The global head of credit research at Debtwire, Nick Saville-Smith, joined us on Rational Radio this week to provide a City of London perspective on the latest financials released by Eskom. The good news is that it could have been a lot worse had Cyril Ramaphosa not gotten the nod at the ANC's December 2017 elective conference. The bad news is even at half its current debt burden, he believes Eskom is not sustainable. - Alec Hogg

Ram Ottapathu, founder of Botswana's leading retailer Choppies, has been under heavy attack of late after a forensic and legal audit into the JSE-listed company accused him of malfeasance. But Ottapathu admits that although governance was slack, no money is missing and no fraud was committed. He intends setting the record straight and getting the suspension of the shares lifted soon after the EGM called for 4 September. Apologies for the poor sound quality. - Alec Hogg

GG Alcock's unique background - raised by anti-apartheid activists who lived their values by relocating to SA's poorest area to live like locals - provided him with a very different thought process to his fellows. And he has put it to good use by researching and writing about the country's informal economy, where millions of people earn and spend a huge slice of SA's unrecorded GDP. GG reckons when you add those busy in the informal economy to the official numbers, the country's real unemployment is closer to 12% than the stated 29%. His thesis received support but also considerable criticism from members of the Biznews community. He picked up on the debate in this week's edition of Rational Radio. - Alec Hogg

In today's business headlines: South Africa’s headline consumer inflation slowed to 4% year-on-year in July; The inflation figures helped a recovery on the JSE and in the value of the Rand; SARS has suspended its controversial IT chief Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane following serious allegations of misconduct; South Africa’s High Court has set aside findings of an inquiry that found no evidence of corruption in the arms deal in the 90s linked to former President Jacob Zuma; and Growth in GDP could lead to Eskom power outages.

In this week's edition of Rational Radio, SA's favourite market commentator David Shapiro wades into the investment market controversies surrounding Discovery, Sasol, Blue Label and Aspen. His advice: the shares may look really cheap, but before knowing that for sure, you'll need to do your homework - and wait to see a recovery in the prices before jumping aboard. - Alec Hogg

Nowadays few employees consider lifetime employment. But back in 1974, things were very different as outgoing WBHO chairman Mike Wylie tells us in this fascinating interview on Rational Radio. Wylie has been intimately involved in the growth of a tiny Cape-based startup business that is today SA's dominant construction company - and the only major player still standing after a decade of decline. He reckons it's all about the people, crediting WBHO's longstanding approach of only promoting from within and the five attributes his leaders must possess before being considered for the next step upwards. - Alec Hogg

In today's business headlines: Steinhoff shares fall to an all time low of R0.87 a share on the JSE; Shoprite shares dropped by more than 9% after losses in the rest of Africa leads to a full year trading loss of R265m; Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says he sees unions backing Eskom’s rescue plan; The IMF scare may jolt the Government into action to come up with a proper turnaround plan; and   Global film and television companies have asked President Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign the Copyright Bill.

In the $100trn global bond market, it appears to be hard to find a good investment. With Germany announcing that it will sell an ultra-long bond at 0% for the first time this week, there is talk of Germany being in danger of Japanification. If investors put their money into Japanese, German and many other European government bonds, they would be putting money into assets knowing they will lose money on the deal. Contrast that to the yield of South Africa’s 10-year bond which is more than 8%. It sounds like a no brainer for a global bond investor, but foreigners are still not biting. Last week they were dumping foreign bonds at a rate of almost R2bn a day on the prospect that Moody’s might downgrade South Africa to junk status. In an interview with Biznews’ Alec Hogg, Rhandzo Mukansi from Futuregrowth takes a peek at what has been going on in the global bond market and says South Africa’s fiscal situation is deterring investors despite the good yields. Mukansi dismisses a possible IMF bailout and says if Government spending can be reined in, the ship can be turned around. - Linda van Tilburg

It was another rough day on the JSE for medical scheme provider Discovery, which lost 8%, and Aspen, which shed more than 4%. Blue Label Telecoms also took a knock, losing more than 3% of its value after announcing a delay in the release of its financial results. It expects to produce figures that will disappoint investors, when it eventually posts its results. Real Estate Investment Trust Resilient, which owns about 30 shopping centres around South Africa, moved up nearly 5% following the release of its financial results and a dividend increase of about 3% (on Friday). Total revenue for the period was recorded at R3.8bn (2018: R3.9bn), and profit before net finance costs turned around to R5.9bn (2018: loss of R2.7bn) More than a decade after the Fidentia group was placed in curatorship, investors have recovered only a quarter of the R1,3bn in claims, reports Netwerk24. The curators made millions wrapping up the affairs of the company that squandered mineworkers' savings for widows and orphans. The European Commission said on Monday that the EU was ready for a no-deal Brexit and that Britain would suffer most under such a scenario, reports Reuters.

