BizNews Radio

The Corion Report, released monthly, highlights the whip-sawing given to investors who decided this year listened to the old adage to 'sell in May and go away'. In this podcast, Corion's David Bacher looks back at the critical numbers of the highly volatile month and tells BizNews founder Alec Hogg where he now sees the best value.

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Shareholders were unimpressed by the proposed $6.7bn price which SA's Gold Fields Limited has agreed on to buy Canadian peer Yamana Gold. The acquiring company's share price dropped 22% on the news and shows little signs of recovering, But Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith believes Mr Market has this one wrong - and in this podcast with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, shares the message he has been sharing during face-to-face discussions in his US roadshow. The message: hang in there - once the analysts fully digest what this deal actually means, they'll be a lot more positive.

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Until now, the medical prospects for persons suffering from long Covid have been very bleak. As recently as three weeks ago, BizNews republished an article by our partners at The Wall Street Journal covering long Covid. The central message and, essentially, advice to patients struggling with long Covid symptoms was to pace themselves. Neither heartening nor motivational advice for those who find themselves incapable of functioning as a consequence of debilitating fatigue and cognitive dysfunction. However, there is hope. Dr Ashleigh Bhanjan, a specialist neurologist and bioflex practitioner working at Life Entabeni Hospital in Durban, has been treating long Covid with photobiomodulation therapy, with highly encouraging results. BizNews spoke to Dr Bhanjan who provided great insight on long Covid, including those who are at risk, the correlation between persons with severe Covid-19 infections and those who are likely to develop long Covid (spoiler alert – no correlation) and photobiomodulation therapy.

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The NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) announces it is striking back against those allegedly involved with state capture. There were a string of recent Transnet-related arrests, all tied to dealings with the infamous Gupta family. The country’s collective patience has worn thin and there has been little in the way of accountability to celebrate over the last decade. But, ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka is upbeat, telling BizNews the ID is now “striking with every arsenal we possibly can”. In this broad-ranging interview, Seboka shares the background of three of its current high-profile cases. She reveals the ID has built its fight over two years – with more cases piling up around them – against a backdrop of public criticism that more needs to be done and faster. Transnet is considered the primary site of South Africa’s looting; over R41bn in irregularly awarded contracts went to the Guptas and their acolytes. Our transport SOE accounts for over 72% of all government and parastatal contracts linked to allegations of state capture. Arrests are not prosecutions but are a necessary starting point in the fight against years of impunity. In a watch-this-space atmosphere, the ID says more arrests can be expected by mid-July, with several more “seminal” cases to be enrolled in the next six months.

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The government has decided to extend the fuel levy relief for two months. It meant that a predicted R4 per litre hike did not materialise. But the measure could not prevent increases in petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin, with petrol rising by R2.43 a litre for 93 octane unleaded fuel. TreasureOne’s Andre Cilliers told Linda van Tilburg that the increases will have a severe impact on our inflation and growth rate, and the poor will be particularly hard hit as they have no other form of public transport, but there is a silver lining for our currency and emergency markets.

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Last year June, BizNews published an article by Marc Girardot, a member of PANDA and one critical thinker, the likes of which have been in woefully short supply since the introduction of Covid-19 to our lives. His article did a deep-dive into natural immunity vs vaccine-induced immunity; it was impeccably researched and well worth reading. And it was spontaneously endorsed by Prof. Michael Levitt, the only living South African Nobel Prize-winning scientist. One year on, Girardot has made significant progress in his genuine attempt to uncover myriad myths surrounding Covid-19, the current vaccines as well as the vaccination techniques used, as is evident by looking at his Covid Myth Buster Series on Substack. In this thorough and fascinating interview, Girardot tells BizNews of the progress in respect of his findings. Girardot talks extensively about blood brain barrier disruption and highlights how these vaccines have the potential to create a wave of neurodegenerative diseases, adding a new urgency to stop the ‘vaccine dystopia’. Of particular interest is his finding that it is, in fact, not the spike protein that is the culprit and that the fundamentally flawed vaccination technique carries just as much risk as the Covid-19 vaccines themselves.

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The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) believes South Africans can take heart from the recent arrest of several former Transnet and Gupta loyalists. Just in the last week, the National Prosecuting Authority's Investigating Directorate, together with the Hawks, effected the arrests of five high-profile individuals linked to allegations of state capture at parastatal Transnet. The accused include former Transnet chief executive Siyabonga Gama, former Transnet acting CFO Garry Pita, former Transnet Treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi, former Trillian Capital executive Daniel Roy, and Regiments Capital shareholder Eric Wood. The five accused, arrested on 27 May, join Kuben Moodley, a Gupta-fixer and the director of Albatime, in the dock on charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. Moodley, however, was arrested in September 2021 already. The accused are all out on bail on various amounts of between R25 000 and R250 000 and are due back in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court on 13 July 2022. For more on the exact nature of the allegations click here.

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Stand by for a masterclass in cryptocurrency - and stablecoins - from industry veteran Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer and spokesman of Tether, the world's largest stablecoin. BizNews Editor Alec Hogg caught up with Ardoino in Davos to unpack the collapse of competitor Terra; the brief breaking of Tether's link to the US Dollar (hint - targeted by short sellers); why more countries are likely to follow El Salvador and the CAR by making Bitcoin legal tender; reason he is calling for regulation; and a riposte to Warren Buffett's recently reaffirmed assertion that cryptocurrency is 'rat poison'. Fascinating, educational, eye opening.

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The first manufactured beef steaks are set to hit restaurants next year. Israeli company Aleph Farms, funded by the sovereign wealth fund of Isreal, UAE and Singapore; venture capitalists and private investors, has successfully created meaty steaks - the real thing, not plant based - 'growing' them through cells drawn from healthy cattle. CEO Didier Toubia shares the story of the revolutionary company whose goal is to help eradicate battery-farms of cattle and chickens which currently account for over 70% of meat production. He was at WEF 2022 in Davos to talk about the company - and met with BizNews editor Alec Hogg.

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South African Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi is leading the SA delegation in Davos. Minister Kubayi has personally been navigating the KZN destruction caused by the devastating floods in the South African Province so the conversations on the impact of Climate Change have been right at the top of her agenda.

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