BizNews Radio

In this interview, Westbrooke Alternative Asset management’s product development head Dino Zuccollo explains how South African investors now have access to a high yielding alternative to fixed deposits. Westbrooke offers a portfolio of loans it has made to top rated private companies, playing in a space that highly regulated banks don’t. Diversification reduces the risk of these 12-month- plus loans, which yield returns (14% is common) that are vastly superior to better known alternatives. Zuccollo unpacked the opportunity for Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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Action SA’s founder won’t hear any mitigating evidence in favour of SA’s beleaguered president – for him the events at Phala Phala are simply a reflection of a leader who needs to be put out to pasture. In this powerful interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, businessman-turned-politician Herman Mashaba makes the case for ejecting both the ANC and its leader and explains why he ignores labels of “EFF lover” and “House Nigger” slung at him by opponents. There’s good news, too, about Action SA’s rapid expansion in rural areas and normalising of its relationship with the Democratic Alliance.

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There’s a sense of deja vu as the ANC laagers around its president ahead of next week’s Phala Phala impeachment debate. The DA, and most other opposition parties, will be voting to support the establishment of an impeachment inquiry. It’s a motion that only requires a simple majority (50% plus one), but that isn’t as simple as the name denotes. Not when the ANC holds 57% of parliamentary seats. The ANC caucus in Parliament has been instructed to quash next week’s debate on the Phala Phala report in a posture incredibly reminiscent of its protection of former President Jacob Zuma. BizNews correspondent Michael Appel spoke with DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube (before Eskom so rudely cut our conversation short) about the potential outcomes and complexities of the matter.

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Many South Africans who are able to afford it, are re-locating to the Western Cape which the official opposition political party, the Democratic Alliance, has been using as something of a template. In this interview, the province’s Premier Alan Winde explains why the DA continues to encourage ‘semigration’, a direct consequence of clean governance - despite the numerous challenges which the flood of new arrivals presents. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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For 15 years Fred Daniel has faced unthinkable intimidation, destruction of property, obstruction of justice, and even death threats by a criminal cabal in Mpumalanga. The entrepreneur and conservationist, turned whistleblower, built the Nkomazi Wilderness Reserve, a collection of 89 farms he painstakingly amalgamated in the area between Badplaas and Barbeton - a UNESCO world heritage site. His conservation mission was scuppered by a “criminal enterprise targeting the public purse”, exploiting the land reform process in order to loot. In an extensive interview with BizNews correspondent Michael Appel, he explains the personal and professional cost involved in standing in the way of grand scale corruption. It’s graft that Daniel believes involves Deputy President David Mabuza as the “strongman” of Mpumalanga. Earlier this week, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse referred several criminal complaints related to Mabuza’s tenure as both MEC for Agriculture and Land Administration, as well as Premier of Mpumalanga, to the NPA’s Investigating Directorate. In a statement, the Deputy President’s office said: “This complaint is a regurgitation of old allegations by Fred Daniel, which have been and continue to be litigated in other courts, including the High Court. Every application that Mr. Daniel has filed against the Deputy President has been rejected with punitive costs. The judicial system has found him to be a dishonest litigant who takes advantage of the system.”

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South Africa's membership of BRICS presents economic opportunities for our development, as well as the rest of the African continent. Join Busi Mabuza, Chairperson - South Africa Chapter of the BRICS Business Council, Isaah Mhlanga, Chief Economist of Alexander Forbes, Willem Van Der Spuy - Chief Director, Trade and Investment South Africa and Pranjal Sharma, geo-economic analyst and author based in New Delhi, India, in conversation with Bronwyn Nielsen for exclusive insights into leveraging South Africa's chairship of BRICS to fuel growth, as well as the 10-year celebration of the BRICS Business Council and South Africa's role going forward.

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The Good party is one of the lone voices among opposition parties that isn't calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign based on the preliminary findings of the independent panel's report on Phala Phala. The party's secretary general, Brett Herron, spoke to BizNews correspondent Michael Appel about Good's perspective on the "untested findings” and the precedent it would set should anyone be required to step down based on prima facie findings without thoroughly interrogating their veracity. Herron wouldn't commit to how Good would vote in the motion being debated on Tuesday to establish a more substantial impeachment inquiry, but left the door open to the possibility of voting in the affirmative. He made the point that while the media may be playing the numbers game on how many ANC MPs would be required to vote with opposition parties to pass the motion with the required 50% plus one, opposition parties are not united on the stance that will be taken on Tuesday.

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Family-focused restaurant, Bambanani, has entertained children and their parents in Melville, Johannesburg for the past 14 years. The owner, Caryn Cohen, is now ready to take her concept of pairing sophisticated dining with a safe space for children elsewhere and to raise money, she has partnered with Altvest to look for co-investors via the Cape Town Stock Exchange. Cohen told BizNews about her ambitious plans to expand in the country and overseas. She says her biggest backers are her clientele and is looking forward to the company being run by savvy women who create opportunities for themselves. Akshay Karan from Altvest said the company became involved because they loved the story and there has been "incredible interest" so far. The company listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange on 12 December.

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Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan says the entire Phala Phala scandal threatening SA’s President is a setup engineered by disgraced former cabinet minister Arthur Fraser, his ‘sleeper’ inside the Ramaphosa household and ‘flexible’ journalists. He says there is no case for Ramaphosa to answer as Fraser’s affidavit, which sparked the controversy, is long on hearsay and short on fact. O’Sullivan urges Ramaphosa to display backbone and reject calls for his departure, saying he must not abandon the country in its hour of need. To resign now, the Forensics for Justice founder adds, would be an admission of guilt. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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In this new series on South Africans who have massively outperformed, mechanical engineer Mteto Nyati explains how his family’s obsession with education put him onto a road to becoming an Outlier. It’s a story of discipline and dedication, faith and application – and an appreciation that fancy plans are worth nothing without execution. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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