BizNews Radio

Elections are traditionally the time that politicians, some who are seldom seen outside their big cars with tinted windows, get outside to be seen as leaders who are in tune with the electorate. In other countries, kissing a couple of babies and knocking on doors would do it but in South Africa where the problems tend be more pressing, it takes more. The issue of Afrikaans as an indigenous language has even prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to speak Afrikaans to communities in the Cape, which has led to many internet memes. Finding issues that the electorate feel passionate about and are touching their lives every day, is normally a sure way of hitting the ball out of the park and in South Africa the most pressing issue for a local government election, is Eskom and loadshedding. To say that it is the Achilles heel of the ANC is an understatement, it is more like a giant size piñata that opposition parties can shoot with a laser gun without a blindfold. And the DA’s young Cape Town mayoral candidate has come up with a humdinger – Geordin Hill-Lewis is running on the promise of no more loadshedding for Cape Town. He explained to Alec Hogg how he would achieve it.

Elections are traditionally the time that politicians, some who are seldom seen outside their big cars with tinted windows, get outside to be seen as leaders who are in tune with the electorate. In other countries, kissing a couple of babies and knocking on doors would do it but in South Africa where the problems tend be more pressing, it takes more. The issue of Afrikaans as an indigenous language has even prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to speak Afrikaans to communities in the Cape, which has led to many internet memes. Finding issues that the electorate feel passionate about and are touching their lives every day, is normally a sure way of hitting the ball out of the park and in South Africa the most pressing issue for a local government election, is Eskom and loadshedding. To say that it is the Achilles heel of the ANC is an understatement, it is more like a giant size piñata that opposition parties can shoot with a laser gun without a blindfold. And the DA’s young Cape Town mayoral candidate has come up with a humdinger – Geordin Hill-Lewis is running on the promise of no more loadshedding for Cape Town. He explained to Alec Hogg how he would achieve it.

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Airline veteran Simon Newton-Smith opens up to BizNews editor Alec Hogg in this fascinating interview on why newly relaunched South African Airways is unlikely to even need taxpayer funding again. The airline's new Chief Commercial Officer returned to SAA in August after a successful career at global majors including a long spell with Virgin Atlantic. Apart from being trimmed down - 4 000 pre-Business Rescue staff to 800 - Newton-Smith explains how a modernised approach to managing the airline is already starting to pay off. And how priceless assets like its brand and the large Voyager customer base underpin what not long ago appeared to be a most unlikely recovery.

Airline veteran Simon Newton-Smith opens up to BizNews editor Alec Hogg in this fascinating interview on why newly relaunched South African Airways is unlikely to even need taxpayer funding again. The airline's new Chief Commercial Officer returned to SAA in August after a successful career at global majors including a long spell with Virgin Atlantic. Apart from being trimmed down - 4 000 pre-Business Rescue staff to 800 - Newton-Smith explains how a modernised approach to managing the airline is already starting to pay off. And how priceless assets like its brand and the large Voyager customer base underpin what not long ago appeared to be a most unlikely recovery.

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South Africa's globally rated financial services analyst Kokkie Kooyman runs through the relative value offered by the country's top six banks. He explains to Alec Hogg how, at the current share prices, two of them are outstanding buying opportunities for investors following the long-overdue trend of switching from Growth to Value stocks.

South Africa's globally rated financial services analyst Kokkie Kooyman runs through the relative value offered by the country's top six banks. He explains to Alec Hogg how, at the current share prices, two of them are outstanding buying opportunities for investors following the long-overdue trend of switching from Growth to Value stocks.

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In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by Steven Nathan paying tribute to Allan Grenblo; Denker Capital's Kokkie Kooyman unpacks it's new partnership with Janus Henderson; global editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism James Ball on Smoke Screen and the murky world of the tobacco industry and the BizNews Team.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by Steven Nathan paying tribute to Allan Grenblo; Denker Capital's Kokkie Kooyman unpacks it's new partnership with Janus Henderson; global editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism James Ball on Smoke Screen and the murky world of the tobacco industry and the BizNews Team.

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For the past year and a half a team at UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has looking into activity in the South African tobacco industry. The result of those efforts is a cracking eight series Podcast called Smoke Screen (on auddy.co). In this interview, the Bureau's international editor James Ball joins Alec Hogg with a taste of what's in Smoke Screen's Episode 5 - and explain how executives at multinational protagonist British American Tobacco have leaned on the boardroom ploy of "plausible deniability".

For the past year and a half a team at UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has looking into activity in the South African tobacco industry. The result of those efforts is a cracking eight series Podcast called Smoke Screen (on auddy.co). In this interview, the Bureau's international editor James Ball joins Alec Hogg with a taste of what's in Smoke Screen's Episode 5 - and explain how executives at multinational protagonist British American Tobacco have leaned on the boardroom ploy of "plausible deniability".

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