BizNews Radio

OMBA’s Sean Ashton dives into contentious waters here by addressing the naivety that produced “ten lost years” for South African investors overly influenced by home bias. He argues that’s not the only myth needing re-assessment, suggesting that a new investment regime may well have taken hold over the past decade and a half. The highly respected asset manager spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

One hundred and fifty (150) victims have come forward to report losses of millions of rands - after clicking on a deep-fake ad featuring Elon Musk. This after Advocate Petra van Niekerk blew the whistle in a recent interview with BizNews. She is now representing many of the victims - after she herself lost her life savings.  In this second interview, she reveals that one unlucky investor had lost R5,5-million. She relates the devastating impact on the victims, one of whom tried to kill herself after losing all her money. She also gives an update on the legal fight back, and has wise words of comfort for those who feel ashamed and embarrassed.

Employment in South Africa’s engineering sector has fallen sharply over the past two decades to half of where it should be. In this interview, Gordon Angus of the employer association SEAFA explains why, putting the blame squarely on idealistic but hugely destructive government regulations which are heavily weighted against entrepreneurs - every economy’s lifeblood. He shared the uncomfortable ‘Uber Truths’ with BizNews editor Alec Hogg.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has come under fire from opposition parties for what they term ‘reckless’ foreign mission deployments. This follows an incident where two soldiers were killed and three injured by a mortar bomb at their base in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where they are part of a peacekeeping force. Currently, 2900 South African soldiers are engaged in combat against M23 rebels in the country. Reports have also surfaced in recent days of an expired Denel contract for helicopter maintenance. In an interview with Biznews, the DA Shadow minister for Defence and Military Veterans Kobus Marais emphasised the “irresponsible” deployment of soldiers in the Eastern DRC citing an overstretched and underfunded SANDF with outdated prime mission equipment. Marais exposed challenges in maintaining essential equipment, particularly helicopters, and raised concerns about SANDF’s financial constraints, including the unfunded R2 billion for the DRC mission. Marais suggested withdrawing troops from the DRC to focus on upgrading equipment and prioritising national interests, particularly in Mozambique due to potential security threats. He criticised the lack of clarity on responsibility for troop deployment and the deadlock between Denel and the government. Marais also expressed concerns about our porous borders and the heavy reliance on an ageing reserve force. It is, he says, “like sending guys from the old SADF from an old age home with a R1 rifle” into combat.

After a three-year court battle, the ANC was compelled on Monday to release over 1,300 documents revealing details of actions taken by its three-decade-old cadre deployment system overseen by a communist-style central committee. SA’s economic woes - high and growing unemployment, rising debt, stagnant GDP growth - are a direct consequence of the injection by this committee of thousands of unqualified and often useless party loyalists to the leadership of corrupted and bankrupt State Owned Enterprises like Eskom and Transnet; and the broader public sector. In this compelling interview the DA’s shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration, Dr. Leon Schreiber, explains why he has been obsessed with forcing these disclosures, the root cause of so much wrong in the country. Previously a senior research specialist at esteemed Princeton University, Schreiber also provides context on the revelations, which parallels the seismic impact of ‘Gupta Leaks’ in 2017. He spoke to BizNews editor Alec Hogg.

If the polls are correct, the ANC faces the possibility of losing its majority in South Africa’s national elections on the 29th of May this year. So, what went wrong for Nelson Mandela’s once proud political movement? Businessman and independent political analyst, Moeletsi Mbeki has identified five deadly sins that have contributed to the ANC’s downfall and the country’s current issues. In an interview with Biznews, Mbeki highlights the policies of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and the ANC’s decision to cultivate a middle class through public service employment and affirmative action, rather than fostering entrepreneurship. He notes that these employees are among the highest-paid civil servants in the world. Mbeki also criticises the ANC’s decision to retain state-owned enterprises instead of privatising them, citing the success of privatised company SASOL. The fourth and fifth sins, according to Mbeki, are the government’s policy failures in Zimbabwe and Mozambique and the removal of military control over South Africa’s land borders, leaving the country vulnerable. He poses the question: Who can prevent Islamist rebels from entering South Africa and planting landmines? President Ramaphosa, Mbeki said, has repeatedly made it clear that he is sticking to these policies and the ANC is not planning to change course. As a result, public support for the ANC is waning due to these “five deadly sins.” Mbeki forecasts that whatever government is produced by the coming election, the ANC will remain central to it. This means he said, “We will continue with this stagnation we are sitting with. Whoever is in coalition with the ANC will have to live with that.”

