In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Stuart Lowman is joined by an optimistic David Shapiro; excerpts from the BizNews spring investment conference as Martin Freeman talks about his business journey and Rob Hersov on SA's brain drain, and the BizNews Team.

News headlines: *South Africa’s Constitutional Court backed the electoral authority’s decision to allow political parties more time to register candidates for municipal elections. *The ANC is riven by factionalism and “thugs and gangsters” have infiltrated the process for selecting electoral candidates, according to an internal report cited by the City Press newspaper. *After failing to convince the Constitutional Court to rescind his 15-month prison sentence, Jacob Zuma is now heading to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in search of justice.

South African entrepreneur and OrbVest co-founder Martin Freeman talks about his business journey to Alec Hogg at the BizNews spring investment conference, which was recently held at the Champagne Sports Resort in the midst of the Drakensberg mountains. Freeman, a Harvard graduate, has been involved in a number of successful business ventures in South Africa, most notably being one of the founding members of Bayport Financial Services. His journey to New York was not clear cut, with the serial entrepreneur having found opportunity within a niche real estate sector abroad. OrbVest invests in income producing medical commercial property in the US, which generates a yield (ie dividends) between 7% and 9% per annum. Freeman refers to the investment as reliable with the sweetener being that capital and dividends are returned in US dollars, a great diversification tool for South African savers.

Our Monday market commentator, David Shapiro, joins BizNews to discuss equity markets which, says Shapiro, he remains optimistic about. Together with Bronwyn Nielsen, the duo also discuss the tech stocks in the US, the South African economy and Chinese markets.

In ons derde in 'n reeks van drie gesprekke gesêls ek met Jan Meintjes van Denker Capital oor Lewis Group.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by Piet Viljoen ringing the alarm bells investing in China; Co-founder and head of Shyft at Standard Bank Arno von Helden; vice-chair on the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Covid-19 vaccines Professor Ames Dhai; SATSA’s CEO David Frost on UK "red" list, and the BizNews Team.

News headlines: *South African Airways will need a more modern fleet to be competitive on routes outside its home continent following the Covid-19 crisis, according to interim Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kgokolo. *Pepkor Holdings Ltd. is rapidly reopening stores after violent unrest in South Africa in July caused as much as R1.3bn damage to about 550 shops, or 10% of its total. *Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says the Democratic Alliance is trying to breach the separation of powers by asking the Constitutional Court to take over the responsibilities of the Independent Electoral Commission.

Counterpoint value fund manager Piet Viljoen joins BizNews founder Alec Hogg as Thursday's Power Hour co-host, with the veteran money manager ringing the alarm bells about investing in China. Evergrande, one of the largest property developers in China, is facing a liquidity crunch that could potentially cause financial contagion in the world's second largest economy. Viljoen also talks about his exposure to cryptocurrencies, which he sees as a growing asset class in the years to come. Lastly, the topic of environmental, social and governance (ESG) is chatted about at length, with Viljoen outlining the difficulties in measuring the metric given its qualitative nature.

Co-founder and head of Shyft at Standard Bank, Arno von Helden, joined Alec Hogg to discuss the various benefits of the bank's digital wallet offering. The app, which enables you to buy or exchange forex, shop online securely, and make payments across the globe, now also includes a share trading feature. According to Von Helden, what makes Shyft unique is that it lists stocks that South Africans are really interested in, and not necessarily the top stocks. "We haven't had too many complaints about our offering so far. I think we've really looked at covering the vast majority of where we see customers going," he says. "We are trying to create an offering that suits those customers' needs and gives people options and different things. We've got a very flexible system, we've got a very scalable system, and we really want to give customers what they want in terms of instrument selection."

The United Kingdom is set to review their 'red list' of countries, which South Africa has been on since December last year - and there is optimism that the gates could be opened soon. Minister of International Relations, Naledi Pandor has lobbied British cabinet ministers and Business Leadership South Africa has sent a letter to Prime Minster Boris Johnson telling him that it was inconceivable that the situation should persist past the summer season and Christmas holiday. SATSA CEO, David Frost told BizNews that they wanted to bring home the message that you have a better chance of getting Covid-19 in Cornwall than in Cape Town. Frost looked at the future of tourism in South Africa and said that the tourism industry should repackage itself as an adventure destination to lure in a younger crowd.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by Magnus Heystek on the lost decade of wealth evaporated; Dr Carmichael on his mandatory vaccines article; CPT mayor Dan Plato unpacks the latest on Amazon; Mergence's Peter Major as commodity cycle turns and the BizNews Team.

News headlines: *The world’s biggest number of HIV cases is complicating South Africa’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, raising the risk of more mutated versions emerging and spreading across the globe. *South Africa and a host of other countries could soon be taken off the UK’s travel ‘red list’, according to The Telegraph and UK Independent. *South Africa’s tax base is steadily declining as more of the country’s skilled professionals look overseas for greener pastures, says Izak Smit, chief executive of the Professional Provident Society.

Magnus Heystek joins the BizNews Power Hour as co-host to talk us through the details of his article 'The lost decade and how your wealth has evaporated' which is one of the best read pieces on BizNews.com this week.

Earlier in the year, it was reported that Amazon would be setting up shop in the Mother City. Serving as their African headquarters, the Seattle-based multinational would be based at a proposed development at the River Club, Observatory. The redevelopment of the land will create much-needed work in Cape Town, with over 5,000 direct jobs created. However, a number of environmental and heritage groups have opposed the idea. Cape Town mayor Dan Plato told BizNews founder Alec Hogg that Amazon's announcement to establish their African headquarters in Cape Town is something no one can want to say no to. Plato also touches on objections to the project and semigration from other parts of the country to Cape Town.