The National Health Insurance (NHI) bill sent shock waves across the Johannesburg stock exchange earlier this month, hammering darlings like Discovery and hospital companies. But the damage to your share portfolio was just the start of NHI-induced financial pain. Expect big taxes to cover a government department that will be more expensive to run than Eskom as everyone joins the queues for state medical care. In this personal finance podcast, Johannesburg money expert Dawn Ridler chats to Jackie Cameron about what the NHI law will mean for your savings and medical cover - and what you can do to keep some access to top-notch healthcare.

Former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste, who has been accused of fraudulently inflating the company’s profit numbers over the past decade, is refusing to repay Steinhoff the R850m in salary and bonuses he received since 2009. Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong yesterday held one of their biggest rallies as activism stretched into its 11th week, Organisers said 1.7m mostly black clad protestors attended a rally in Victoria Park, with many of them clogging traffic arteries by marching almost 4km to Hong Kong’s financial district. The share price of South Africa’s oil-from-coal multinational Sasol dropped R43 to R235 a share shortly after the opening of trading on Friday, a loss of 16%. South African banks say they are likely to raise the cost of credit for low income earners after the new National Credit Amendment Bill was signed into law last week.

The mood in South Africa is particularly gloomy at the moment as the New Dawn that President Cyril Ramaphosa promised, remains a tiny glimmer of light on the horizon. Ramaphosa is distracted by in-fighting in his own party, using the Public Protector to attack him and restricted by policies adopted by the ANC including land expropriation without compensation. This is preventing him from undertaking the structural reforms that would bring foreign investment to South Africa that Ramaphosa so sorely seeks. The gloomy mood is adding to people’s perception that they should be packing for Perth or to English speaking destinations where their future prospects are better. The interesting new element to the emigration of South Africans is that the emigrants are not all White; many well educated Blacks are leaving as well. Alec Hogg interviewed Azar Jammine from Econometrix on BizNews Radio where he said there appears to be an increase in emigration, but remains positive that Ramaphosa could surprise the doomsdayers. - Linda van Tilburg

The debate on land reform is heating up as a cross-party Parliamentary committee begins to look at how the Constitution can be changed to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. This is after the Presidential Panel concluded its report and suggested a watered down version of the original proposal for land expropriation without expropriation. The panel stressed that constitutional amendments are not, on their own, the only tools available in order to bring redress to the people who were disposed of land in the past. The Institute for Race Relations has been lobbying against expropriation and the IRR’s CEO, Frans Cronjé also put a strategy for the agricultural sector on the table on how they could counter the risks of land expropriation. In an interview with BizNews Radio, Terence Corrigan warned that once the Constitution is changed to allow for expropriation of land, other sectors could be targeted. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's business headlines: The IMF says South Africa does not need a loan, but it needs structural reforms to boost growth; Bloomberg says President Cyril Ramaphosa's left wing allies is hampering economic reforms; Gold Fields has returned to a first-half profit of $70.5m in June but its headline earnings per share fell, while Implats swung to its first net profit in five years; Discovery shares claw back; Weaker rand could lead to 10 cent hike in the petrol price in September; and  Government departments owe service providers R600m.

South Africans who lived through the apartheid era are keenly aware that there are few accusations worse than being called a policy spy. Back in the 1980s it was a moniker that could easily cost your life. The best known case is probably the murder of Stompie Moeketsi, accused of being a police spy at the age of 14, by a member of Winnie Mandela's "Football Club” in 1989. In contemporary South Africa, it is still regarded as a disgrace to have served as an informer to the police in the former political dispensation because the police were the enforcers of racist legislation. Johann van Loggerenberg, an anti-corruption buster at the South African Revenue Services until 2015, has experienced the pain of the “police spy” label at the hands of The Sunday Times. One of its former journalists, Malcolm Rees, has apologised for the reputational damage and has started to explain how the false accusation made it into the pages of one of the country’s biggest print titles. But there are still more questions to be answered by the journalists working within the bosom of a big media company. And, although the Rogue Unit reports have been discredited, by late this week TimesLive was still carrying the 2014 piece, Love affair rocks SARS, that falsely labels Van Loggerenberg as a spy. - Jackie Cameron

In today’s business headlines: Investors have been dumping South African bonds at a rate of almost R2bn a day in August. South African stocks approached a six months low yesterday but gold shares are still shining. The JSE all-share index dropped by 2.11% while the benchmark Top-40 index was 2.37% down.  Credit Suisse suggested that investors should start to accumulate shares focused on the South African economy. There are a couple of former Eskom executives keen to take on the job as CEO. Facebook is being quizzed by EU regulators for transcribing audio of customers using the Messenger app.

