Wilderness Foundation head Andrew Muir is one of those low profile South Africans who quietly go about changing the world. He is a regular on global platforms, providing compelling evidence of the environmental challenges being wrought by man's ignorance of how his actions are affecting Mother Nature. Andrew is also a regular invitee to the World Economic Forum in Davis, where we first met. He is always full of fascinating if scary factoids about the biggest challenge facing mankind. We caught up at the WEF Africa summit in Cape Town. - Alec Hogg 

I met Skye Meaker earlier this year in Davos, the day before his 17th birthday. The lad from KZN was the youngest attendee of the couple thousand participants at the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum. He had been invited as the winner of a global competition for wildlife photography. That event is proving to have been life changing for this young South African. He has used the experience and exposure to share a story of conservation with corporate and, this week, WEF audiences. We caught up during the WEF Africa summit in Cape Town. - Alec Hogg

The World Economic Forum on Africa was supposed to be President Cyril Ramaphosa’s chance to prove South Africa’s claim to being the continent’s top investment destination. But it has all gone horribly wrong, says Bloomberg. About 300 people have been arrested as police move to restore calm across South Africa, which has been caught in a wave of violence and anti-violence protests. The United Nations has condemned a wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa in which at least 10 people died. It blames poverty for the outbreak of violence. The Open Society Foundation for South Africa strongly condemns the recent incidents of violence against women and attacks on non-South Africans. Boris Johnson’s six-week-old premiership was thrown into yet more disarray after his brother quit the government in protest at his Brexit strategy. And, he said he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than ask the European Union to delay Brexit again. US stocks surged and Treasuries tumbled after a raft of data bolstered confidence in the American economy and trade tensions eased. The dollar declined. On the JSE, the big mover of the day was property company MAS, which jumped 20% in value on the news of an acquisition. Low-cost banking company Capitec’s share jumped by nearly 5% on a trading update indicating that it expects headline earnings per share will increase between 18% and 21%. The share price of medical scheme provider Discovery gained about 4.5%. Leading stocks down was property company Hyprop, which plunged 10% following the release of its consolidated results for the year ended 30 June.

At the WEF Africa meeting, independent-minded Dr Martyn Davies of Deloitte picked up a bunch of penetrating questions from the Biznews community - and provided his own forthright responses. Davies, who is fluent in Mandarin and travels widely, tackled thorny issues ranging from the proposed NHI through to stalling economic growth and a perceived inability to tackle corruption. He reckons it's all about the national mindset - and believes the time for talking is past and for action has arrived. 

At the WEF Africa meeting, Nick Binedell, the founder and former dean of GIBS, Africa's top business school, applied his mind to some tricky questions posed by members of the Biznews community. His responses opened a number of new avenues of inquiry. He was talking to Biznews founder Alec Hogg.

One of the most popular themes of questions posed by the Biznews community ahead of the WEF Africa meeting related to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's economic revival plan. So Alec Hogg tracked down one of the relative few economists who have actually read the entire document. Among the questions were those submitted by community members Myles Fourie, Mike Hill and Marius Swart.

In Monday's Daily Insider newsletter, we asked members of the Biznews community to send through questions that we could ask heavy hitters attending the WEF Africa meeting. Alec Hogg caught up with Dion Shango, the Africa head of PWC, the world's leading Big Four accounting and auditing firm. Alec got the chance to pose some of the best questions submitted by community members - in this instance those from Tom Clarkson, Derick Finlayson, Willem Cronje and Carmen Anderson.

Mobile-phone giant MTN and grocer Shoprite are among South African firms facing a backlash to xenophobic violence in their home country. Nigeria has recalled the High Commissioner to South Africa and is boycotting the World Economic Forum in protest against attacks on its citizens living in the country. Hundreds of demonstrators protesting South Africa’s high rate of violence against women blocked the entrance to the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. President Cyril Ramaphosa has, in more than a dozen Tweets, implored citizens to help battle the scourge of violence and femicide as anti-crime protests build. A surprise rebound in economic growth in the second quarter means South Africa’s economy is on track to grow this year, central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. The Discovery share price lost about half-a-percent following the release of financial reports. Goldfields, Anglogold and Amplats led the big losers of the day down, with their share prices losing between 5 and 6% by the end of the day. Big movers up on the day included: Assore, moving up about 6% and Naspers about 2.5%.

