Paul Whitburn of Rozendal Partners explains why they they think the nuclear industry is a good investment place to be, and suggests that Cameco is not a bad place to get such nuclear exposure.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Piet Viljoen talking stocks; NEASA representative - Gerhard Papenfus; putting a new spin on rugby referee decisions with Dugald Macdonald, John Dludlu on SMEs and the BizNews Power Hour team.

News headlines:

*As many as four out of five South Africans may have contracted the coronavirus, indicating that the country may be one of the world’s hardest-hit nations by the disease.

*From Friday all adults in SA will be eligible to register for a Covid-19 vaccination, cabinet confirmed on Thursday.

*South Africans may be required to contribute up to 12% of their earnings to a new government-backed fund, according to a new proposal from the Department of Social Development.

Counterpoint Value Fund manager Piet Viljoen joins BizNews founder Alec Hogg with a wide variety of talking points on the agenda. BizNews portfolio constituent Wilson Bayly Holmes released an upbeat earnings guidance to the market with Viljoen confirming that the outlook for the construction counters looks more positive than it has of recent years. That's including Aveng, who Viljoen has been bullish on since the share was a mere 2 cents. Apart from unpacking Standard Bank's results and outlining the importance of the health of the financial sector to the general economy, Viljoen walks us through what an average day in the life of a fund manager is during earnings season.

Gerhard Papenfus is the chief executive of the National Employers' Association of South Africa (NEASA). Representing businesses of all sizes and in all industries, Papenfus says he thinks the organisation is "a good mirror of the economy," with a mix of large, medium and small businesses. He joined BizNews founder Alec Hogg to discuss how the businesses which NEASA represents feel after SA's month of shame. Papenfus also weighs in on how businesses are feeling in the wake of the looting and civil unrest.

Brain drain - the emigration of skilled South Africans - has become more and more prominent over the last couple of decades. After the civil unrest in July - even more people started grappling with the uncertainty that staying in South Africa presents. FNB, along with many other businesses in the market, have reignited a call for the private and public sectors to prevent ‘brain drain’ by investing in high-quality critical skills in domestic markets. BizNews interviewed Jacques Celliers, the CEO of FNB, to find out more about the brain drain challenge that South Africa faces and the ways in which young South Africans can equip themselves with critical skills.

Brenthurst Wealth Management co-founder and Wednesday's regular BizNews co-host - the hard hitting Magnus Heystek gives us the ugly truth about retirement annuities. Worse, the government have made amendments to the regulations that make it troublesome to access your pension in the event of emigration. Heystek says he rarely advises retirement annuity like products to his clients, due to its illiquidity as a financial instrument. He also lambasts the front that many of South Africa's largest financial institutions put on when it comes to the tax benefits of these products, outlining that the benefits simply do not outweigh the costs.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Magnus Heystek; Cape Independence Party bid for Independent State - Jack Miller; FNB CEO Jacques Cilliers on brain drain in SA; CEO of the A2X Kevin Brady discusses record volumes on the JSE and the BizNews Power Hour team.

Chief executive of South Africa's challenger exchange, the A2X,  Kevin Brady joins the BizNews team on a day where trading has been suspended for more than five hours on the JSE. Yesterday's record volumes, where over R140bn was traded mainly as a result of the rebalancing taking place in the wake of the Naspers/Prosus share swap, was the reason for the significant delay. Kevin highlights this as one of the key reasons for the need for competition in the South African market, in order to avoid events like these being the catatrasophe it has turned out to be. Kevin blames the delay on the BDA systems in use at the local bourse, which were written more than 30 years ago. JSE aside, Kevin talks about the growth prospects and runway ahead for the A2X.

News headlines:

*Eskom is considering buying a fleet of electrically powered light delivery vehicles, according to its CEO Andre de Ruyter.

*National Treasury says it is working through the nuts and bolts of the planned policy changes to allow the early withdrawal of retirement savings.

*The ANC runs the risk of failing to register its candidates to contest this year’s municipal elections by the August 23 IEC deadline, as staff refuse to work overtime and at weekends due to outstanding salaries and other benefits.