Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Johann Rupert delighted BizNews webinar attendees when he paid a surprise visit, to share his stories about FirstRand's founders. This is part 2 of a four part series.

Tim Modise talks to Dr Kgomotso Mathabe, head of Department of Urology at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Other diseases have been displaced in hospitals because of concentration of Covid-19. She speaks about prostate cancer.

Andrea Rademeyer is the chief executive and founder of Ask Afrika - a full service market research company. In this interview, Rademeyer engages in an interesting discussion with BizNews founder Alec Hogg on topical issues. Having conducted nearly 7000 interviews since the beginning of lockdown, Rademeyer shares valuable insight and statistics. These range from the decrease in ratings scored by President Ramaphosa to the quite surprising majority of 70% of South Africans who are in favour of the alcohol ban. Sobering statistics regarding food insecurity and gender based violence in our country are also explored. Ask Afrika aims to provide a voice to the citizens of our country in these turbulent times. - Nadya Swart

Professor Ian Vlok, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon at Tygerberg Hospital, follows up with BizNews founder Alec Hogg on the management of Covid-19 infections at Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape. During their previous discussion in May, Prof Vlok explained how the hospital had been preparing for the anticipated tidal wave of Covid-19 infections. Now, with the Covid-19 wave upon them, he is cautiously optimistic that Cape Town and the Western Cape have plateaued, albeit in the form of a 'table mountain type' curve. Discussing the low mortality rate in South Africa, Prof Vlok suggests that perhaps it is partly because South Africans are 'just a bunch of tough guys' who have been primed for this by decades of perpetual illness which has plagued our society. - Nadya Swart

Dr Ross Hofmeyr is back with us after a three month or so adjourn. He is an associate professor at UCT, Department of Anaesthesia, and works at the Groote Schuur Hospital and has had a very interesting three months. "We're looking very, very carefully at the numbers to make sure this is not just a temporary blip and things get worse again but the eye of faith and a bit of hope, we think that we might be over the peak and we might be seeing a slow, gradual decline from here," he tells BizNews founder Alec Hogg.

In today's news headlines: * The Democratic Alliance has served Finance Minister Tito Mboweni with legal notice of its intention to challenge another taxpayer-funded bailout of SAA. * South Africa is one of the world’s most undervalued currencies. That’s according to the Big Mac Index, produced by The Economist, which has the rand at the bottom of its league table of poorly performing currencies. * China has become the first major economy to return to growth since the coronavirus started sweeping across the world earlier this year, says BizNews partner Wall Street Journal. * The owner of the Foschini and @home chains said in a statement it would offer 40 new shares for every 100 ordinary shares held at an issue price of R41.90, reports Reuters. *

Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu-PF has threatened to eject Old Mutual, the country's biggest company, from the stock exchange. But, it says it could trade in US dollars on another stock exchange, which doesn't yet exist, at Victoria Falls. Zimbabwe experts corporate finance specialist Sean Gammon, economist Professor Tony Hawkins and political risk analyst Tara O'Connor tell BizNews that the steps Zimbabwe wants to take are not going to slow inflation, which is running at an official rate of over 700%. - Linda van Tilburg

People have got to work and they've got to balance the interests between protecting their lives and their livelihoods. One person who is knowledgeable about these matters and has got strong opinions is Mr Tebogo Khaas, who is the founder of the SMME Forum. He also goes by asymptomatic Covid19 as his Twitter handle. Khaas assesses the rules, with broadcaster Tim Modise - whose work is published under the SA Renewal banner on BizNews.com.

Loadshedding has returned for the first time since March this year to South Africa bringing an end to a period of stable power supply because of reduced demand during the Covid-19 lockdown. State utility, Eskom has told Reuters that it cannot say how long the new round of power cuts will last. But could the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy's plan to procure electricity from independent producers be a quicker solution to the Eskom problem?  One of the applications from an independent power supplier is from a power ship electricity supplier Karpowership. Spokesperson Patrick O'Driscoll tells BizNews that power ships could be in place on the South African coastline in months with cheaper electricity. Meanwhile Thomas Garner, the Chair of South African Independent Power Producers Association, has accused the government of dragging its feet on independent power suppliers and says Minister Gwede Mantashe appears to be anti-renewables. - Linda van Tilburg

In episode 61 of Inside Covid-19, independent economic and political analyst, UCT professor Richard Calland, assesses how the SA government has handled the pandemic thus far; highlights from two powerful but sobering interviews exploring conditions on the Western Cape’s frontline, first with Dr Ross Hofmeyr from Groote Schuur who takes us into his exhausting world, and then neurosurgeon Prof Ian Vlok of Tygerberg Hospital who explains why the liquor ban is cheered by health workers – but increased capacity in taxis, not so much. - Alec Hogg

In today's news headlines: * Consumer price growth has fallen to a 15-year, prompting speculation that there will be another interest rate cut. * 3m South Africans lost their jobs, of which 2m were women; 1.5m got no pay in April. * Tourism-related companies are calling for a boycott of companies like Santam and Guardrisk over their failure to pay up for business interruption as a result of the Covid-19 shutdowns. * Eskom says it is in the dark about how long load-shedding will last. * The British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa is to go ahead as planned. * Rand has a good day amid news that Moderna has produced a promising Covid-19 vaccine.

