In today's news headlines: * Actuaries have slammed Covid-19 forecasts for South Africa, warning that they are overly pessimistic and that the damage to the economy is out of kilter with strict Covid-19 containment measures; * President Cyril Ramaphosa has indicated that the National Health Insurance plan for South Africa is back in the government’s sights; * Steinhoff International rose the most in almost three months after the retailer confirmed it’s working on ways to settle R192bn of legal claims following an accounting scandal that almost destroyed the company; and * Amazon.com rallied on Monday, with the stock extending a recent advance deeper into record territory and topping $3,000 for the first time.

In episode 56 of Inside Covid-19, we get perspective on the surge in South African coronavirus infections and mortalities; take an in depth look at an existential battle between companies and their insurers both here in South Africa and the United States; and hear the sobering news that despite a $130bn direct cash injection for 5m businesses from the American Government, between 20% and 30% of them are still expected to go bankrupt. - Alec Hogg

With the election of Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africans began eagerly awaiting corruption charges. But these have been very slow to materialize. In this week’s episode of The Editor’s Desk, Felicity Duncan and BizNews editor Jackie Cameron reflect on why charges have been so long in coming. They discuss the various schemes that tobacco companies use to dodge their taxes and they also explore the question of whether offshore investing makes sense for South Africans. Join them for a behind-the-scenes dive into the news of the week.

He is not afraid of speaking his mind and, you could say, as a professional public speaker, his mouth is his fortune. Vusi Thembekwayo, who has appeared on TV as a Dragon's Den SA judge, once told Forbes he will do for talking what Muhammad Ali did for boxing. This past week Thembekwayo put his money where his mouth is and used the real victims of Covid-19 to swing a punch at the government in a colourfully worded Facebook live video that went viral and got #VusiforPresident trending on Twitter. – Fadia Salie

In today's news headlines: * Capitec, one of South Africa’s largest banks, has been hit hard by Covid-19 containment. It warns that its profits are plummeting; * Islamic State is threatening Africa's biggest investment in Mozambique and is also seen as a risk to stability in the region; * There is enough evidence to get some ANC leaders into the dock for state capture, say constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos and journalist Max du Preez; and * The central bank issued a R3.45bn guarantee to bail out the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD), a government investment arm hit by surging defaults at state agricultural lender Land Bank.

Constitutional law expert Professor Pierre de Vos and journalist and editor Max du Preez, known to be like pit bull when it comes to uncovering the truth, told the BizNews Midweek Catchup webinar that there is enough evidence to prosecute some big fish for state capture. - Linda van Tilburg

Veteran journalist Gary Alfonso, former Managing Director of CNBC Africa and Head of Fox in Africa, and who has played a key role in the introduction of many television stations in Africa, contemplates South African identity. Gary who describes himself as an Afro-optimist wrote a powerful essay on his deep connection to South Africa and how he sees his identity. That essay is published on BizNews, with his permission. - Linda van Tilburg

All South Africans walk in the footsteps of the Khoi and San (Khoi-San) people who were the original inhabitants at the tip of the African continent. It is therefore fitting that one of their descendants, Chantal Revell, played an instrumental role in the recent decision of the Constitutional Court to allow independent candidates to stand for national and provincial elections. It has not only opened the door for independents to stand for elections; it has open the door for the Khoi and San people slapped with the label of 'coloured' in the apartheid era to receive the recognition of being the first nation of southern Africa. Revell told BizNews of her journey and the importance of being recognised as the country's oldest inhabitants. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's news headlines: * SAA has been a significant drain on state coffers, requiring billions of rands of bail-outs, but the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) says shutting South African Airways will cause severe hardship. African countries have lost almost $55bn in travel and tourism revenues in three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, and some airlines are not likely to survive; * South Africa recorded its first current account surplus in 17 years in the first quarter of 2020 as the trade balance more than doubled, central bank data showed on Thursday; * Two people were killed on Thursday in an explosion at Glencore-owned Astron Energy’s 100,000 barrel per day refinery in Cape Town, the company said as it promised a full investigation; * There’s been a shake-up at Allan Gray, South Africa’s largest privately owned asset manager, starting with a new Chief Investment Officer; and * Tesla has overtaken Toyota as the world’s most valuable automaker. Shares of Tesla, which have more than doubled since the start of the year, climbed as much as 3.5% in intraday trading Wednesday, giving it a market capitalisation of $207.2bn, surpassing Toyota’s $201.9bn, says Bloomberg.

