BizNews Radio

Share prices are reflecting investor nervousness ahead of the US Fed's big interest rate decision tomorrow - and Wall Street is also pre-occupied by the Big Tech quarterlies later this week when Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Meta report. Numbers from Walmart delivered a shock with that stock dropping 10% in after-market trade, dragging Amazon 4% lower. To help the BizNews Breakfast Briefing more digestible, we've cut back to a single interview's highlights and today feature Leon Louw, president of the Free Market Foundation, who is in attack mode against the organisation he co-founded in 1975. Apart from previewing Big Tech quarterlies, our partners at the FT also disclose which cities are especially vulnerable to record high temperatures that have hit during the Northern Hemisphere summer.

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In some ways it’s the gift that keeps on giving to opposition parties as Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa indicates the R22m flag project remains on the table. His counterpart on the opposition bench, Tsepo Mhlongo of the DA, has lambasted Mthethwa in an interview with BizNews for the tone-deaf approach to what he calls a “vanity project”. In response to a parliamentary question asked by Mhlongo, the minister wrote that: “Cabinet’s decision to erect a monumental flag and the review of the project as proposed will be referred to Cabinet for further discussion and final decision. The budget of R22m that was allocated for the monumental flag project over two financial years is within the infrastructure unit of the department.” As a result of the funds already being available, Mthethwa says there is no need for any public participation process to reallocate the funds to any other project.

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On Friday the Free Market Foundation's President Leon Louw distributed an emotional 'Open Letter' explaining why he is leaving the once respected economic thinktank which he co-founded in 1975. In this interview with BizNews's Alec Hogg, SA's long-time voice for free enterprise explains how he believes the organisation has lost its way. He is appalled at its politicisation through a 'cabal' which has acquired control, reflected in its staff is populated by lawyers rather than economists. Louw has approached the funders of the FMF to request they withdraw their financial support of the organisation which is no longer able to interact across the political spectrum because, he claims, it has become aligned with the Democratic Alliance.

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The oddly-named "Taliban" slate of the ANC in KZN emerged victorious over the so-called "Ankole" slate over the weekend. The former is aligned with the new provincial chairperson of the ANC's biggest region, Siboniso Duma, while the latter included the now outgoing leadership headed by Sihle Zikalala (current KZN Premier) - largely aligned with party president Cyril Ramaphosa. BizNews spoke to political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga about the precarious position Ramaphosa now finds himself in come the ANC's December elective conference. Nine out of 11 of the party's regions in KZN have endorsed disgraced former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize to contest Ramaphosa for the party's top spot. Mathekga says the biggest takeaway from this weekend's conference is that, "there is just no compromise. The ANC will most likely look very different after President Ramaphosa. It looks quite dicey for him going into an elective conference on the back foot like this." Also, Mathekga's thoughts on Nhlanhla Lux's political aspirations (although he denies having any) that seem almost inevitable as he parts ways with Operation Dudula.

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Although Friday's profit-taking removed some shine, share prices around the world experienced a good week, especially some of the JSE's fallen angels that rose sharply to regain some lost ground over the past few months. This episode of the BizNews Breakfast Briefing also features highlights of two fascinating interviews - informal economy guru GG Alcock explains how Covid lockdowns and higher petrol prices have translated into a boom for township business (sparking a land grab by SA corporates); and Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings explains why far-sighted investors are advised to take advantage of the current opportunity and buy shares now to profit tomorrow.

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Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings delivers a masterclass on why interest rates have been rising - and explains why inflation globally will soon start to fall. His thesis: US inflation peaked at June's 9.1% and within a year will drop sharply to a fraction of that level. If he's right, seemingly brave souls now rushing back into Wall Street may be well rewarded for their prescience by entering a market that is down sharply (S&P -17%; Nasdaq -24% in 2022). Lings is one of South Africa's leading economists and possesses a rare gift of being able to explain the dismal science in language that we can all understand. He visited the BizNews studio in Bryanston for this interview with Alec Hogg.

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By forcing people to stay at home, Covid-19 lockdowns accelerated the development of township businesses to the point where many residents now support them and simply refuse to return to pre-pandemic shopping habits. In this fascinating interview, entrepreneur, author and informal economy specialist GG Alcock explains how South African retailers are waking up to this reality, and have launched a land grab into communities inhabited by 'Kasipolitans. Alcock also rips into the ANC's waste of taxpayer funds to subsidise its '500 black industrialists', a group of cadres who qualify for 'Stalinist' style taxypayer handouts through their connections rather than business acumen. Taxpayers would be far better served, he reckons, were SA's government to acknowledge already successful township entrepreneurs who have succeeded by overcoming daunting odds - and whose businesses would rocket with even a modicum of financial support.

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The ubiquity of fad diets is a staple of modern society - as is the inevitable realisation of their ineffectiveness. An unfortunate consequence of this cycle is that scientifically supported diets, such as intermittent fasting, are often discarded as yet another fad. To distil the essence of intermittent fasting, BizNews spoke to Dr Jason Fung, a Toronto-based nephrologist and a leading expert in intermittent fasting and low-carb diets. Dr Fung, often called the founder of intermittent fasting, explains the science behind it: the ‘why’ and ‘how’ it works, in a manner accessible to the layman.

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The future of South Africa hangs in the balance, with many pundits believing the ANC is very likely to be relegated below 50% of the vote in 2024. Rewriting that future then comes down to servant leaders who will do everything within their power to boot what Thabo Mandila calls an "evil organisation" from power. Some may call Mandila a political chameleon, by virtue of having been a member of numerous political parties in his time, including the ANC, but he says "my preoccupation is to save my country. I don't care what people call me. We can't stop trying to save our country because we are afraid of what people will call us." Mandila - President of the Republican Democratic Party (RDP) - tells BizNews’ Michael Appel he has been lobbying opposition parties to form a pre-election coalition because no one party can unseat the ANC. This is a straight-shooting interview in which Mandila holds no punches, and certainly no brief, for anyone.

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In this episode of CrypTalk, BizNews' Ross Sinclair speaks with Gaurav Nair of Jaltech, an alternative investment fund, about the difference between proof of work validation and proof of stake validation, the Ethereum merge, and the collapse of Celsius and Voyager. 

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

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