In today’s business headlines: South Africa has averted a recession after economic growth rebounded in the second quarter; The Rand firmed on the surprising GDP rebound; The Pound rebounded as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost his majority in Parliament; Aspen Pharmacare is making progress in reducing its debt burden, while Foschini increased sales; The de-registration of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) laws had been halted; and Gauteng Premier David Makhura has warned that he could deploy the army to areas in the province plagued by xenophobic attacks and looting.

Former Steinhoff CEO, Marcus Jooste is rumoured to have been asked if he was an 'effing' psychopath when it came to light that he had been lying for years to colleagues and close friends. DA MP, David Maynier caused a stir in Parliament when he repeated the question to Jooste who was appearing in front of a Parliamentary committee. Most of us think psychopaths are crazy killers and thankfully not like us, but Heidi Maibom, a professor of philosophy at the University of Cincinnati has researched the actions of psychopaths and says rather than outliers, they reveal important truths about human morality. In an interview with Biznews she explores the relationship between the business world and psychopathy and asks why so many people who are not psychopathic, “do the same things” in modern businesses. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's business headlines: Sea Harvest Group reported a surge in first-half sales and profits; While RCL Foods reported a 60.8% drop in full-year profit hurt by a poor performance in its sugar and chicken divisions; Vox Telecom SA shareholders including Rand Merchant Bank agreed to buy out fellow investor Investec in a R2bn ($130m) deal; South Africa's  manufacturing industry sentiment slid back into contraction in August; Petrol rises by11 cents a litre today and diesel goes up by 26 cents a litre; and Tesla batteries are powering Zimbabwean phones.

The business ethics of Old Mutual’s former CEO Peter Moyo are back in the spotlight after a dynamite disclosure that the iDC wrote off a R157m loan to his private company shortly before it paid Moyo and other directors fat dividends.  Violence flared up in Hong Kong over the weekend after tens of thousands of pro-democracy protestors occupied major roads through processions that stretched for miles in the 13th weekend of demonstrations. US President Donald Trump yesterday upped the ante in his trade war against China by slapping a 15% tariff on another $111bn worth of Chinese imports.  At its AGM in Amsterdam on Friday, Steinhoff dumped its long-time auditors Deloitte, replacing the firm with the much smaller firm Mazars. 

In today's business headlines:  Massmart is pinning its hope on a new CEO, Mitchell Slape to stop the slide at the Walmart controlled retailer; Full year earnings from Woolworths showed signs of improving performance and is pulling other retailers up; Black shareholders of MultiChoice South Africa are benefitting from a declared dividend to Phuthuma Nathi shareholders; August is turning out to be the worst month for South African stocks since 1998; and Cosatu has rejected the Treasury growth plan unveiled by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni but Santam says it is a good start.

One of the earliest money lessons I received was to borrow money from the bank when you don’t need it - because, when you do need urgent financial help, the bank will not give you funds. So: set up an overdraft, but don’t use it unless there is an emergency; try to have an access-type bond for emergency funds and have a credit card - but don’t use these unless you absolutely have to tap into this money. This is because the bank will assess you on your ability to repay. And, the way the system works is that you will not tick all the boxes for the back office if you have a cash crunch. In this BizNews podcast, Alec Hogg and Candice Paine discuss the options when you have left it too late to ask the bank for money and have ended up in the hands of loan sharks as your debt continues to spiral. - Jackie Cameron

On the Rational Radio show this week, SA's favourite market commentator David Shapiro was in top form, sharing his forthright opinions on the three big investment stories of the moment - Discovery's apparent valuation hole; Sasol's massive overspending on its US chemicals plant; and Naspers' pending listing of its global internet assets in Amsterdam. Great value as always. - Alec Hogg

