BizNews Radio

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg brings some on-the-ground insights on the back of the medium-term budget speech; Piet Viljoen's market insights; Purple Group’s CEO Charles Savage on the group's results plus an update on other business units under the umbrella; and Remgro CIO Pieter Uys on Vodacom’s latest acquisition, a co-controlling equity stake in (CIVH’s) fibre assets.

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

News headlines:

*SARS says its concerted effort to clamp down on tax non-compliance has resulted in R172 billion for the fiscus, drawn across all tax types.

*Former state president FW de Klerk died at his home in Cape Town on Thursday at the age of 85.

*Finance minister Enoch Godongwana presented his inaugural budget speech today, in which he resisted pressure to use the fiscal space that has delivered a R120bn boost to tax revenue and faster GDP growth from commodities windfall to announce new spending commitments, including meeting demands for a basic income grant.

Despite millions being spent on rhino protection elsewhere in Africa and in South Africa, the number of rhinos in the Kruger National Park is reported to have dropped no more than 3,000, the lowest number ever. That is a decline of nearly two-thirds over the past decade according to South African National Parks (SANParks). South Africa holds the majority of the world’s rhinos and it is the country hardest hit by poachers. And while there is demand in the Far East, the situation remains dire.

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

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg celebrates the 30th anniversary of previously isolated South Africa's return to international sport; Alec speaks to legendary Ali Bacher, former SA cricket captain and long-time driver of the sport, who is joined by Proteas Clive Eksteen and Adrian Kuiper who were on that historic tour to India; Andre Viljoen, the owner of Woodstock Brewery, launched Mother Soup and in partnership with the Great Commission United have supplied more than five million meals since the global pandemic started.

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

10X founder Steven Nathan shares his pearls of wisdom on interesting developments taking place across local and international markets. Since his departure at 10X at the beginning of the year, Nathan has been on ‘garden leave’, which is a restraint of trade prohibiting him from working in the asset management industry for two years. Despite calling his time off “refreshing”, Nathan says it’s important to not lose focus and hence has been keeping up to date with all the market trends in 2021. Local talking points include Northam Platinum’s R17bn deal with Royal Bafokeng Platinum; representative of the Ascendis Activist Investors (Harry Smit) being appointed to the board of directors; and Mark Sardi departing the debt-laden pharma business for South Africa’s pharma leader, Aspen.

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

News headlines:

*Coalition talks between parties continue, with the kingmaker in Gauteng – ActionSA – in active talks with the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters.

*While it is no secret that Eskom’s power grid is incredibly vulnerable and under strain, revelations from the group this week showed exactly how fine a line it is treading daily.

*Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says he will not resign of his own accord because there’s no use putting a new jockey on a dead horse.

Veteran mining analyst Peter Major analyses Royal Bafokeng Platinum’s decision to reject Impala Platinum’s takeover bid, opting for a deal with Northam Platinum instead. In a deal valued at around R17bn, Northam Platinum will buy a third of RBP at R180.50 per share, a 50% premium on its share price before the deal was announced. Strangely, RBP’s share price fell following the announcement. Northam’s slumped 15%, on a day where the producer of precious metals lost more than R10bn. At face value, Major says the consolidation of Impala and RBP made a lot of sense given the operational synergies. Major is more sceptical with synergies and benefits of consolidation with Northam; however, he outlines that Northam CEO Paul Dunne is a shrewd operator and has intentions to scale the business to levels that are attractive for international investment houses. 

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

This special podcast marks the 30th anniversary of previously isolated South Africa's return to international sport - SA cricket's first ever One Day International played in front of 90,000 fans in Calcutta on 10 November 1991. It features legendary Ali Bacher, former SA cricket captain and long-time driver of the sport, who is joined by Proteas Clive Eksteen and Adrian Kuiper who were on that historic tour to India.

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

A flurry of negotiations has taken place over the last couple of days as political parties started coalition talks after the 2021 local government elections resulted in 66 hung councils with the ANC dipping below 50% of voter support for the first time in post-apartheid South Africa. Political analyst, Dr Piet Croucamp from North-West University, says the challenge of opposition parties is not to re-empower the ANC as the governing party is on course to lose the national election in 2024 unless, “they do something really, really radical”. Dr Croucamp also weighs in on the stellar rise of Herman Mashaba and the EFF as a toxic coalition partner.

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

News headlines:

*President Ramaphosa has said that the biggest risk facing South Africa right now is that the country relies on Eskom as the sole generator of electricity.

*Coalition talks among South Africa’s political parties are heating up, with the ANC now hitting back at the opposition parties who say they will not work with them.

*Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has called on African nations to urgently form a united front to resist global pressure to rapidly abandon fossil fuels.