It is estimated that the world would have to feed around 9 billion people by the year 2050. Added to the problem is the issue that animal protein is not being produced in a sustainable way as it is contributing to greenhouse gases. It has prompted scientists to look towards insects as a sustainable protein source. Insects are being used for animal feed, but a South African start-up plans to become Africa’s first company to produce protein power from insects for human consumption. The company called SUSENTO is partly owned by Stellenbosch University and they are using the black soldier fly, which is a maggot in its larva stage to produce protein which could be used as a fuel in sports drinks. Dr Michael Woods told Biznews that he believed the potential of insects as a protein source are tremendous and that consumers can get over an aversion to consuming insects. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's news headlines: * SA taxpayers are to stump up billions of rands to fuel the draft rescue plan for South African Airways; * Department of Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has apologised for delaying her address to the public, as well as her late postponement of the return to schools of students from 1 June until 8 June; * South Africa's stock market rally may soon fizzle, say stock market analysts; * President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated global tech entrepreneur Elon Musk - born in South Africa and who still holds South African citizenship along with passports for the US and Canada - for his company's historic commercial flight to the international space station; and * Sasol was among the best performers on the Johannesburg stock exchange on Monday, gaining about 12%.

Biznews founder Alec Hogg hosts the weekly Rational Radio podcast hour, which is now recorded as a webcast to allow interactive engagement with Biznews Premium members. SA's favourite market watcher David Shapiro joined as the regular guest. The other guests June 1 included: * Denker Capital's Kokkie Kooyman, SA's leading financial services investment analyst who revisited his brilliant call of a few weeks ago to buy banking shares (which have surged since). * Retired airline pilot and ex chairman of the SAA Pilot's Association Jimmy Conroy who was instrumental in bringing the court case against former SAA chair Dudu Myeni. He spent days working on the case and was in court every day of the trial. * Anthony Levine who published a fascinating piece on Biznews last week unpacking how economics doesn't conform to the wills and desires of politicians who ignore it at their peril - and how the God of Economics has been snubbed by South Africa's Labour Relations Act.

The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga apologised this morning for the last minute decision to delay the phased opening of schools until the 8th of June. Motshekga says the decision was based on reports she received this weekend, visits to some schools and a series of consultations with unions, headmasters and provincial education ministers. Provinces that have been identified as ready to reopen were the Western Cape and Gauteng, with the Free State, North Western province, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape at medium readiness and Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal regarded to be at a high risk and had a low level of readiness. She said the education sector needed another week to 'mop up' the schools that were not ready for re-opening. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's news headlines: * South African Elon Musk’s dream to develop commercial space travel became reality when his company SpaceX successfully docked a commercial capsule at the International Space Station on Sunday; * As South Africa moves to level 3 of Covid-19 containment, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted how the bulk of the masks, ventilators and testing kits were still being procured from China and distributed across the continent, according to the Sunday Times; * The South African government has approved only 11% of applications for Covid-19 relief funding for small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs), according to a report from Rapport (source: MyBroadband.co.za); and * The DA says a leaked ANC discussion document on post-Covid economic recovery specifically proposes for the first time the amendment of Regulation 28 to prescribe pension fund investments.

With the rand tanking and local asset prices in the doldrums, many South Africans are looking offshore for investment opportunities. The recent rally in global stock prices – particularly in the US – has made offshore investing even more attractive. But before South Africans cash out and go all-in on American stocks, it’s important to ask one key question: Does the US market rally reflect reality, or just hope? In this episode, featuring content from the Bloomberg P&L podcast, we look at whether stock markets are appropriately pricing in signs of economic recovery or whether investors are pushing prices up past the point of good sense. As local investors contemplate the devastation on the JSE, it’s an important question to examine.