As the entrails of the corrupt Steinhoff empire become exposed, bruised investors are realising how little defence they have against a sociopathic CEO supported by crooked auditors. But spare a thought for Braam van Huyssteen, his CEO Bernard Mostert, and Tekkie Town which invested two and a half decades building the business from a single store in Mossel Bay. As Mostert explained on this week's episode of Rational Radio, their initial asking price of R4.5bn was chiselled down to R3.3bn because of greater potential upside - but when the dust cleared, all they have left are relatively worthless shares and a long legal fight to get their company back. We were duped, Mostert admits. Yet his colleague Van Huyssteen has forgiven the man who did it the duping. A fascinating discourse. - Alec Hogg    

For some time, chartered accountant Jared Watson had been working with his uncle, the late Gavin Watson of Bosasa fame, on a submission for a confidential SARS tax inquiry. They were together on Sunday evening and were to meet the next morning to drive together to put the final touches onto the 400 pages of documents with attorneys in Pretoria. Gavin Watson was due to re-appear before the inquiry today - but was found dead in a crashed car near the OR Tambo airport at 5am on Monday morning. In this riveting interview on this week's Rational Radio show, Jared speaks of his uncle's death and the Bosasa saga, and dismisses a Times Live report quoting an unnamed source at SARS that Gavin Watson had spirited R500m into a Guernsey trust account: "I looked after Gavin's financial affairs so if he did something like that, I would have known about it. If such money does exist, whoever finds it is welcome to keep it." - Alec Hogg

Within a couple days of it being published on Biznews.com, Alan Knott-Craig's think piece on how to live happily in South Africa was read by more than 50,000 people. That's an exceptional number for what; after all, is a clear diversion from the usual mass market fare of doom and gloom. So to find out what motivated him to do this, in this week's episode of Rational Radio we caught him at Johannesburg's OR Tambo airport en route home to the Cape. Warning to pessimists: this might just change your worldview. - Alec Hogg

Tito Mboweni has unveiled an economic rescue plan for South Africa. Late on Tuesday, the National Treasury released a massive policy document aimed at boosting economic growth by between 2-3% and creating 1 million additional jobs. In a statement along with the release of that document, Minister of Finance Mboweni said he encouraged citizens to make comments on the proposals. The paper, titled: Economic transformation, inclusive growth, and competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa. Eskom could sell some coal-powered plants to raise R450bn and allow households to sell electricity back into the grid as part of a restructuring of the state-owned power utility. The stations could be sold through a series of auctions and would include related staff contracts, coal-supply contracts and environmental obligations, according to an economic policy paper the National Treasury released for public comment on Tuesday. Precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater said on Tuesday it fell into the red in the first half of the year due to a five-month strike at its South African gold operations.Gold production was hit by the strike over pay and job cuts that ended in April and cost Sibanye more than $100m in lost revenue. Also among the worst performers on Tuesday was Old Mutual, also down nearly 3%. Analysts speculate that a battle between Peter Moyo, the on-again, off-again CEO and the life assurer’s chairman, former finance minister Trevor Manuel, is putting the Old Mutual stock under pressure. Fin24 reported late on Tuesday that Moyo had lodged an urgent application for the board of Old Mutual and its chairperson Trevor Manuel to be declared as having deliberately interfered with the functioning of the courts.

The ANC has expressed shock at the death of corruption-accused Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, who died in a car accident near OR Tambo International Airport on Monday. A case of culpable homicide has been opened by the police, reports News24. Lord Tim Bell, the spin doctor linked to the Gupta family’s white monopoly capital smear campaign against white South African business players, has died. Bell founded Bell Pottinger, a global public relations firm brought down by angry South Africans as the state capture scandal exploded. On the JSE, Northam's share price shot up about 10% on Monday on the back of its financial results released on Friday. The platinum producer announced record operating profit of R2.4bn and headline earnings per share up more than 200%. There is the risk of a tax revolt, new South African Revenue Service Commissioner Edward Kieswetter warned on Monday. Kieswetter, hired in March, told a tax conference in Johannesburg that falling trust in the collector by individuals and companies had led to rising levels of tax avoidance and fraud, bleeding billions from government, reports Reuters. Naspers has said a newly created entity containing assets including a stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent will be valued at about $100bn. A value of $100bn would make only Royal Dutch Shell and consumer-goods giant Unilever bigger in Amsterdam by market capitalisation, reports Bloomberg.