In August, Dr Herman Edeling wrote an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Minister of Health in which he addressed the health and economic crises that we are facing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a neurosurgeon specialising in medico-legal practice, Dr Edeling is particularly qualified to comment on issues and concerns in respect of the Covid-19 vaccines as well as the arbitrary and parochial manner in which the South African government and health authorities have addressed the pandemic. Drawing on his expertise in medico-legal practice, Dr Edeling states that; ‘ In this global catastrophe, we have people expressing opinions and instructions - relying on their authority to do so, but not relying on reasons. And by not relying on reasons, they are neither relying on facts, nor on science, nor on logic. That is the philosophical crisis that we are in.’ In a fascinating and acutely informative interview with Dr Edeling, elements of the official Covid-19 narrative were discussed - a global narrative put forth by, amongst other institutions, the World Health Organisation and the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he believes ‘the South African government has slavishly followed without, it seems, any questioning.’ The central core of the open letter, he says, is to say to the President; please provide South Africans - citizens, doctors, scientists, everybody - with the truth and allow people to discuss the truth and debate, and ‘also to stop suppressing people who try to tell the truth - but who are suppressed or censored.’ Less than 24 hours after the interview was live streamed on youTube, it was removed on the grounds of ‘medical misinformation’ and as a consequence, BizNews has been prohibited from uploading any content on YouTube for one week. A video of the interview can now be viewed on Vimeo.

The go-to man when it comes to the resource counters, Peter Major shares his insights on the commodity downturn of recent weeks. Iron Ore and the precious metals basket have nosedived since its highs in recent months, with many of South Africa's mining giants feeling the pain. Major has been ringing the alarm bells on these unsustainably high commodity prices for months.

PSG chief executive Piet Mouton has gone out on a limb, putting pen to paper on one of the more controversial issues of 2021, vaccinations. Mouton's message is simple - vaccinations are the only solution to getting the economy up and running again. He outlines that those not willing to get vaccinated are creating a burden for the rest of society. Although data can be manipulated to suit many different narratives, the overwhelming evidence is that vaccines are effective against preventing serious illness and death. There have been a few rare cases of the vaccines creating serious illness and death but Mouton argues that we can't live in fear of the isolated, low percentage scenarios. One million jobs have already been lost in South Africa as a result of this pandemic. How many more are we willing to lose?

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Steven Nathan on markets movements; Matthew Kruger unpacking the constitutionality of mandatory vaccines; PSG's Piet Mouton on his open letter on those who shun vaccinations and the BizNews Team.

News headlines: *Businesses and insurers are appealing to the government to work faster in paying out for damages sustained during the July riots, saying that many are desperate for cash to get their operations back up and running. *The head of South Africa’s state power utility needs to substantially reduce its R402bn of debt to realise his vision of transforming the coal-addicted behemoth into a leading green-energy producer and create as many as 300,000 jobs in the process. *The ANC says that the elections should be run fair and square and that parties shouldn’t benefit just because they could ‘muscle out’ their opponents.

Matthew Kruger is a Research Fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation. Kruger recently wrote a though-provoking piece about mandatory vaccines - a topic sparking debate across the globe. His piece, as he describes it, is concerned with what strikes him "as the framework through which we're considering this question - which I find extremely worrying for a number of respects." The Research Fellow notes that he has no issue with vaccines, but rather the constitutionality of mandatory vaccines.

Steven Nathan is Tuesday's BizNews Power Hour co-host, with the 10X founder sharing his rational opinion on a number of controversial issues making the headlines in South Africa today. First, Piet Mouton's open letter is discussed at length, with the PSG chief executive outlining that the burden of lockdowns should only be faced by the unvaccinated. Nathan sided with Mouton, stating that all the data is pointing towards vaccines being effective in protecting against illness and death, which is its primary role. The Steinhoff settlement saga is also discussed, with the embroiled retailer having sold R7.3bn worth of Pepkor shares in an accelerated bookbuild to qualified investors over the last 24 hours.

SA's tobacco industry is going to be in the global headlines over the next few weeks, says BizNews founder Alec Hogg. Joining him to discuss the developments in this sector is Johan van Loggerenberg, an expert in the field. The former SARS employee has written four books on the tobacco wars and related topics. Also part of the discussion is Victoria Hollingsworth, a journalist at the UK-based Bureau for Investigative Journalist. Hollingsworth was tasked with investigating corruption within British American Tobacco. With the help of van Loggerenberg, Hollingsworth was able to uncover what the company has been doing in South Africa - and how much the head office in the UK knew about this.

Our currency expert Andre Cilliers joins Bronwyn Nielsen in the heat seat as the two discuss both local and international currency movements. The rand has shown considerable strength in the past few days, despite commodity prices softening. Andre said he expects the rand to give up some of the gains against the major currencies.

Township mall owner Jason McCormick joins BizNews founder Alec Hogg days after presenting at the BizNews Investment Conference. McCormick and his family are majority shareholders in JSE-listed Exemplar REIT, a property company focused on shopping malls and convenience centres in rural and township South Africa. The McCormick's property empire was ravaged a few months ago as widespread looting and vandalisation took many parts of KZN and Gauteng hostage. Although McCormick admits there is scar tissue, he's looking for further avenues of growth and is developing a shopping centre in the heart of Mamelodi.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host David Shapiro; MD of Exemplar REIT Jason McCormick on a new property development in Mamelodi, Victoria Hollingsworth and former SARS executive Johann van Loggerenberg on corrupt practices at British American Tobacco; TreasuryONE's Andre Cilliers with this week's currency focus, and the BizNews Team.