BizNews Radio

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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Every time the investigation into climate change – which has quickly emerged as one of the most contentious issues of our time – has reached a new depth, the complexity of the matter has intensified, with numerous factors crawling out of the woodwork. Gaining knowledge on the subject has been akin to peeling a proverbial knowledge onion with unlimited layers. A quote by Albert Einstein sums it up beautifully, "The more I learn, the more I realise how much I don't know." Across the board, a deeper look into the climate change debate saw climate engineering – otherwise referred to as geoengineering – prop up as a factor that could not be ignored when discussing climate change. To explore the concept of geoengineering, BizNews spoke to Dane Wigington, the lead researcher at GeoengineeringWatch.org and executive producer of the groundbreaking documentary The Dimming. Wigington astutely broke down the timeline of climate engineering, how it has been used as a weapon in weather warfare, and how these operations are decimating the planet's life support systems and its ability to respond to any changes that are occurring. An incredibly revelatory interview.

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Corion Capital's David Bacher says the stock market's rollicking start to 2023 made this the 9th best January since 1960. But he has a word of caution for those piling back into shares: Corion itself has been selling into the strength on the view that US markets, in particular, are fragile. In this regular monthly recap with Alec Hogg of BizNews, Bacher outlines the reasons behind the January Jump and shares insights into the best way to play the volatile markets.

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South Africa's latest experience with coalition politics resulted in a significant elevation into Executive Mayorship of the country's richest Metro. Previously invisible Thapelo Amad, whose splinter political party received under 10 000 of the 933 000 votes cast in the 2021 election, has been engineered by 'Kingmaker' Gayton McKenzie into the position of overseeing the city's R73bn Budget. McKenzie, whose 8 Patriotic Alliance members hold the swing vote in Joburg's 270-seat Council, swapped sides for the second time to bring down the DA-run coalition. In this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, he shares the 'back story' and his perspectives on what awaits the young democracy as it follows a chaotic path to post-ANC rule.

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Under his leadership, Tony Leon witnessed the Democratic Alliance mushroom from a tiny 1.7% of the national vote in the 1994 election to become Parliament's Official Opposition at 15x that number - and potentially a leading player in Government after the watershed election in May 2024. Leon retired from Parliament in 2007 and from public life entirely in 2012 after a three-year stint as SA's Ambassador to Argentina. But the legally trained son of a High Court Judge from an anti-apartheid family remains plugged into SA's political story. In this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews he shares some of his own experiences; offers a perspective on how the careers of the DA's other young achievers in politics may develop - and provides insights into how the Democratic Alliance is likely to approach the 2024 National Election, with some sobering post-poll scenarios.

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Since 2017, Magnus Heystek-founded Brenthurst Wealth clients have owned no South African property investments. It’s been an excellent call, with asset values falling sharply in the past six years. Heystek explains in this interview why he regards SA property as the most destructive asset class, even though there are always exceptions (think migration to the Western Cape) - the reasons for remaining ultra bearish. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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Loadshedding and the deterioration of services and infrastructure in South Africa are leading to a general feeling of despair in the country. Last week, the South African Reserve Bank highlighted the dire effect of power blackouts on our economy. In his first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) statement of the year, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago estimated that 'extreme loadshedding' will lead to more than a 2% reduction in GDP growth this year. According to his GDP forecast, the South African economy would shrink by  R100 billion this year. Loadshedding is wiping out projected growth and is estimated to be only 0.3% in 2023. PWC paints an even darker picture asserting that blackouts will knock five percentage points off GDP growth this year. It is hard to find silver linings in this dark cloud. Still, Simon Maritz, the founder of Fine Fragrance Collection, points out that South Africa's manufacturing sector appears resilient and has found ingenious ways to mitigate loadshedding. Proof of this, he told BizNews, is that there are no empty shelves as we experienced during the Covid pandemic lockdowns.

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Mark Wilkes, VP of Risk at Easy Equities, has deep experience in global investment markets, having operating trading desks at major institutions in London, Amsterdam, and Johannesburg. His advice to the hundreds of thousands of Easy’s retail investors who own US shares is to be cautious: keep faith with your own processes but stay conservative despite the excitement of the last month. He reckons investors should stick with broad-based ETFs like those tracking the S&P500 Index rather than buying into individual shares. The market veteran shared his insights with Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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PC Ferreira, a Karoo farmer and owner of the Karoo Gariep Conservancy between Colesberg and Hanover, embodies the Afrikaans expression, ‘‘n Boer maak ‘n plan.’ In his case, the Boer or sustainable farmer who re-introduced hippos in the Northern Cape is making several plans - and his next big project is to establish rhinos on his farm and to invite tourists to spend a day with a rhino. Ferreira is also the driver of the Karoo Seekoei River Nature Reserve initiative, a conservation plan including 450,000 hectares of land belonging to 57 owners along the river in a reserve. For Ferreira it is not only about nature conservation and tourism, however. He has also established three non-profit organisations in a project melding 16 towns around Hanover into a tourism route. He is working on a safe house for troubled ‘fallen stars’, a skills training facility, a heritage hub for the San people… and a plan to use beehives to help street kids. Ferreira told BizNews that he believed that the Karoo is one of the last safe havens for rhinos and that you could give him a list of reasons why things shouldn’t work, but “there is always the possibility that it can work”. – Linda van Tilburg

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Last week, BizNews founder Alec Hogg participated at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland for the 18th time. He shared his insights at a fundraising breakfast in Hermanus, providing context on the state of the world economy, dramatic innovations currently affecting us and how a global wave of creative destruction is impacting South Africa. Here is a recording of his address.

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