader regional conflict and mistrust, highlighting how geopolitics, poverty, and weak infrastructure complicate containment efforts while international partners race to respond.