BizNews Radio

In October 2016, British civil servant Cormac Smith was seconded to Ukraine to take up a special appointment as the Strategic Communication Advisor to then foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin. For the 18 months of his posting, Smith was embedded in Klimkin's department, the first foreigner to be given unfettered access across the Ministry. He says trust was built up through a strategy of gaining a rapid understanding of the culture, issues and history of the hugely complex nation. During his time in Kyiv he advised and provided training for five other government ministries and worked directly with the Deputy Prime Minister; and the Ministers of Health and Education. Smith, who says he came away from Kyiv with a "deep understanding and empathy" for Ukraine and its people, is in daily contact with a range of former Ukrainian colleagues in government and friends who are in the middle of the conflict. In this special podcast, he gives BizNews editor Alec Hogg an update on the latest developments, the roots to the war - and delivers clear message to a 'confused' South Africa.

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There's good and bad news in this typically forthright podcasted interview with Ranmore Funds' Sean Peche. On the plus side, the Naspers/Prosus group's $700m write-off on Russia's VK Group (formerly Mail.ru) is less than half a percentage point of the group's net assets. On the downside, investors are suddenly aware that the risk of assets in dictatorships are very real indeed - with flags waving anew around the Naspers/Prosus investment in China's Tencent. Peche suggests the South African group should cut a deal with Tencent for the Chinese company to buy back a slug of its shares owned by Naspers/Prosus. Doing so, he reckons, would have a positive impact on a stock price that has been in freefall of late.

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South Africa is the only functional democracy which did not join the United Nations' condemnation of Russia's invasion into Ukraine. Bizarrely, its currency is also one of the few beneficiaries of the war - despite a flight to quality elsewhere, the Rand has strengthened against the Euro and Sterling since the first shots were fired almost two weeks ago. In this podcast, TreasuryONE's Andre Cilliers, the forex specialist's Currency Risk Strategist explains why this is not as irrational as first appears.

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What is the South African government's official position on the conflict continuing to rage in Ukraine? Why should South Africans care about what their government, as a representative of its people, is saying or not saying? Michael Appel asks all these questions and more to head of the Russia/Africa project at the South African Institute of International Affairs, Steven Gruzd. This interview is an attempt to simplify and explain a complicated and dynamic situation that changes almost daily.

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Corion Capital publishes an informative summary of asset class and fund performance returns which can only be described as prescribed reading for local market participants, with South African investors smiling ear to ear as the JSE All Share Index continues to hit fresh highs. This has been primarily driven by the resource counters, as commodity prices across the board continue to skyrocket.

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The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has played a critical role in leading the fight against e-tolls and in holding government accountable. Outa chief executive Wayne Duvenage is a speaker at the BizNews Conference (BNC#3) taking place in the Drakensberg and spoke to Michael Appel on a range of issues following his presentation providing a state capture snapshot.

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South African Ambassador to the Ukraine, Andre Groenewald remained in the capital city Kyiv when the first Russian attacks started. Groenewald has been updating the media back home about efforts to evacuate South Africans and spent most of his time in a bunker as the city endured shelling. He vowed not to leave until South Africans are safe, but with most now out of the country, Groenewald is leaving in a convoy of diplomats. He spoke to Linda van Tilburg while driving out of the country.

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In early February the Presidency released the much-awaited findings of an expert panel looking into the violent and destructive riots that shook South Africa to its core in July 2021. Over 350 people were killed, and the mayhem engulfing KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng cost the economy R50bn. In this explainer podcast, BizNews' Michael Appel seeks to decipher what the takeaways of the first report on KZN are to determine what lessons, if any, the government has taken from South Africa's most costly riots in recent history.

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Geographically we may be far from Ukraine, the country that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces has invaded at the end of last week and South Africans who took to social media to voice their opinions about the war, leaned heavily towards, 'This is not our war.' But even if our leaders are equally keen to avoid involvement, it does not mean that South Africa will avoid catching flak. Christopher Vandome, a research fellow at the London-based international think-tank told Linda van Tilburg it would be difficult for South African to escape the economic impact of the war and ultimately the country may be forced “to answer questions that it did not necessarily wanted to answer.” - Linda van Tilburg

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BizNews tribe member and real-life action star has arrived safely in Colesberg after a broken derailer and five long days of travel to the third BizNews Conference in the Drakensberg next week.

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