Nobody articulated the rage of millions of South Africans better than Ayanda Allie when she responded to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent State of the Nation address. In this interview with BizNews, she describes how the president’s utterances made “something rose up inside me and it was like a fire shot up at my bones and I just could not let that go”. Allie speaks about her role as the Communications Director for Build One South Africa (BOSA), her MP candidacy, and the issues she would prioritise as an MP. She also graciously agreed to sing the title track from her album “We the People”, a song “that says, we the people of South Africa, we say no, no to corruption, no to injustice, no to poverty, no to unemployment, and no to this social milieu that we're seeing where people have no hope and no sense for the future”.

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) was in Russia “fighting” against neo-colonialism when Kremlin opposition politician Alexei Navalny died last week. This has emerged from a BizNews interview with Russian historian Professor Irina Filatova who says: “Just at the time when Navalny was killed, the ANC delegation was in Moscow. It was in Moscow at the meeting of the powers of the representatives of the parties which are fighting against neocolonialism…which is the influence of the Western world, economic, political, cultural, etc.” She also comments on the allegation made to BizNews that it was the Russian oligarch Viktor Velkselberg who once again bailed out the ANC and paid its debts. And she explains why an ANC election victory is so important to Russia. However, she adds that Russia would also work with former President’s Jacob Zuma’s MK and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Change Starts Now is a political party that was launched in December 2023 by Roger Jardine, a former director general and banker. It aims to be an alternative political option for South Africans who want change in the country. The party's manifesto, called the Change Charter, was unveiled in Soweto this week. It includes a ‘Marshall’ plan of R500 billion to redevelop South Africa. In an interview with Biznews, Jardine explained that wartime vocabulary was chosen because South Africa’s current state resembles a war zone.To fund the plan, Jardine is proposing a temporary three-year reconstruction tax. This would include a wealth tax of 1.5%, a corporate tax increase from 28% to 32%, an individual tax increase of 4.5% for those earning more than R1.8 million a year, and a 1% annual charge on retirement funds. Addressing concerns about increased taxes, Jardine emphasised the urgent need for drastic intervention. He warned that if the country continues to decline, the chances of increasing and sustainable tax increases are on the horizon as ‘the gap between our ability to fund constitutionally guaranteed social protections and our balance sheet continues to widen.’ Jardine described the temporary tax increases as a short-term trade-off for long-term sustainability. In response to concerns about politicians misusing the proposed fund, he assured that it would be structured as a ring-fenced fund with oversight by an independent panel. Jardine stated that Change Starts Now supports a strong role for the private sector in state-owned enterprises and believes that black empowerment policies have failed. He criticised the misapplication of procurement policies. Jardine denied representing an agreed position of the business sector in the country or that his party has received a billion rand in funding. He said that finding solutions in South Africa is not rocket science; it can be achieved with political will and effective management.

Former Oxford University professor RW Johnson nails the phenomenon of Donald Trump’s cult-like support in this interview with BizNews editor Alec Hogg. In it Johnson cautions that although it’s no foregone conclusion America’s Captain Chaos will return to the White House, he explains an “uber truth” behind his continued popularity despite many missteps and dangerous pronouncements. Should South Africans care? As one of the world’s most open economies, you betcha. A nation heavily reliant on global trade, it is hard to overestimate the impact on SA were Trump’s heavily isolationist policies implemented.