BizNews Radio
Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Elsie Kanza's inside track on the African agenda at Davos 2019
For the past eight years, head of Africa for the World Economic Forum, Tanzanian Elsie Kanza has ensured the often forgotten continent enjoys the attention its billion people deserve. As she geared up for her busiest week of the year, I tapped her for some thoughts on the Africa agenda…
Solar expert on Eskom's woes: 'We don’t need this chaos anymore'
JOHANNESBURG — Just before his pre-Davos press briefing this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa meet with an Eskom task team to try deal with the headache that is our country's state-owned power utility. Eskom has been terribly run for years and after it asked for another massive price hike from regulator…
Ramaphosa opens up on land, the Reserve Bank and child visas
JOHANNESBURG — President Cyril Ramaphosa at a pre-WEF briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning spent a good 15 minutes addressing some sharp issues relating to the controversy surrounding expropriation of land without compensation, the independence of the Reserve Bank and what appears to be the unresolved child-visa disaster (which is…
Ramaphosa: 'Don't be discouraged by lacklustre economic growth'
JOHANNESBURG — President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the now-annual pre-WEF briefing that happens each year before our politicians fly over to Davos. This year's pre-WEF meet was a very different one to the one I attended last year. For starters, the venue was different. Last year, it was held in one…
Silver lining for Ubuntu Baba after Woolworths copycat incident
JOHANNESBURG — Local baby carrier business Ubuntu Baba has been in the headlines the last few days after Woolworths was exposed for copying its products. It all started with a blog post that Ubuntu Baba founder, Shannon McLaughlin, wrote on 7 January in which she explained, in-depth, as to how…
Eskom's debt woes: Globally respected Debtwire offers its take
In this interview, BizNews editor and publisher Alec Hogg asks the Head of EMEA Credit Research at Debtwire, Nicholas Smith-Saville, about the company's perspective on Eskom's debt woes. Debtwire is well-known for its analysis of debt markets worldwide and in-depth credit analysis. As a result, Smith-Saville provides a much needed global perspective on Eskom's financial…
Paul O'Sullivan: 'Cyril Ramaphosa and his son are NOT corrupt'
JOHANNESBURG — Forensics for Justice has published a statement and affidavit indicating why it believes that Andile Ramaphosa (President Cyril Ramaphosa's son) is not guilty of corruption with regard to alleged kickback payments from the company formerly known as 'Bosasa' (now 'African Global Operations'). In this interview, investigative sleuth Paul…
IRR's snap poll - Gareth van Onselen on what it means for 2019
JOHANNESBURG — The IRR's latest snap poll on the build-up to the 2019 election has drawn a lot of interest. It's been lauded for being among the most credible yet and paints a picture of what could happen to the vote in 2019. While the ANC has been gaining lost…
SA's energy future: RMB's Keith Webb on diversifying the mix
JOHANNESBURG — Load shedding has been on many South Africans' lips over the last few weeks. Rolling blackouts commenced in late 2018 again as Eskom grappled with its coal supplies and power plant breakdowns. But looking to the future at times like this is important. And in this interview, RMB Investment…
How to fight back against land EWC - Advocate Mark Oppenheimer
JOHANNESBURG — Advocate Mark Oppenheimer of the Johannesburg Bar is probably the most sensible and rational voice you'll hear when it comes to those opposing a current process to change the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation in South Africa. After attending a recent summit where various…
Prepare for 5 years of load shedding in SA — Ted Blom
JOHANNESBURG — Energy and mining expert Ted Blom always offers rather different opinions on what's gone wrong at Eskom. He touts himself as being energy agnostic and has controversial views about the sustainability of clean sources such as solar and wind in a country like South Africa. Nevertheless, Blom has…
Paul O Sullivan's R4bn gift to SA - exposing corrupt Transnet deal linked to ConCourt judge
In this fascinating interview, South Africa's ace crime fighter Paul OSullivan tells the story of how a call to the Forensics for Justice tip-off line resulted in the termination of a corrupt R4bn contract at Transnet, the country's rail and port utility. It also explains O'Sullivan's confidence that his country…
Tech startup Memeza wants to cut crime in SA's worst areas by 50%
JOHANNESBURG — Local crime-fighting technology startup Memeza is doing something rather unique. They've built low-cost alarm technologies that connect to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and which alerts nearby safety community members. There's essentially a one-off affordable cost involved with the system plus small monthly data charges. The technology has…
PIC, GEPF a political piggy bank amid R7.4bn write-offs - expert
JOHANNESBURG — The Public Investment Corporation together with the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) have been under the spotlight this week amid revelations that they have effectively written off loans of R7.4bn to a Steinhoff connected entity and Sekunjalo, which is headed by controversial media owner Iqbal Surve. This is…
Load shedding woes: Chris Yelland explains latest Eskom headache
JOHANNESBURG — For the first three days of December 2018, the country has been plunged into electricity shortages as Eskom restarted rotational load shedding. While coal problems have come to haunt Eskom once again, this time it's a range of other issues that have created this latest mess, according to…
Tech recovers, Microsoft shines, we benefit – The Editor’s Desk
After a devastating October, the global tech sector has posted a significant recovery in recent weeks. Many of the shares included in the Biznews Global Share Portfolio, like Apple and Amazon, clawed back a good portion of their share price decline. But one share in particular, Microsoft, outshone the rest…
Backstory to Motus Holding's new JSE listing
JOHANNESBURG — Motus Holdings, the automotive unit that unbundled from Imperial Holdings, listed on the JSE on Thursday. In this interview, Motus Holdings CEO Osman Arbee and his CFO Ockert Janse van Rensburg explain the story behind the new listing. - Gareth van Zyl Learn more about your ad choices…
White Zulu GG Alcock on the rise of the 'Kasinomic Revolution'
JOHANNESBURG — GG Alcock is no stranger to BizNews as he's been interviewed previously by Alec Hogg as well as having had one of his articles published on BizNews. It was therefore great to catch up with GG and find out about his latest book, 'Kasinomic Revolution - The Rise of African…
A big, bad week in Brexit and Bitcoin - The Editor's Desk
In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan look back on a chaotic week in Brexit. Theresa May secured a draft agreement, but defections from her own party have put its future in doubt. With some calling for a hard Brexit, it's anyone's guess what the future holds. Meanwhile, markets…
Fighting ELWC, IRR takes Parliament committee on judicial review
JOHANNESBURG — Fewer issues than land expropriation without compensation elicit such highly, emotionally charged feelings among South Africans. So, when a Parliament committee on Thursday controversially announced that it would start the process of changing the Constitution to affect so-called land 'ELWC', the likes of the Institute of Race Relations…