In today's news headlines: * Global central bankers pledged action aimed at stabilising markets rattled by the outbreak as pressure builds on them to ease monetary policy to safeguard their economies and appear set to move in tandem for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis; * Sentiment in South Africa’s manufacturing industry fell to the lowest level in more than a decade in February as the prospect of continued power cuts and concern about the global economy weighed on confidence, reports Bloomberg; and * The Public Investment Corporation has terminated the employment contract of its Executive Head of Listed Investments, Mr Fidelis Madavo, it announced. The axing is in connection with a R4.3bn investment in Ayo Technology Solutions, which has allegedly diverted money to the troubled Independent newspaper group.

Shareholder activist Dave Woollam has been keeping us updated on the survival efforts of embattled Tongaat-Hullett, which last week sold its highly profitable Starch division for R5.35bn. Woollam agrees with new CEO Gavin Hudson that the price received was a good one - especially given the stress that everyone knows Tongaat is under. But he also explains that a business which delivered R300m a year to the group's cash flows will be sorely missed. But needs must right now as a group that was once the pride of KZN is forced into selling the crown jewels to keep its bankers from foreclosing. Little wonder that Tongaat's market value is just R400m - one twentieth of the debt that remains after the latest asset sale. - Alec Hogg

In the latest episode of Rational Radio, SA's favourite market commentator shakes his proverbial head at the excellent value offered by industrial companies listed on the JSE, pointing out some of the obvious bargains. While Shapiro will be doing his homework on exciting new plays like the JSE's first Cannabis stock Labat Africa, he's excited about the medium-term upside potential of blue chip shares that have been hammered by Mr Market's Coronavirus reaction. Fascinating insights and fresh investment ideas - as always.

In this segment from the latest episode of Rational Radio, economist Wikus Marais present the most cogent explanation you'll hear of why asset prices are plunging on the Coronavirus. He explains why the mortality rate of under 2% has nothing to do with it - but that the reaction of Governments to the spread of the virus is a threat to economic growth and thus to business. It's currently a race between the creation of a vaccine and the airborne spreading of the latest nasty to mutate from animals to mankind. - Alec Hogg

In today's business headlines: - 151 out of the 201 South Africans living in the Wuhan area of China where the coronavirus first broke out, have indicated that they wished to return home and are going to be repatriated by the Government and will be kept in quarantine for 21 days; - The Rand is suffering its worst start to the year against the dollar since the global financial crisis in 2008 after reaching R15.79 to the U.S dollar and Bloomberg reports that it’s not about to get any better in March; - Trade union Cosatu and the South African Communist Party have confirmed that they have been invited to a meeting of the ANC’s working committee which takes place today where the proposed cut to the public sector pay bill could be on the agenda; and - Pam Golding Properties will be the subject of a full-scale investigation into allegedly facilitating the sale of properties to the children of former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza without following legal requirements.

Naspers, through its global Prosus arm, is a major player in the world of global food delivery. The company has made some sizeable bets on the long-term profitability of global food delivery, joining other venture capitalists pouring cash into the sector. Yet the long-term future of food delivery is anything but clear. In this podcast, which features content from The Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing podcast, Felicity Duncan explores the food delivery industry and some of the unanswered questions about its long-term prospects. She also takes a look at recent developments in the US food delivery market, which acts as a bellwether for the global industry to get a sense of what the future may look like for some of Naspers’ big bets.

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited South Africa earlier this month she told students at the University of Pretoria that the youth should stand up against corruption and “name names” and added that they would be surprised how people would come forward and support them. If it wasn’t for the whistleblowers who came forward to tell the stories of state capture like Cynthia Stimpel and others; South Africa could still have been in the dark about many of the dodgy deals that happened under former President Zuma’s watch. Many lost their jobs and talked about the severe stress they experienced when they decided to point fingers. In a discussion with Biznews Founder Alec Hogg, the chairman of First Rand, Roger Jardine talks about a book he is reading by Tom Mueller, Whistleblowing in an age of Fraud and suggests that whistleblowers should not only enjoy better protection, but that they should receive incentives to come forward in South Africa. The other book under discussion that Jardine links to, is Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers latest book Talking to Strangers and he has a recommendation for all policy makers, The March of Folly. - Linda van Tilburg

As coronavirus ripples through markets, the Wall Street Journal's Gunjan Banerji reveals the invisible forces that are exacerbating this week's wild swings. Charlie Turner hosts.