Richard Calland is a legal and political expert, with a special focus on South Africa. In this interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, Calland - who was a barrister in London before changing career focus - shares his score-card on how President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Cabinet have dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. He highlights that Covid-19 is putting the spotlight on structural inequalities between the private and state healthcare systems and he gives his carefully considered view on the anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol rules and related court cases. Calland notes that saving lives and minimising damage to the economy has been an extremely difficult balancing act. - Editor

The alcohol ban that was reimposed at the weekend after President Cyril Ramaphosa noted that booze-related injuries were taking up valuable hospital space needed for Covid-19 patients has sparked an outcry - and fierce debate. In this interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, Ryan Noach - chief executive of Discovery - emphasises that he believes "the lesson here is that as a society, as South Africans, we have to find a more responsible way for legal alcohol to flow. We have to learn lessons at a societal level about how how to respond and how to act when alcohol is around."

South African entrepreneur Robert Paddock is one of the driving forces behind the Valenture Institute, a South African organisation that is radically transforming the way online education is delivered. Instead of trying to re-engineer classroom learning and teaching, the Valenture Institute has started a new model with the learner at the centre. He speaks to BizNews founder Alec Hogg about the disruptive education business model.

In episode 60 of Inside Covid-19 we hear why the temporary ban on alcohol sales makes sense in the context of growing pressure on hospital beds; Dr Sheri Fanoroff’s guidelines on what you need to do after testing positive; the South African brothers pioneering online high schooling who got a coronavirus boost; and why it’s really important for us in the Southern Hemisphere to get a flu shot this year to protect against simultaneous infections of Covid-19 and seasonal influenza. - Alec Hogg

In today's news headlines: * Zanu-PF wants to delist Old Mutual, the country's largest public company, after accusing it of playing into 'economic sabotage'. * SAA has an interim CEO, Philip Saunders, and R10bn in government backing to get the state-owned airline back in the air. * A former judge says an Eskom tender that grew from R114m to R14bn should be investigated. * Sun International hopes to get shareholders to help it out of its liquidity crisis, with a R1.2bn rights offer looming. * Aspen has slashed excessively high prices of cancer drugs in Europe to avoid a fine. * Foschini is set for a rights offer to clean up its debt.

South Africa has now reached the top ten in the world in numbers of confirmed cases and is set to overtake the UK in the next few days. We remain 5th worldwide in terms of active cases and are the 3rd fastest growing country. More than 1/3 of cases are clustered in our smallest province, Gauteng. If it hasn’t already, Covid-19 is coming soon to a person near you. So what do you do when this happens?

We’re learning more about how the virus that causes Covid-19 is spread from person to person. For the most part, it happens when we’re in close contact with an infected person, who emits tiny liquid particles by coughing, sneezing, speaking or singing. You get sick by inhaling the droplets, or having them travel into your ears or nose. But researchers are looking at another way it may be transmitted. Bloomberg's Jason Gale reports that virus-laden aerosols, floating in gas clouds, might be capable of infecting us.

FirstRand is one of South Africa’s largest financial services groups and includes Rand Merchant Bank, First National Bank and WesBank. The group was built by partners GT Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar and Paul Harris, who share their story with BizNews community members in a webinar hosted by BizNews founder Alec Hogg. This is part one of a four-part series. You can watch the full webinar

There is much SA can learn from the experiences of other countries. Among them the US which has the scale and sophistication to test numerous options. With the start of US's school semesters fast approaching, institutions from elementary schools to colleges are rushing to reinvent themselves for the coronavirus era. Some are shifting to a mix of in-person and virtual classes. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is pushing schools to reopen completely, regardless of safety. Emma Court from our partners at Bloomberg reports that as schools become the latest political touchpoint in the Covid crisis, there are far more questions than answers about how to keep classrooms safe.

David Shapiro and BizNews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg have another spirited exchange in this Rational Radio interview. Referring to the reinstated ban on the sale of alcohol, the current circumstances in South Africa are compared to the prohibition in the United States in the 1930s when bootlegging was rife. Shapiro explains how economies are driven by confidence and that President Ramaphosa's address on Sunday constitutes a step backwards. The disconnect between government and the private sector, particularly in reference to the autocratic government processes imposed in the national lockdown, is discussed. Shapiro states that SA Inc. is currently under enormous strain and that the safest place for South Africans' money is offshore - at least for the moment.

In episode 59 of Inside Covid-19, we package highlights from some of today's top virus-related interviews that have relevance to South Africa headlined by a fascinating discussion with the US’s coronavirus doctor Anthony Fauci. There are two perspectives on last night’s controversial new regulations imposed by SA president Cyril Ramaphosa – researchers AskAfrica and the man representing 35,000 licenced taverners. And we take a look at the excruciating choice for parents on whether to send their children back to school. - Alec Hogg

In today's headlines: * The Foschini Group is to buy Jet stores from Edcon, in business rescue. * Employers warn that South Africa's reinstated ban on alcohol sales will hit businesses hard and lead to further job losses. * The FirstRand group has spotted potentially lucrative opportunities in Ghana, which is in good shape. * Tesla stock jumped about 16% on Monday.

The government places the blame on alcohol for violence-related hospitalisations that are clogging up hospital beds. But there is a school of thought that there is something other than Covid-19 containment and treatment concerns behind the ANC decision to prohibit the sale and distribution of alcohol yet allow people to travel cheek-by-jowl in taxis. In this interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, Lucky Ntimane – who represents about 35,000 tavern owners – says the decision to suddenly shut drinking holes is going to cause enormous financial difficulty to an estimated 1m people. – Editor

America's best known scientist, Dr Anthony Fauci, speaks to our partners at the Wall Street Journal about the serious situation being faced by the US after a surge in Covid-19 cases. The leader of the White House's coronavirus task force also shares his ideas on how to get the virus under control.