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In a typically hard hitting interview, Ian Cameron of Action Society describes South Africa as a "total bloodbath" and a "slaughterhouse of humans," referencing the data on escalations in murders since the ANC came to power in 1994. He criticises the government's detached attitude towards soaring crime rates, likening ministers and police commissioners to passive spectators of a violent sport. Cameron attributes police inefficiency to political interference and the influence of the "untouchable" police chief Bheki Cele. He accuses the ANC of ignoring internal issues while pursuing international justice, neglecting the alarming rates of murder, and the unprecedented rape of women and children in South Africa. Cameron suggests the ANC's reluctance to reform the police stems from fear of exposing their own corruption. - Chris Steyn

The performance of the Ranmore Global Equity Fund in 2022-2023, run by London-based South African portfolio manager Sean Peche, ranked in the top 1% of a basket of 3,000 European/Asian/African global equity funds categorised by Morningstar. As Sean is keen to stress: past performance in no guarantee of future performance, but its 30% return after all costs in 2023 helped ensure the Fund’s position since inception in 2008 is within the top quartile of similar funds. In this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, Peche explains that while guessing big trends is fun, the money gets made because of a strong investment process that exposes winning stocks at a micro level.

With few exceptions, high-profile investment pundits called 2023 wrongly by predicting a tough year for US equities (especially big tech); a rough ride for Bitcoin; and outperformance by SA share prices. Corion Capital’s David Bacher explains what happened in the “annus horribilis” that wasn’t, and sticks out his neck for 2024. He spoke to Alec Hogg, editor of BizNews.

Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has admitted ESKOM lied to South Africans about load-shedding stages it was implementing. In this interview Samantha Graham-Maré, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Shadow Minister of Electricity.notes:  “…in a couple of questions in the last week, Gwede Mantashe has admitted that last year January we went into Stage Eight load shedding…it’s the first time that anybody from government has actually admitted to the fact we did go into Stage Eight load shedding.” The wide ranging discussion with Chris Steyn includes her take on Government’s Revised Integrated Resource Plan and how National Treasury has “very quietly” incurred a $1 billion debt with the World Bank. - Chris Steyn

Paul Hoffman of Accountability Now speaks to BizNews about South Africa’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) litigation which some see as a principled effort to prevent alleged genocide while other say it is an ideologically-based ploy to isolate Israel and bring down constitutionalism under the rule of law sponsored by the theocracy in Iran. He talks about the alleged sponsorship from Iran to get the ruling African National Congress (ANC) out of its financial hole; and the South African taxpayer being theoretically responsible for the multi-million rand cost of the application - unless it was sponsored by another country. Hoffman points out that South Africa itself is in breach of international obligations because of its failure to put in place adequately independent anti-corruption machinery. It is also in breach of human rights obligations because of its failure to comply with a related judgment from the highest court in the land, as well as its failure to deliver services. - Chris Steyn

With only months before the national elections, some political figures are making big moves.  Neil de Beer - who spent 32 years in the African National Congress (ANC), but left in disgust to form the United Independent Movement (UIM), a party that has joined the multi-party charter to oust the ruling ANC - speaks to BizNews about how the “United Front” formed by the new political parties of former President Jacob Zuma (MK) and former Free State Premier and ANC SG Ace Magashule (ACT - African Congress for Transformation) will damage the ANC, but bolster the Multi-Party Charter.  “…every day that another group splinters from the ANC…that 50 plus 1 becomes much more realistic to obtain,” he says. De Beer talks about the Economic Freedom Front’s (EFF) need for a “bigger brother”; the retirement of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma whose Presidential ambitions were narrowly thwarted by Cyril Ramaphosa; the election prospects of the Multi-Party Charter; the rumoured election date of 22 May; and the strategy to beat the ANC’s election-winning trick of bussing in millions to vote. He also deals with the “dark side” of politics that has kept Police Minister Bheki Cele in his job - despite a clear lack of qualifications and performance. - Chris Steyn