In today's business news headlines: * The credibility of South Africa’s proposals to curb debt and save its sole investment-grade credit rating will be put to the test by powerful labour unions outraged by plans to pare back the wage bill; * Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has told journalists the government would be "stupid" to make noises that will precipitate the collapse of troubled national carrier SAA, which has received more taxpayers' funds to keep it in the air; * The speed at which coronavirus is spreading outside China has overtaken the pace of the spread of the disease in the country where the first case was reported in early December, the World Health Organisation says; * South Africa will lose out on Chinese tourism spend this year, with no Chinese tourists scheduled to visit the country this year - which is a far cry from the usual 100,000 travellers who visit the Western Cape and beyond. * Retail giant Massmart, owner of Game, Makro and DionWired, reported a staggering R1.1bn headline loss in the 2019 financial year; and * Impala Platinum posted a rise in half-year earnings, reinstated dividends and halted closure of two shafts, after higher metals prices and improved operations boosted profits, says Reuters.

In an article warning that the United Nations has unsecured lending on its list of concerns, Malcolm Rees points out that there is much as R208bn in outstanding unsecured and short-term credit in South Africa, accounting for 11% of all outstanding credit.  "To put that in context, the nominal value of outstanding unsecured credit has grown near six-fold since the start of the lending boom in 2008. In that year, it represented just 3% of all outstanding credit," Rees writes. BizNews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg picks up the threads of this story with micro-lending expert Dave Woollam. In this podcast, Hogg and Woollam discuss how unsecured debt is a major risk to the economy. - Jackie Cameron

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in his budget speech that pundits who expected a VAT increase had misread Government’s messages. He said there was little scope to increase taxes without pushing the South African economy deeper into the mire. Economist Dawie Roodt does not agree and told Biznews that Mboweni's decision to borrow more instead of increasing taxes was a mistake.

In today's business headlines: - The government has set a collision course with labour unions as it was announced by the National Treasury that pay increases and promotions will be limited, saving R16bn over the next three years; - Unions have challenged Telkom in court on its plans to cut as much as 20% of its work force as the company seeks to reduce costs. The Communication Worker’s Union approached the court saying Telkom is rushing the process; - Individual taxpayers have been given an unexpected boost by Minister Mboweni who announced a relief of R14bn including R2bn through the adjustment of tax brackets. Corporate taxes in South Africa were also reduced and the exemption on foreign income earned by expatriates will be increased; - Minister Tito Mboweni has almost doubled the level of funding for South African Airways to R16.4bn while Denel will get R576m from the Treasury; - Although the response of most analysts were muted with many expressing surprise that taxes were not increased, stocks of retailers and bankers rose on the JSE and the Rand surged before falling back by the end of the day.

At a pre-budget speech press briefing, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the government could no longer afford to sit back and watch controversial "men of the cloth" flaunt their wealth while they found creative ways of evading tax. He has announced taxes for their sins, which according to Mboweni included not paying taxes, while their congregants were paying contributions, and announced increases in the usual sin taxes including alcohol, hubbly-bubbly and vaping.

Against the expectation of many analysts, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni did not raise Value Added Tax or increase tax for individuals and instead opted for tax relief in some brackets. He also raised the ceiling for transfer duties on property.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivered his budget speech in Parliament this afternoon and seems to be resigned to the fact that South Africa will be downgraded to junk status by ratings agency Moody's. He refrained from any tax and VAT increases and said that persistent electricity problems will hold back growth. Over the next three years, government expects growth to average just over 1 percent.

SA’s colourful finance minister Tito Mboweni cracked his customary jokes in a relaxed Presser ahead of today’s Budget Speech. And he hardly missed a beat during the flurry that followed the live tweeting of his obviously embargoed comments by an SABC staffer (a first for “lock-up” which led to the ejection of all SABC personnel). But deep inside, the former SARB Governor and chairman of some of Africa’s mightiest companies, knows the structuring of South Africa’s books is the gamble of his life. Mboweni deviated from his natural conservatism, throwing away his central banking book. And like his boss Cyril Ramaphosa whose SONA referred to faith and prayers, there’s something of trusting in Providence in Budget 2020. The combination of corruption, incompetence and excessively powerful trade unions has put South Africa up a financial creek with nary a paddle in sight. Ramaphosa warned us in SONA that the national priority right now is to address the fundamentals. And topping that list is the massive disaster called Eskom. One day someone will work out the true cost to a nation of the thieves who infested Eskom’s boardroom and seats of operational power. After absorbing the scale of the damage, it should be a national obsession to get the Gupta brothers and their local associates – Pamensky, Essa et al – into orange onesies…

Energy expert Ted Blom warned this weekend that loadshedding could haunt South Africa for at least another five years. Blom said he believed it could take Eskom that long to sort out its coal problems and its maintenance backlog. He also mentioned that coal stations in Mpumalanga were operating at 72% capacity, which is expect to drop below 50% within the next year. This was followed by an estimate of another Eskom insider, Mike Rossouw who said that the cost overruns of Medupi and Kusile power stations could run into more than R1trn. Biznews founder Alec Hogg asked energy expert Chris Yelland whether this was an exaggeration and asked him who was to blame for the problems at the all-important Medupi and Kusile power stations. – Linda van Tilburg