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has entered into a partnership with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to host a Deep Space Ground Station. The station, based in Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape, will support deep space human flight missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. SANSA Managing Director Raoul Hodges spoke to Biznews from the Hartebeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, saying they were "over the moon" about the prospect of working with NASA again. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's news headlines: * As of Thursday, more than 25,500 people had tested positive for Covid-19 and more than 550 people had died of the disease. Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, said SA has managed to flatten the Covid-19 curve, but restrictions will remain in place until it has been sustained; * Former president Jacob Zuma’s close friend Dudu Myeni was declared a delinquent director for life this week in a court case that should arm the National Prosecuting Authority to pursue a criminal conviction, says OUTA; * Gauteng residents are being urged to limit water use. For the first time in a year, the Vaal Dam has dipped below the 50% mark; * South Africa has lost between R14bn and R15bn in taxes in the past two months because of the ban on alcohol and cigarette sales during the lockdown, says the South African Revenue Service; and * The Public Investment Corporation has appointed Abel Sithole as its chief executive officer, filling a post vacated 18 months ago by his predecessor over accusations of questionable investment decisions, says Bloomberg.

The National Coronavirus Command Council gave more details this afternoon about the level 3 restrictions that will be in place from 1 June. It includes alcohol sales from Monday to Thursday from 9am to 5pm and exercise will be permitted from 6am to 6pm. Minister Nskosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that South Africa has managed to flatten the curve of infections, but figures were still rising and the peak is “on the horizon”. She said there is the risk of a massive increase in infections as the country moves to less restrictions on their movements. Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said in level 3 an estimated 8 million workers can return to the workplace as the core of the economy opens up. He said level 3 of the lockdown is a more sustainable level. Mrs Dlamini-Zuma was also asked by journalists about the court case against the government on its policy to ban tobacco sales. - Linda van Tilburg

Former UKZN professor and now CIGI chair in Global Health Policy, Prof Alan Whiteside, continues calling a spade a bloody shovel in this forthright update on the coronavirus pandemic. He weighs in on the needless furore around the head of SA's Medical Research Council - and the very necessary one around Dominic Cummings (pictured), UK PM Boris Johnson's special advisor, who designed the UK's lockdown rules and deliberately broke them when his wife got the virus. In the light of SA's record 1,700 new infections yesterday, Prof Whiteside explains why, from a medical perspective, SA's lockdown may have been lifted too soon. - Alec Hogg

In episode 40 of the Inside Covid-19 podcast, ANC Top Six member Paul Mashatile tells the UK's prestigious Chatham House that South Africa’s post pandemic economic strategy is an updated and sharpened version of the Reconstruction and Development Plan of the 1990s; Discovery’s chief actuary unpacks the relevance of South Africa’s Covid-19 Reproduction or R Rate which is around 1.5; we investigate the quest to find a rapid and cheap coronavirus test; and have a look at how Boeing and Airbus expect to make it safe to fly – without catching the virus. - Alec Hogg

In today's news headlines: * South Africa stands to lose five years of potential economic output due to the shock from the coronavirus pandemic and measures to curb its spread, warns the Reserve Bank’s lead economist; * Most South Africa banks are are likely to report losses in the next year or two. So says Kuben Naidoo, Reserve Bank deputy governor and also head of the Prudential Authority, which regulates lenders; * South Africa plans a $20.5bn infrastructure program to boost job creation, said Paul Mashatile, the treasurer-general of the ruling African National Congress, in a speech to London’s Chatham House; * SAA can still be saved if it gets the necessary funding, the state-owned airline’s administrators said on Wednesday, adding they were talking to the government about a potential restructuring; and * Woolworths has scrapped its 2020 dividend and is reviewing its Australasian property assets as the retailer battles tough conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic, says Reuters.