It’s easy to pick holes in a strategy which affects nearly 60 million lives – it’s entirely another thing to take full responsibility for your part in it and to own up when things don’t work. In this exclusive story, Professor Salim Karim, the man leading the way on scientific coronavirus advice to Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mhkize, gives us unique insight into just how far his reach goes, what he can advise on, and what he has no control over. - Chris Bateman

In today's news headlines: * South Africa’s economy probably contracted more than 30% in the second quarter when restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus shuttered almost all activity for five weeks, according to central bank forecasts; * Virus-related claims are mounting for insurers, with just over 500 small South African firms battling rejected business interruption claims worth up to R4bn; * Steinhoff, a former Johannesburg stock market darling, continues to experience fall-out from the accounting scandal unearthed in 2017; and * Tobacco companies - including the so-called legitimate brands - have been ‘ghost smuggling’ cigarettes and making bumper profits under a government prohibition on tobacco sales. BizNews founder Alec Hogg has been investigating.

In episode 55 of Inside Covid-19, global medical heavyweight UCT's Dr Linda-Gail Bekker shares her wisdom about the pandemic – and how little we still know; tobacco industry insider Azeem Carim exposes how cigarette manufacturers are making massive profits during SA’s Covid-19 inspired ban on legal sales; we hear from the Rockefeller Foundation’s MD of Pandemic Response on how the leaders should adjust their pandemic messaging to be better heard by an increasingly restive public; and with Gilead’s drug Remdesivir attracting a huge order from the US Government, Big Pharma is jumping on an opportunity to transform its profit gouging reputation. - Alec Hogg

For SA's cigarette manufacturers, Covid-19 has been like all their Christmases arriving together. Industry insider and self-confessed smuggler Azeem Carim explains how the SA government's lockdown-enforced ban on cigarette sales has generated a massive payday at taxpayers' expense. It's engineered through "ghost exports" - cigarette makers supposedly producing for sale outside SA borders, but feeding into the local market where excise duties are avoided and profits boosted by massive price hikes. In this interview, instigated by Carim's Right of Reply to yesterday's with Yusuf Kajee, he exposes a dirty industry where players use "connections" at border posts, in political parties and within SARS itself to generate super profits. Carim also has more than a few bones to pick with Kajee, claiming his company was hijacked via his former partner's "connections" at CIPRO - and alleging what Kajee told us about Amalgamated Tobacco Manufacturers is pure fiction.

Globally, South Africans punch far above their weight in many fields. It's quite an achievement for a country with less than 1% of the global population to have given the world Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Elon Musk, Trevor Noah and many of Europe's leading bankers. But until the coronavirus pandemic grabbed the national attention, apart from famous heart transplant pioneer Dr Chris Barnard the extraorodinary contribution by SA's scientists had passed most by. For instance, the country has produced a clutch of Nobel Prize winning scientists, one of whom, Prof Michael Levitt, is still very much alive. Among the SA heavyweights with huge global reputations is UCT Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, chief operating officer of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation. Prof Bekker is the immediate past president of the 11 000 member International Aids Society which hosts the world's largest health or development event in the world; is a Rockefeller University alumnus (25 Nobel prizewinners); and an advisor to the US's massive Aids outreach programme PEPFAR. In this interview, which ranges from pre-exposure prophylaxis to protecting the elderly, from fake news to BCG, her contribution is pure quality. A rare Rational Perspective in an increasingly noisy Covid-19 landscape.

Sun International’s Latin American partner is aiming to acquire a controlling stake of the company, which is battling Covid-19 containment measures as are all hospitality companies. In this podcast, BizNews founder Alec Hogg explores the unsolicited R1.5bn bid by Nueva Inversiones Pacifico Sur.

In today's news headlines: * South Africa’s recession deepened in the first quarter of 2020, with official data on Tuesday showing that gross domestic product contracted 2% from the previous three months; * South African stocks are about to round off their strongest quarter in almost two decades, with Sasol leading the pack with a staggering gain of more than 270%; * Zimbabwe's security force leaders are behind the sudden closure of the country’s stock market and a block on bank accounts; and * Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell congratulated the All Blacks Sevens team after they were named winners of the 2019/20 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series on Tuesday.