In today's business headlines: - Eskom is battling to keep all units of its biggest operational power plant at Kendal open after being served with a compliance notice by the environment ministry because of its high levels of air pollution; - Eskom has indicated that the lights would be on for Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget vote today as no loadshedding is planned. Eskom said emergency reserves were at adequate levels, with additional generating units expected to return to service; - Forensic investigator Paul O’ Sullivan has served the former chairperson of South African Airways Dudu Myeni with a combined summons as she has been 'ducking and diving' since December 2018; - Shoprite Holdings has announced that it would transfer its distribution centres and undeveloped land valued at R2bn to a new joint venture it is putting in place with Equities Property Fund; and - Cape Town plans to spend R5.8bn over the next decade to cushion its 4 million residents against another dry spell but the city says that consumers have drastically cut water use since 2015.

The Dakar rally, originally known as the Paris to Dakar Rally has taken place since 1978 but was moved due to security threats in Mauritania to South America for the past decade. This year, the race known as the toughest endurance rally in the world crossing dunes, camel grass and rocks took place in Saudi Arabia for the first time and there were two South African off-road bikers in the race, Kirsten Landman and Taye Perry who both managed to finish the 7,900km race. KwaZulu-Natal’s Landman was first across the line, ending in 55th place overall, while Perry who had to push her bike the last couple of hundred metres came 77th. Biznews spoke to Kirsten, who had a crash that almost ended her career, about how it feels to be the first African woman to complete the Dakar rally and how social media has enabled women to promote their sports careers. – Linda van Tilburg

The first experimental coronavirus vaccine was sent by Moderna Therapeutics for testing by US regulators - Peter Novel has more on the novel technology behind it. Plus, Quentin Webb on continued investor angst over efforts to contain the outbreak. The Wall Street Journal's Kim Gittleson hosts.

Dagga grows prolifically across South Africa - a point that hasn't gone unnoticed by astute business players elsewhere who are hoping to cash in on the world's new gold rush. In this podcast, South African cannabis entrepreneur Pierre van der Hoven outlines to BizNews founder and editor-in-chief Alec Hogg how the fledgling industry needs some help developing. And, he points to warning signs that companies based elsewhere could take advantage of regulatory disarray. That, in turn, would mean countries like China and Canada reaping the economic benefits of SA-grown dagga. President Cyril Ramaphosa and his team have pledged support for the cannabis industry. Now the sector needs organisation and planning to ensure that dagga can be the money-spinner, wealth-creator and employment spark that South Africa so desperately needs. - Jackie Cameron

In today's business news headlines: *The Rand weakened in early trade on Monday, as investors fled riskier assets following the rapid spread of the coronavirus outside mainland China; *Even without a single confirmed case, sub-Saharan Africa may be the region hardest hit outside of Asia by the spread of the coronavirus, experts are warning; *A detailed investigation into Eskom reveals that it will take at least five years to get the power utility’s plants to a place where loadshedding is not needed, reports MyBroadband; *Gold hovered near $1,700 an ounce, extending its rally to the highest in more than seven years, as investors pile into haven assets; and *While Gold company stocks soared, Sasol plunged on the JSE on Monday.

In this podcast, the last one before 12J company Bright Light Solar's Prospectus closes on Thursday, CEO Kevin Shames runs us through the reasons why his business is projecting an effective 21% annual return. It's all to do with the Government's tax incentives to promote investment in small businesses and renewable energy. Shames says in response to numerous requests, his company has also dropped the minimum investment level from the previous R100 000 to R50 000. - Alec Hogg

Fears of a global coronavirus pandemic is growing. The United Kingdom has reported four further cases bringing their total to 13 and Italy’s tally went up to 200 with four deaths forcing Italian authorities to shut down schools, universities, museums and cinemas, and banning all public events. There are also reports of a case in Swaziland, which would be Africa’s first coronavirus case. Fears of a global pandemic have sunk global stock markets, while the price of gold, which is regarded as a safe-haven, has reached the highest level since February 2013. But in China it seems that the tide is turning, that things are starting to get back to normal as the lockdown is being lifted in some cities. The two Durban schoolteachers, Andy and Gary Cronje who live in Hangzhou and described their city as a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ to Biznews at the beginning of the month, but things are starting to turn as deliveries arrive from the outside, and children have been given the “green code” and are playing outside again. – Linda van Tilburg

South Africa's favourite market commentator David Shapiro is licking his lips at the value which South African shares are offering today's investors, especially Sasol and Discovery. He discusses the attraction of both companies in this interview, from the latest episode of Rational Radio. Not often you get to see a dripping roast like this - but as Shapiro explains, Mr Market seems to have completely "lost it" over the spread of the Coronavirus. - Alec Hogg