Russell Lamberti, founder of investment advisory firm ETM Macro Advisors and part of a concerned group of economists, actuaries and data specialists operating under the PANDA (Pandemic ~ Data and Analytics) banner, is very skeptical about the effects of an extended lockdown and questions whether the decision was based on sound reasoning and proof. In this tell tale discussion with Alec Hogg, the co-author of When Money Destroys Nations, a book about Zimbabwe's hyperinflation crisis, says the burden of proof to shut down life as we know it completely, weighs extremely high on government. - Vanessa Marks

Piet Viljoen of RECM, known to many as one of the last purists out there in respect of value investing, engages in an interesting discussion with Biznews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg about Tiger Brands’ decline and massive brand erosion over the last decade due to the poor acquisition strategy the company adopted when it was fashionable back in 2010. Viljoen argues that Tiger Brands is the poster child for the divorce of executive remuneration with company performance. The discussion evolves into the probability of SA going the Zimbabwe/Venezuela rout, a look at the prospects of investment in South Africa after Covid-19 and Viljoen offering advice for the South African investor, should the predictions of a potential economic tailspin not materialise. - Nadya Swart

In episode 39 of Inside Covid-19, Discovery and its partners combine to provide a R249 per month medical aid for 1.2m household workers; an emotional chairman of the country’s black tobacco farmer association who says his members are being put out of business by a Government whose cigarette ban supports criminals; Biznews's partners at the Wall Street Journal get the real story on why Donald Trump is sterilising the World Health Organisation; and in the wake of Covid-19 and president Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for a $200bn debt standstill for Africa, we take a close look at mushrooming Emerging Market loans. - Alec Hogg

In today's news headlines: * SAA is set to take off again. It aims to resume domestic flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town from mid-June, it said on Tuesday*; * Absa bank has been hit hard by the Covid-19 shock to the economy, warning that bad debts have doubled; * JSE-listed hospital group Netcare has lost revenue as Covid-19 containment measures have halted elective surgery; * South Africa’s alcoholic-beverage makers are pushing the government to allow smaller bars to convert into drink-collection points when a nationwide ban on sales is lifted next week; * South Africa has implemented diesel rationing, with demand for the fuel recovering faster than expected; and * South Africa’s state-owned Central Energy Fund is considering buying assets that have been put on the block by fuel and chemical maker Sasol as it seeks to restore itself to profitability, reports Bloomberg. *SAA BRPs contradicted this statement earlier today, saying a decision has not yet been made, and more clarity on level 3 lockdown and the changes for domestic travel need to be assessed.

Affectionally known as Beast, Tendai Mtawarira uses his inherent characteristics of ambition and motivation to reinvent himself from sports icon to astute businessman. "The sports career is short-lived and sports people must plan for their career change as early as possible." Tendai himself has returned to full-time studies to be better equipped for the boardroom. His insight and advice are applicable not only to sports people, but to anyone who wants to re-focus their career. - Vanessa Marks

Facing backlash is nothing new for the outspoken market analyst David Shapiro and again there is no holds barred when he questions the competence of management in a discussion with Alec Hogg in the latest Biznews Rational Radio webinar. Shapiro admits it's been tough for SA Inc, but questions how much of an impact should really be ascribed to the Covid-19 lockdown on some share performances and how much of the blame actually falls on management. He stands in awe of the runaway performance of tech-driven companies like Zoom, Tesla, SA's Prosus and Naspers and surprisingly the miners, which are not really reflective of what's happening in the economy. - Stanley Karombo

Biznews founder Alec Hogg hosts the weekly Rational Radio podcast hour, which is now recorded as a webcast to allow interactive engagement with Biznews Premium members. SA's favourite market watcher David Shapiro joined him as his regular guest. This week "Kasinomics" author and informal market specialist GG Alcock joined to discuss how some parts of South Africa have moved to Level One of lockdown, ignoring the central directive. Renowned value investor Piet Viljoen discussed the tragedy of the once great business Tiger Brands and updated his (successful) recent call about opportunities offered in SA shares. And Russell Lamberti, founder and strategist at ETM Analytics and a member of the PANDA initiative, quantified how much damage lockdown is doing to the SA economy.

