BizNews Radio

Last week DA leader John Steenhuisen’s proposed oversight trip to the disastrous Kusile power station was blocked by security guards on the instruction of ANC cabinet member Pravin Gordhan. Kusile was approved in 2007 as an eight-year project slated to cost R80bn. Now, 15 years later, it has cost over R200bn and only two of its six generation units are actually working. In this fascinating interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, the SA’s Parliamentary Leader of the Opposition shares the back story of the oversight visit that never was, offers some suggestions to his political opponents (hint: Thailand) – and explains what a DA government would be doing about Eskom.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Western Cape High Court has interdicted an ANC-led coalition in Knysna from continuing to pay salaries to eight unlawfully employed cadres. The court ruled that the municipality - currently in the hands of the ANC/EFF/Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners coalition - illegally altered the organigram of the entity in order to make the political appointments, without following due process. The DA calls the leadership of Knysna the “coalition of corruption” and has won their first victory in a two-part court process. BizNews correspondent Michael Appel spoke with DA constituency head in Knysna, Dr Dion George, to get background on the case and the precarious state of coalition politics in the 21-seat council he believes is a “microcosm of South Africa”.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Mann, chairman and CEO of ASP Isotopes, shares the inside story of the Pretoria-based company whose ground-breaking technology puts it at the global forefront of a rapidly expanding sector. In this interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, the US-based chemical engineer-turned-investment banker Mann explains what attracted him to the SA company; how its scientists reversed a longstanding global practice and why demand far exceeds the supply of his high-value products. - Alec Hogg

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re 20% into the five-year Local v Offshore investment Challenge and Counterpoint’s Piet Viljoen is off to a fast start. His SA-focused half of the R1m stake has appreciated to R550 239 – a superb achievement considering substantial ‘drawdowns’ (ie price drops) reported by asset managers worldwide. Offshore-focused Magnus Heystek of Brenthurst Wealth is absorbing the full brunt of the market meltdown, with his half dropping in value to R365 470. Between the two of them, however, the R1m has depreciated by a modest 8.5%, reflecting the power of diversification as it is a significant outperformance against most asset portfolios. On the one-year anniversary of the challenge, Piet and Magnus look back at the past year and ahead to the next four. Both will be keynote speakers at BNC#5 in the Drakensberg at the end of February. They spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most of us, running water and a nice hot shower is something we take for granted, but for the many homeless people in South Africa this is not the case. It robs them of their dignity and confidence to pursue work and a livelihood. To address this issue, Viva Con Agua launched a Wash Bus in Cape Town suburbs to support the unsheltered homeless and give them the opportunity to have a shower and toilet facilities. Sisanda Henda, the Project manager of the Wash Bus that has been dubbed Nina Manzi, told Linda van Tilburghow the number of homeless people in Cape town had grown to more than 14000 post-Covid. In a study of people living on the streets; they indicated that access to water was the main challenge they faced. Henda said the reaction to the project had been ‘phenomenal’ and has led to employment for some of Cape Town’s homeless people.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of CrypTalk, BizNew’s Ross Sinclair and Jaltech’s Gaurav Nair discuss the collapse of one of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, how the company got away with limited liquidity for so long, and the broader implications for the crypto market as a whole. 

For more information about Jaltech:  https://www.biznews.com/jaltech-cryptocurrency-notes 

Jaltech’s Safety Deposit Box: https://jaltech.co.za/portfolio_type/crypto-safety-deposit-box/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Google Africa chief and Bitcoin ‘maximalist’ Stafford Masie provides some practical insights into how crypto currency fans can protect their investments in the wake of the FTX implosion - and explains the connection between the Bahama-based fraudsters and SA’s leading exchanges Luno and ValR. Masie also tells us why this is a watershed moment for Bitcoin, an event which will differentiate it from worthless ‘shitcoin’ copies that proliferate the crypto currency space. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Cyril Ramaphosa was met with pomp and ceremony in the United Kingdom as the first world leader received by the new King Charles III. Few in the world can replicate how the Brits pull out the stops when it comes to state visits. There were 1,000 soldiers in a parade, inspection of the guard, a ride in a state carriage, a state banquet with tiaras, a meeting with the Prime Minister, and an address to the Houses of Parliament. Before the meeting he met South Africans at the High Commission on Trafalgar Square in London.Geoff Johnson, the founder of Nedbank’s Charity Golf Day, was one of the SA expats invited and reported that Ramaphosa had admitted that Eskom had failed, and that South Africa has “got to move to more natural resources”. Johnson gave BizNews his impression of the reception of Mr Ramaphosa in London and why he, as  a life-long supporter of the ANC, is confident that Ramaphosa is the leader who can accelerate reform. He said if Ramaphosa got the mandate to rule for another term, “he will proceed with more vigour”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Referred to by the media as the “right-to-die activist”, Professor Sean Davison made headlines in June 2019 when he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder for assisting three men, all of whom were physically incapable of ending their own unbearable suffering, to die. It wasn’t long ago, however, that the DignitySA founder and committed campaigner for a change in  the law to allow for voluntary euthanasia in South Africa was a family man who enjoyed his work as a UWC biotechnology professor and had no thoughts on euthanasia. In 2006, Davison’s terminally ill mother reached the end of her tether and begged him to help her die. A more unthinkable situation doesn’t come to mind. It was then that Davison realised that it was not his choice – it was his mother’s choice to die and he agreed to help her while she still had a little bit of dignity. This event shaped the rest of Davison’s life. BizNews spoke to Davison to find out more about a man who has accepted triple murder convictions in his fight to decriminalise voluntary euthanasia. What followed was an in-depth, raw and detailed discussion of his experience and the radical flaws in SA law that have undoubtedly left many people with an impossible choice between doing what is right and doing what is legal. The only real conviction when it comes to Davison is his realisation that it is fundamentally moral to have the option of an assisted death and to choose your own time of dying.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are now more than half a million people living over the age of 100 or older living in the world according to figures of the World Economic Forum. Every generation is living three years longer than the previous generation. The aging world population is presenting challenges to most of the developed world and in South Africa it is often associated with health-related issues. So, if we are all becoming older and reaching 100 is becoming more of a reality – consider how many of our grannies are now reaching a ripe old age of 90 and more – how should we make sure that our wealth lasts until that magic number. Wealth Migrate Chief Marketing Officer, Mariken Jansen van Vuuren who has done research on life until we clock a century says, “living longer means you need to invest earlier” and for younger people it could start with not buying two lattes a day. Riaan van der Vyfer, Chief Investment Officer of the company told Linda van Tilburg it is going to take a new mindset and that retirement should not be the end goal of financial plans. Van den Vyfer also believes there is a structural problem in the financial services industry.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices