BizNews Radio

Activist group Solidarity is determined to expose president Cyril Ramaphosa's "State of Disaster" proposal as an ill-conceived and unnecessary power play that has everything to do with ANC politics and will do nothing to address SA's energy crisis. Connie Mulder, head of the Solidarity Research Institute, explains why the organization is determined to prevent the action by approaching the courts. In this rational discussion with Alec Hogg of BizNews, he expresses shock at Ramaphosa's contradictory State of the Nation address. He argues that instead of playing politics and costing taxpayers money with another unnecessary cabinet appointment, the president should act logically and fire his incompetent lieutenants.

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Value investor Piet Viljoen applies Second Level Thinking to SA's electricity crisis - and shares some fresh twigs in hos bundles of riskier but potentially high-performing stocks. The way Counterpoint's money manager sees it, fixing the problem is a not-negotiable. And as investments are made to address it, some JSE-listed companies are sure to enjoy strong demand for their products. A check-list for the far-sighted investor. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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Virtual health has been heralded for the past 10-15 years as the next disrupter of healthcare, but the uptake was slow until Covid-19. The pandemic served as an accelerator for healthcare providers and patients to adopt telemedicine. In a 2022 report, McKinsey concluded that, “the opportunity for technology and life sciences companies to address health equity challenges with digital innovation is immense.” In South Africa, health-tech founder, Alex Schmidt saw an opportunity when he realised that the process of accessing the contraceptive pill could be lengthy and embarrassing and he launched a sexual health platform, called Contro in 2021. Schmidt told BizNews that they have treated more than 3000 patients and that 30% of them are in townships and rural areas. He said that Contro, which he described as ‘Uber for the Pill’, wants to expand its services and it has attracted the interest of large corporate entities.

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CNN editor-at-large Richard Quest is among a handful of news industry personalities whose influence transcends national boundaries. So, impressions gathered during his latest visit to SA by this globally-respected 60-year-old really matter. While Quest diplomatically avoids commenting on the 2024 Election and admires SA's entrepreneurial spirit, his main takeaway from this week's visit to Cape Town is the shock of experiencing regular power outages. In this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, the globe-trotting journalist urges SA policy-makers to urgently apply lessons from countries that have successfully tackled similar challenges. He reckons for any country with First World aspirations, the electricity blackouts which are becoming endemic in SA are simply "unimaginable".

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Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen shares his thoughts on a range of subjects in this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews.com. He provides straight answers to the questions many South Africans want answered. Like: Will the DA enter a coalition with the ANC after the 2024 Election; Did Mpho Phalatse's challenge for DA Leadership trigger the end of her Joburg Mayorship; Can Eskom be rescued from seemingly inevitable collapse; After being twice let down, will the DA still strike a deal with Gayton McKenzie's Patriotic Alliance; and will his party to turn successful provincial governance into winning votes nationally. Good politicians must be peddlers of hope. From the evidence in this interview, Steenhuisen is a very good politician.

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Momint is known for selling digital assets or non fungible tokens (NFTs). The most famous is probably the auction of a NFT of Nelson Mandela's arrest warrant sold for $310,000. And then there are the well-known bored ape NFTs, which are sort-after items for tech billionaires. But now, Momint CEO Aram Posthumus is turning to solar energy and has launched a blockchain offering called SunCash. It allows anyone to invest in solar power and resell it to institutions like schools. Posthumous told BizNews that investors would essentially become Eskom and earn the revenue that the power utility would typically get. He said that the country’s electricity problem could become “a massive positive and South Africa can actually become a world leader in renewable energy,” and it is an opportunity to attract foreign direct investment to the country.

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Just shy of 13 years ago, Schalk Malan, Suzanne Stevens, and Sean Hanlon gave up executive jobs at Discovery Holdings to launch an insurance startup. This week their business, now SA's preferred life insurance company for independent financial advisors, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bellville-based giant Sanlam. Alec Hogg of BizNews asked CEO Schalk Malan the obvious - and not such apparent questions. For his part, Malan reckons access to Sanlam's large capital base will accelerate Brightrock's impressive growth trajectory. This suggests that competitors, like the Brightrock trio's former employer Discovery, best pay attention.

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Globally respected academic Prof. Jonathan Jansen addresses some key questions – should young people leave the country; will the 2024 Election usher in a new dawn; are our politicians learning from the Metro coalitions; is Elon Musk a suitable custodian for Twitter – in this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews. In conclusion, despite its well-documented challenges, Jansen still regards SA as a half-full glass. Its people and resilience are not to be underestimated. They have enabled the country to beat the odds in the past, and the Stanford PhD and Stellenbosch University professor maintains they will do so again.

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Rupert Finnemore, head of Easy Properties and a 20-year veteran in the sector, offers a counter to Magnus Heystek’s warning to stay away from real estate. He explains that the sizable discounts Easy can negotiate through its crowd-funded chequebook and a low price entry point (investing from R1) provides unique advantages. Its highly niched focus, he adds, makes this a very appealing prospect for all investors. Rupert spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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What most South Africans would agree on is that urgent intervention is needed to solve the country’s energy crisis. President Cyril Ramaphosa has received support from the ANC National Executive that a state of disaster on energy could be declared but many South Africans are concerned that it would be another opportunity to loot and bypass laws. Professor William Gumede from the Wits School of Governance says a state of emergency on the energy crisis is not needed. Eskom’s problems could be solved with shock therapy. He told BizNews that South Africa’s dilemma is however that it is very difficult for the ‘ANC party state’ to implement the effective measures at Eskom that he presented last year to managers of Eskom power stations as it will have an impact on ANC leaders and they fear it could turn away voters from the ruling party. Prof Gumede believes that the positive outcome of the energy crisis could be a new manufacturing industry around renewables.

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