In episode 38 of Inside Covid-19, we meet former Harvard Medical Professor William Haseltine, the HIV/Aids pioneer who has forthright suggestions on the steps SA should take to handle the pandemic; talk coronavirus with the super achieving Wits Prof Roseanne Harris who is about to become president of the International Actuarial Association; and revisit the chequered history of lockdowns which, in the West, only became official policy in 2006. (Pic by Nadya Swart)

In today's news headlines: * South Africa’s most successful global tech entrepreneur Elon Musk - founder of electric car manufacturer Tesla is getting set for another historical step in his business journey. His space exploration firm SpaceX gets set to take US astronauts into orbit this week; * Food producer Tiger Brands said on Monday it is looking at “significant” job cuts and won’t pay an interim dividend as its business is hit by supply disruptions and margin pressures due to the impact of the coronavirus, says Reuters; * The best performer at the end of the trading day on the Johannesburg stock exchange was the liquor group Distell, which gained more than 6.5% - undoubtedly on news that a ban on alcohol sales is to be lifted as South Africa eases Covid-19 containment rules; and * Offshore investors sold a net R1.95bn of South African stocks last week and bought R2.17bn in bonds, data from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange showed on Monday.

As South Africa moves to level three of the lockdown, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the nation that the early intervention in the Covid-19 epidemic did help to contain it, but until there is a vaccine available, the virus will continue to spread in the population. Biznews spoke to former Harvard Medical Professor William Haseltine, who is known for his pioneering work on HIV/Aids and cancer, about the steps that South Africa could take to deal with the pandemic. His message was that ‘no country should count on a vaccine’; and there are other steps that South Africa could take against the virus. He also said there was more hope in treatments and practices that worked in other parts of the world. Prof Haseltine who has founded a dozen biotechnology companies and is the chair and president of ACCESS Health International also shared an equation he came up with how we can determine our risk of infection during the Covid-19 pandemic. – Linda van Tilburg

In today's news headlines: * President Cyril Ramaphosa sets out how Covid-19 lockdown will be managed in the next weeks, with South Africa’s strict lockdown measures set to ease in June; * You'll soon be able to buy booze to drink at home, but cigarettes remain banned and restaurants will remain shut, says the president; * Hertz, the car-rental company founded with a dozen Ford Model Ts over a century ago, has filed for bankruptcy, reports Bloomberg; and * Petrochemicals giant Sasol, which has been hit by high debt levels and falling oil and chemical prices, has warned that it expects its full-year headline earnings to decrease by at least 20%.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country will be moved down to level 3 of the phased lifting of the lockdown on the 1st of June. The President said that the government is concerned about the number of Covid-19 cases in Cape Town and the Western Cape and if the spread of the virus is not contained in hotspots, which includes several places in the Western Cape, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekhuruleni, Ethekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City; the areas could be pushed back to earlier levels of the lockdown. Hotspots will be reviewed every two weeks. One third of the 22,538 confirmed cases in South Africa have been recorded in the past week and the death toll from Covid-19 stands at 429 people. 842 patients are in hospital with 128 in ICU. He said South Africa must get used to living with the virus for some time to come as the country would not be able to stop it. Ramaphosa also announced that: - Wholesale and retail trade would be fully re-opened; - Alcohol would be sold at certain times for home-consumption; - Tobacco products will still not be sold; - The opening of churches will be discussed in further consultations; - Restaurant, bars, gyms will remain closed; - People can now exercise at any time of the day; - Public servants would be expected to go back to work; - 20,000 hospital beds are being repurposed for Covid-19 cases; - 27 field hospitals are being built; and - The government is supporting and funding research several projects including a plan to locally manufacture coronavirus vaccines as soon as candidates are available. - Linda van Tilburg

There have been some promising early trials of various nascent Covid-19 vaccines, and many are hoping for a usable shot by year-end. In reality, however, we are in the very early days yet and promising early-stage trials are no guarantee of success. What’s more, the rollout of any Covid-19 vaccine promises to be a contentious political process, with the US and China staking out aggressive positions on who will have early access. In this episode, featuring content from the Bloomberg P&L podcast, we explore these issues and why we should be moderating our vaccine hopes. Bottom line: It looks like we need to learn to live with Covid-19, rather than pinning our hopes on a quick-fix vaccine solution.