RMB transactor Lwandile Nene unpack's the bank's role in assisting the Africa Finance Corporation to close  $650m Eurobond debt issue at an attractive interest rate. As a result of interest generated ahead of the issue, demand was so strong that the interest rate was cut from an indicative 4.75% to an issue at 4.50% - saving AFC around R150m in interest costs over the seven year term. RMB, whose relationship with the African infrastructural investment operation began in 2012, was the only African bank of the five involved in the transaction. - Alec Hogg

Eskom says it will take three to five years to fully effect a proposed split into three units after which its sole monopoly will be managing the national transmission infrastructure.  The CPB World Trade Monitor compiled by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis reports that world trade volumes contracted by 1.4% in June.  Resistance is growing against the South African’s government’s proposal to re-introduce prescribed asset requirements, where pension funds are forced by law to invest a portion of their assets into government and SOE-issued bonds. Naspers disclosed at its annual general meeting on Friday that it has identified machine learning and online education as areas of focus for the future.

In this BizNews Personal Finance podcast with Jackie Cameron, a leading Johannesburg investment specialist shares how Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a useful vehicle to grow wealth. Dawn Ridler, of Kerenga Wealth Ecology, explains the key characteristics of ETFS, how they differ from collective investment schemes like unit trusts or mutual funds, and how they generate returns. Ridler shares tips on good starting points for investors who are new to the world of funds - and ETFs in particular.

Part-time bureaucrat James Styan's fourth book is his best selling yet, with the initial print run sold out within days of The Bosasa Billions hitting the shelves. On Rational Radio this week he shared the back story of researching a tale that has made household names of the now bankrupt company's chief protagonists Gavin Watson and Angelo Agrizzi. He also offers the similarities he found between Watson and former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste, key personality in one of Styan's previous quick-off-the-mark books about SA's biggest corporate collapse. - Alec Hogg

Old Mutual has fired its CEO Peter Moyo - again. Moyo has been involved in a bitter dispute with Old Mutual chairman Trevor Manuel in connection with private business dealings that were declared when Moyo first took up his role at the helm of the life assurer. Moyo was suspended earlier this year, then reinstated, but Old Mutual’s lawyers keep trying to axe him. On Thursday the 174-year-old insurer gave Moyo further notice of termination in a dispute that erupted in May, reports Bloomberg. Mr Price plunged on the JSE, falling as much as 14% to the lowest in more than two years in Johannesburg. It dragged some retailers down with it, says Bloomberg. Truworths International slipped 3.6% and Woolworths Holdings 2.6% as an index of general retailers dropped the most in seven months. Mr Price has blamed the poor economy for its woes. Manufacturer and retailer Italtile jumped 10% on the JSE on Thursday. Apparently negative consumer sentiment has failed to dampen activities in its stores. The tile manufacturer and retailer reported healthy finances when it released its financial results. Its group turnover was up 15% to R10bn for the financial year ending in June, and its profits were up 18%, according to Sens. The good results have encouraged its board to award investors a special dividend on top of an ordinary dividend. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is set to cut government spending by as much as R300bn over the next three years, says Bloomberg. The government needs money to fix Eskom and, with a weak economy hitting tax collection, it is looking at reducing government expenditure.The National Treasury has asked departments to prepare proposals on how to cut costs in a way that has the least impact on service delivery. It’s seeking cuts of 5% for 2020-21, and 6% and 7% for the next two years - a move that could placate credit ratings companies such as Moody’s Investors Service, the last major firm to assess South Africa’s debt at investment grade, and reduce the need for tax hikes. Britain lurches closer to a no-deal Brexit at the end of October. French President Emmanuel Macron gave UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson little hope he’s prepared to compromise on Brexit and said any changes to the current deal won’t be very significant, reports Bloomberg. KPMG, the Big Four auditing firm at the centre of South Africa’s state capture and corruption scandals in the Zuma ...