This week on Rational Radio David Shapiro spends a lot of his time searching for answers to Discovery's massive sell off which has seen the stock fall to around R100 a share. There's talk of an analyst and a gaping R15bn hole, while National Health Insurance also finds itself amongst a bag full of potential reasons. SA Inc also experienced a marked sell-off recently, with David searching for a reason to buy. While Steinhoff's investor presentation and the topic of Markus Jooste also come up for discussion.

On this week's Rational Radio show, Wilhelm Hertzog gave us his impressions of the long awaited Steinhoff Investor Presentation which he attended yesterday. In this insightful contribution, the co-founder of money manager Rozendal Partners also explains why those paying anything for Steinhoff's JSE-listed shares - even at 124c - are engaging in a gamble that's akin to a "coin toss". Those wanting a bet on an eventual recovery should rather investigate the company's bonds or even its preference shares. - Alec Hogg

After an hour and a half of presentations by Steinhoff executives and directors, investors got the opportunity to pose their questions. The spontaneous nature of this part ensures that it is often the most interesting part of any presentation, especially for smaller Steinhoff shareholders hoping to pick up some guidance from the professionals. - Alec Hogg

Embattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigators a full 20 months to "straighten the plate of spaghetti" ahead of the first presentation to investors since the bombshell exploded in December 2017. In this clip, CEO Louis du Preez explains where Steinhoff is today - and what the road ahead looks like. 

Embattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigators a full 20 months to "straighten the plate of spaghetti" ahead of the first presentation to investors since the bombshell exploded in December 2017. Here's the presentation by outgoing CFO Philip Dieperink.

Embattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigators a full 20 months to "straighten the plate of spaghetti" ahead of the first presentation to investors since the bombshell exploded in December 2017. Here's the presentation by recently appointed board member, the UCT Accounting Professor Alex Watson who explains the complexities of the Markus Jooste accounting system - and how this Gordian Knot was unravelled.

Embattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigators a full 20 months to "straighten the plate of spaghetti" ahead of the first presentation to investors since the bombshell exploded in December 2017. Here CEO Louis du Preez answers the two questions asked of him daily, including: When is former CEO Markus Jooste going to jail?

Embattled Steinhoff lifted its veil yesterday for the first time since the once mighty group brought to its knees after the disclosures of massive fraud and corruption conducted over more than a decade. It wasn't pretty. Punters who had pushed the share price to 148c ahead of the presentation were licking their wounds as the price fell sharply as the depth of the problem was exposed, with the shares closing the session at 124c, It has taken literally hundreds of skilled financial investigators a full 20 months to "straighten the plate of spaghetti" ahead of the first presentation to investors since the bombshell exploded in December 2017. Here's the first of the clips from the meeting - an overview from chairperson Heather Sonn. - Alec Hogg

Steinhoff bosses say the only way the company can survive is if it sells assets and transforms into a holding company. It has a mountain of debt that is a worry. CEO Louis du Preez delivered a stark assessment of Steinhoff's options at the company's first public investor presentation since the scandal took hold, saying a radical transformation into a retail-focused investment holding company was its "only way to survive". Absa failed to impress investors when it released its results on Tuesday. A drop in earnings at Absa's South African corporate and investment bank took the shine off progress at its core domestic retail business as the lender reported a 5% rise in first-half profit. Absa’s South African retail division, which contributes more than half of its overall earnings and has lagged behind peers, grew earnings by 4%. The world’s top platinum and palladium supplier has an answer to the electric-car boom that may pose a long-term threat to its biggest market: invent a new battery, reports Bloomberg. Anglo American Platinum is investing $4m to develop a lithium battery that uses platinum-group metals instead of cobalt and nickel. Argentina's peso and dollar-denominated bonds dropped again on Tuesday as market turmoil spilled into a second day following opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez's landslide victory in a primary election that dealt a severe blow to President Mauricio Macri's re-election chances, says Reuters. IHS Markit's calculations price the probability of a sovereign default within the next five years at more than 72%. On the JSE, miners were the big losers, with Sibanye and Gold Fields shares diving more than 10% and Harmony and Anglo Gold down nearly 8%. South Africa’s largest platinum-mining union has rejected initial wage offers from two of the world’s biggest producers and accused Sibanye Gold of trying to provoke a strike, says Bloomberg. The top performers inched up in single digits, and included Kumba Iron Ore which gained about 3% and Truworths, which moved up just over 1%.