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While the global hotel and resort industry was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, serviced apartments and aparthotels, many of which managed to stay open when everything else shut down, surged ahead. In this interview with Biznews, Rael Phillips, the CEO of Totalstay, the company that brought the concept of aparthotels to South Africa, said traditional or 'old school' hotels were stagnant and plateauing as guest preferences have changed. He emphasised that Totalstay aparthotels are now competing head-on with any other hotel in Cape Town, offering guests a variety of options in terms of prices, facilities, and amenities, with some even featuring podcast studios. Phillips said that digital nomads testing out various cities worldwide find Totalstay aparthotels and serviced apartments in Cape town ideal for work as it offers free uncapped internet, jacked-up security, and a consistent power supply. Philips highlighted the exponential growth in Cape Town's tourism, with visitors increasing by 16% and airport arrivals up by 104% and expressed optimism about the growth potential of the aparthotel and serviced apartment sector in South Africa.

The Constitutional Court handed down judgments today (Monday) that set important rules for independent candidates in next year’s national election. Michael Louis, the chair of the Independent Candidates Association (ICA), was there. In this interview, he takes BizNews through the judgments and explains their implications.  He predicts a scenario where an independent candidate needs to get 90,000 votes for a seat, but gets 67,000 votes and doesn’t get elected as a Member of Parliament, while a political party with 43,000 votes will get a seat. He says the big challenge now is that independent candidates will have to “really pick up the muster to prove their strength”. And he vows that ICA is going out “full steam to identify great leaders in all the provinces and then equip and train them to become independent candidates and politicians”. He already has 29 independent candidates “of very high profile” wanting to stand. - Chris Steyn

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The Constitutional Court handed down judgments today (Monday) that set important rules for independent candidates in next year’s national election. Michael Louis, the chair of the Independent Candidates Association (ICA), was there. In this interview, he takes BizNews through the judgments and explains their implications.  He predicts a scenario where an independent candidate needs to get 90,000 votes for a seat, but gets 67,000 votes and doesn’t get elected as a Member of Parliament, while a political party with 43,000 votes will get a seat. He says the big challenge now is that independent candidates will have to “really pick up the muster to prove their strength”. And he vows that ICA is going out “full steam to identify great leaders in all the provinces and then equip and train them to become independent candidates and politicians”. He already has 29 independent candidates “of very high profile” wanting to stand.

After enduring three challenging months, investment markets experienced a robust rebound in November, marked by double-digit increases in global equities. In this month’s comprehensive recap, Corion’s David Bacher delves into the reasons behind these shifts and the specific impacts. He highlights both the top-performing equities and the money managers who navigated these changes successfully. His insights were shared in a conversation with BizNews editor, Alec Hogg.

As the “gradually…then suddenly” impact of the ANC’s socialist economic policies become apparent to all, Corporate South Africa’s appeasement approach is coming into sharper focus. In this episode of UNDICTATED, Free Market Foundation CEO David Ansara urges corporate executives to grow a pair, as the evidence proves business’s “ask nicely” approach has been a waste of time. He uses the unaffordable, bankruptcy-inducing NHI as an example: Big Business invested massively in time and resources over many years - but not a single of its suggestions were included in the final document. Ansara spoke to BizNews editor Alec Hogg.

First, we had loadshedding, the government’s euphemism for power blackouts in South Africa, which is a bane for our citizens, weighing down the economy and deterring investment. Now, the government has come up with another obscure word, ‘water-shifting’. It is loadshedding for water services that residents of Gauteng have experienced in the past months, especially those in higher-lying areas like Brixton where the supply was cut off for 3 weeks. In an interview with Biznews, water resource management expert, Professor Tony Turnton from the University of the Free State, says this policy is an admission by the government that the water supply system in South Africa has failed. The water issue, he says, is not one of scarcity. Dams and rivers are currently at their highest levels in two decades. The core issue lies in the mismanagement and distribution of water, primarily within metropolitan areas. Professor Turnton says the blame for the failures should not be shifted to consumers. High water usage figures are due to leakage rather than excessive consumption. He said it is not all doom and gloom as control over water supply is now being wrested away from the government through private initiatives, similar to what happened in the electricity sector. Professor Turnton does not see boreholes as the solution due to their low yield and contamination issues, particularly in Johannesburg after 120 years of mining activities. Ultimately, he said, South Africa faces a difficult choice, and the country will have to start recycling, recapturing, and retreating water.

Altvest founder Warren Wheatley and chief investment officer Akshay Karan share the latest developments at the innovative financial disruptor, whose shares are now listed on the CTSE and A2x. They also take the wraps off the new Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund, which has R100m available for funding to SMEs and is in the process of becoming the third underlying listing in the group’s stable. Wheatley surprised interviewer Alec Hogg with the offer of financing for BizNews Premium members - and that’s not the only surprise in this fascinating discourse.

This week’s shock announcement that South Africa’s dominant but loss-making steelmaker Arcelor Mittal is cutting its 10,000 workforce by 35%, is a case of gradually….then suddenly. For the past five years, this one-time major exporter has been pleading for sanity from Pretoria. With ever-growing problems at Eskom and an imploding Transnet, AMSA is now being forced to close the gigantic long steel plant at its Newcastle Works, which will lead to laying off over 2,000 of the 3 500 affected group-wide. It is a massive blow for the KZN town where AMSA is easily the biggest private sector employer. In this episode of UNDICTATED, BizNews’s Newcastle-grown editor Alec Hogg gets the what’s, why’s and how’s from AMSA chief executive Kobus Verster.

The private sector has offered the pay for much needed equipment to resolve the massive backlog at South African ports. Melanie Veness, the Chair of the Association of South African Chambers, tells BizNews that this is one of the proposed interventions to end the crisis that “is destroying our economy”. She says: “…it’s in our interest to do it… it's not a great scenario, but it is where we are. And we would rather step up and buy the equipment and get the ports operating than live with the situation that we currently have. So, we’ve got to get it right. That's the bottom line, or we all don't survive.” The drastic move comes from a “gatvol” private sector: “…we are saying that it's gone on long enough. We cannot continue any longer. We've reached crisis point now. We are very happy to play a significant role in resolving this crisis.”

This episode of UNDICTATED features an interview with Nedbank's chairman, Daniel Mminele, about the notable appointment of a competitor bank's esteemed professional as Nedbank's new chief executive, succeeding the iconic Mike Brown. We aim to uncover the rationale behind this decision. Currently, Jason Quinn is 49 and serves as ABSA's financial director. He was their interim CEO for about a year until March 2022. When ABSA chose Arrie Rautenbach as CEO, Quinn remained with the bank. His high regard within ABSA, which he joined in 2008, is well-known, and he also worked closely with Mminele when Nedbank's relatively freshly minted head of the directorate was ABSA Group CEO. Mminele discussed this and other issues with BizNews editor Alec Hogg.