In Episode 54 of Inside Covid-19, some expert insight (and good news) as SA hits number five among the world's new daily infection table; a global South African tech guru breaks new ground on the coronavirus with an agent-based artificial intelligence model; there’s bad news for restaurant owners worldwide as at least 25% are expected to never re-open; and another brilliant investigation by our partners at the Wall Street Journal – this time into why infections in the hard-hit USA are back at new record levels – and what other countries like South Africa can learn from it. - Alec Hogg

Hotel owners and others in the hospitality industry have been paying for business interruption as part of their business insurance policy premiums. But, insurers are refusing to pay for the extreme revenue losses incurred as governments have ordered businesses to close their doors to halt the spread of Covid-19. Insurance companies are ducking and diving around policy wordings and playing a tactical delay game to save themselves from having to pay out vast sums. Many hospitality businesses cannot survive a double whammy of their own insurers refusing to pay and other large companies, like online travel agencies Booking.com and Expedia forcing them to refund non-refundable deposits. Corporations like Expedia, which dominate search engines, have rewritten contracts in their favour - and to the detriment of hotel owners - as the Covid-19 situation has evolved. In this interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, hotelier William van der Riet and insurance claims expert Ryan Woolley unpack the business insurance rip-off of the century

Shapiro lets us in on his cheeky portfolio, which includes businesses that are unloved in South Africa.

In episode 53 of Inside Covid-19, some surprising results of the swing to working from home as previously resistant older people are taking to tech as never before; we revisit the growing scandal around SA insurers refusing to honour Business Interruption cover with the owner of an 81 year old Drakensberg resort; SA can learn from a Seattle old age home on how to keep elderly patients safe; and a quite brilliant expose from our partners at the Wall Street Journal who have been digging deeply into what happened in New York, providing a case book of what NOT to do when dealing with a novel coronavirus. - Alec Hogg

In today's headlines: * The Zondo Commission into state capture has resumed after proceedings were halted because of the Covid-19 lockdown three months ago; * President Cyril Ramaphosa says the stigmatisation of those infected with Covid-19 must stop, in his weekly email to the nation; * The Department of Public Enterprises has withdrawn from the forum to restructure SAA, with its leaders offended at public criticism; * Stockbrokers in Zimbabwe are struggling to explain to investors what’s happened to their money after the government shut down the stock exchange; and * Naspers delivered a strong set of results on Monday for the 12 months ending 31 March, reporting revenue growth of 23% to $22.1bn, and trading profit up by 17%.

State-owned enterprises like Eskom, South African Airways and the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa) lie at the heart of South Africa's current economic woes. They were the main vehicles through which money was channeled to corrupt officials during the years that President Jacob Zuma was at the helm. It is these cash-strapped enterprises that the Zondo commission is planning to focus on as it resumes public hearings in Johannesburg. Its spokesperson, Mbuyiselo Stimela says the commission is committed to getting former President Jacob Zuma to re-appear before the commission which is scheduled to wrap up its work in the next ten months. President Cyril Ramaphosa is also expected to make an appearance. The chairperson of the commission of inquiry into state capture, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said at the resumption of the commission that he wanted political leaders and elected officials to tell him what action they took against alleged corruption at some state-owned enterprises (SOEs).- Linda van Tilburg

In today's headlines: * More than 10m people around the world are confirmed as having contracted Covid-19 - and more than 500,000 people have died of the new coronavirus; * Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Prof Martin Veller told BizNews that although the numbers are low the country is experiencing a sharp rise in cases; * In a blow for Steinhoff shareholders, a judge dismissed a class action suit against the retailer, but says Steinhoff can go after Steinhoff directors and the auditors, Deloitte, who should have rung the alarm bells to put a stop to deals; * The South African government has won a legal battle challenging a ban on tobacco sales in the country that was imposed in late March as part of lockdown rules, meaning stores won’t be able to sell cigarettes until further notice; and * The Zimbabwean government has blocked bank accounts as the economic crisis deepens.

In today's news headlines: * Mining companies may take until August to get all their employees back at work, reports Bloomberg; * The University of the Witwatersrand has appointed Professor Zeblon Vilakazi as its fifteenth Vice-Chancellor and Principal; * The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has warned that the suspected pyramid scheme Crowd1 is not authorised to do business; and * South African insurance companies are playing nasty legal games to avoid paying many hospitality businesses that took out business interruption insurance.

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a seismic shift in the way people engage with financial service providers. As Discovery’s tech leader Derek Wilcocks highlights in this interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, even the tech laggards have had to upgrade their knowledge of the nuances of apps and internet systems to get things done while in isolation. People born before 1980 and classified as “older” have jumped into the digital world and are “wading” into web portals to figure out how to improve their finances. Along with this shift, criminal cyber activity has also mushroomed, with crooks targeting individuals whose home computer systems have vulnerabilities, says Zaid Parak, Chief Information Security Officer at Discovery. He warns that major breaches in the corporate world are coming.