Ninety-seven (97) African National Congress (ANC) bigwigs identified as looters by the Zondo Commission still have to be successfully prosecuted.  The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants an Anti-Corruption Commission (a Scorpions 2.0) to do so. The African National Congress (ANC) wants the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) to do it. In this interview with BizNews, Glynnis Breytenbach, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Justice, dissects the differences between the two. She explains that the Investigative Directorate (ID), even when it's made permanent within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), is only as independent as the NPA. “And I speak from my own experience, but we've all seen that the National Prosecuting Authority at times is not independent, and it can be interfered with. And we've seen how the Scorpions was closed down. There's no security of tenure.”  The Anti-Corruption Commission, on the other hand, would be an “elite crime-fighting unit that has all of the resources that it requires”; and be a Chapter 9 institution  - independent of the NPA - that can only be disbanded by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. However, she stresses that The Anti-Corruption Commission is not intended to be competition for the NPA. “They will run parallel to it and they will have overlapping areas of jurisdiction…the Anti-Corruption Commission will deal with the very top echelon of cases of corruption, the very top echelon of cases of organised crime, and that should free the National Prosecuting Authority up quite considerably to prosecute the thousands of other matters that it's forced to deal with every day.” - Chris Steyn

A manganese refinery near the Kruger National Park, known as the Manganese Metal Co (MMC), is poised to benefit from the West’s desire to detach itself from China’s supply. Located in the rural town of Mbombela, MMC is one of just a handful of refiners of battery-grade manganese outside China. MMC CEO Louis Nel told Biznews in an interview that the exponential growth of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles enhances the prospects for the company and has resulted in a steady flow of Western automakers knocking on its doors, looking to decouple from China. He did not want to comment on whether it includes Tesla but said that most pre-eminent automotive producers have come calling. When it comes to price, Nel said that it was hard to compete with China, but there was a market for an alternative product with a smaller environmental footprint.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has had a very bad start to the election year. It has been one scandal and controversy after another.  BizNews speaks to John Steenhuisen, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) about the big four: ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula’s apparent admission that the ANC had lied to cover up the truth about the Nkandla “fire pool” to protect former President Jacob Zuma; the millions being spent on catering on the Presidential jet; Cyril Ramophosa’s “threat” to the poor that social grants are likely to disappear if the ANC loses the election; and the latest allegations of corruption in the higher education sector that could result in radical protest action from desperate students. In a raft of actions, the DA has already laid criminal charges against Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande. Meanwhile, the party is going after ANC officials and members of Parliament who might have perjured themselves before the courts to protect Zuma. “… this is a very, very serious situation that Fikile Mbulula has now landed the ANC in. And I think he significantly exposed a number of those people who were part of what we knew was an extensive cover up at the time…it's just showing here again that this is a government that cannot be trusted. They cannot tell the truth. They cannot deliver. They're led by a coward who cannot stand up to his own associates, and it's time to vote them out of office - and we will have that chance later this year.” - Chris Steyn

The South African Government has enlisted top legal experts for its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Their 84-page application argues that they only need to prove some of their accusations against Israel fall under the Genocide Convention to effectively halt its military operations in Gaza. Oral arguments for the proceedings initiated by South Africa against the Israeli government will be presented from January 11-12. However, Prof Theo Venter, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, told Biznews that he believes it will be a challenging battle. Venter expressed doubt about South Africa’s chances of success at the ICJ. He also accused the South African government of selective neutrality, pointing out an apparent bias in its international relations towards Moscow. Additionally, Prof Venter commented on the crisis in student funding following the leak of a series of recordings by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, alleging corruption within the Higher Education Department and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. He predicted that this issue will significantly complicate the management of students at South African universities. He said if the funding of 70% of students go awry, the fall out will be at the universities, not in Pretoria at the office of Blade Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education.