Francois Nortje, director of Distribution Junxion at Port of Gauteng, joined Alec Hogg to discuss the recent cyber attack on Transnet. Nortje says he is not surprised because Transnet is a soft target for organised crime. His advice is to break the organisation up into smaller private companies because employees in SOEs are not as protective of their businesses as private owners.

News headlines: *South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni affirmed his commitment to reining in debt amid concerns that the coronavirus pandemic and a week of deadly riots will further erode the state’s already shaky finances. *South Africa’s port and rail company appears to have been targeted with a strain of ransomware that cybersecurity experts have linked to a series of high-profile data breaches likely carried out by crime gangs from Eastern Europe and Russia. *President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the use of 1,495 members of the military to help neighbour Mozambique fight an Islamic State-linked insurgency, parliament said on Wednesday.

Counterpoint’s Piet Viljoen joined the BizNews Power Hour to weight in on the fate of Naspers and Prosus, given that their primary driver - internet giant Tencent - has been one of the worst affected tech companies hit by the muster of the Chinese regulators clamp down on Big Tech. while Viljoen believes that a small allocation to Naspers or Prosus or Tencent can be justified, he finds it ridiculous that people have 20% to 30% to 40% of their portfolio in this one entity, which has existential risk. Viljoen also provides valuable insight into the cyclical nature of the commodities sector and believes that we are in a commodity bull market, which ‘we'll stay in until we see aggressive supply responses from the commodity companies.’

Joining the BizNews Power Hour are the directors of Altvest, an exciting company that aims to transform the way people invest in companies. Warren Wheatley, Koshiek Karan and Rob Hersov spoke to Alec Hogg about the project, with Wheatley noting that the idea comes from a desire to make incredible investment opportunities available to the ordinary public. “Finally we can offer these [investment opportunities] in bite-sized chunks, to everybody. A call-centre agent can buy a stake in a wine farm, solar plant, Ferrari or even an Arabian stallion.”

First Help, the largest towing company in the Southern Hemisphere, has an annual Blanket Drive which takes place in the winter. The drive aims to hand out blankets to the homeless in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Author David Gemmel - he wrote the book 'Joost, Man in the Mirror' about rugby's Joost van der Westhuizen - was invited by First Help founder Clinton Spolander, to join the early morning drive this year. He told BizNews about his experience, a tow truck driver named 'Duggie', the relationship that exists between drivers' and street people - and how handing out blankets to a phalanx of homeless people turned out to be painful. Gemmel noted that it's tough seeing first-hand how many people had it hard, but said it was pleasant to see “how these hapless souls could be cheered up by a dint of a single blanket.” 

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Magnus Heystek; Professor Colleen Aldous on why Ivermectin is an important part of the Covid story but not a silver bullet, Niemoller's second Open Letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the BizNews Power Hour Team.

PANDA - Pandemics ~ Data & Analysis - has been under ever-increasing scrutiny since it boldly spoke out against senseless lockdown regulations in 2020. Notwithstanding severe criticism and dismissal, PANDA and the organisation’s co-founder, Nick Hudson, have forged ahead to challenge the official Covid-19 narrative. BizNews founder Alec Hogg caught up with Nick Hudson to discuss, amongst other things, the daily covid death toll in Sweden hitting zero and the implications of the rest of the world not having followed the same pre-existing pandemic guidelines. As always, Hudson provided profound insight into a narrative which he believes ‘is not actually built on science, but [rather] a kind of religious fervour - an institutional approach, rather than a process approach to determining what is and is not the case.’ This narrative, he says, is propagated by doctors and academics who are essentially on there payroll of the vaccine stakeholders and the Big Pharma brigade.

The Open Letter to Ramaphosa penned last week by a BizNews community member captured the zeitgeist, having been read by more than a quarter million people within a few days. The video had over 75,000 downloads in the first 24 hours. On the assumption that you can never get too much of a great thing, here is the follow up, the first of what we hope will be many contributions by “Niemöller” the nom de plume our correspondent has selected. It honours the anti-Hitler German theologian of that name whose famous poem “First they came…” resonates as powerfully today as it did when written exactly three quarters of a century ago. In the piece below, our Niemöller provides a little background to the first Open Letter – and follows up with an equally powerful second one.

News headlines: *SA-born biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is backing a Covid-19 vaccine candidate that he sees as having potential as a universal booster of other pandemic shots. *The US government will begin shipping a donation of 5.66-million Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines to SA on Wednesday, with the first consignment expected to land on Saturday, a senior US government official has told Business Day. *South Africa Treasury expects a relief package for businesses and individuals affected by this month’s deadly riots to cost 38.9 billion rand ($2.6 billion).

Magnus Heystek is the founder of Brenthurst Wealth Management. Last week, Heystek joined BizNews for a highly informative webinar about investing in SA. With the country going through violent protests and rioting, many were concerned about the financial status in South Africa. This week, Heystek gives further insights into what to do with your hard-earned money, in light of the Chinese government putting its " idealogical jackboot back on", as BizNews founder Alec Hogg described it. Because of this, the value of the country's next-gen tech companies are plummeting - directly affecting Naspers/Prosus.

A South African movie released on Netflix, 'I am all Girls' has received worldwide attention, being described as a "must-watch" for the acting and important storyline. The thriller tells the story of a detective who finds common ground with an unlikely ally - a killer who is systematically targeting perpetrators behind a powerful child-trafficking ring. It is based on a true South African story. One of the main characters, a detective called Ntombizonke, is played by Hlube Mboya-Turner. Mboya-Turner told BizNews that it was a difficult role to play, but as human trafficking is a crime with a very low conviction rate, she thought it was a story that had to be told. The film also highlights the quality of the South African film industry.

UKZN Professor Colleen Aldous talks to BizNews founder Alec Hogg on a controversial topic that has divided opinions for many months now - Ivermectin. Many academics in the field of medicine are strongly against the use of Ivermectin as a measure to prevent Covid-19. Aldous says there is more than enough evidence pointing towards the effectiveness of the 'miracle drug' and that medical professionals continue to overlook the evidence that keeps building up in favour of the wonder drug. Aldous goes into Ivermectin's origins and the many hundreds of lives it has saved over the years, earning its founders a Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.

The United Liberty Alliance (ULA) is a civil rights movement focused on the self-determination of the oppressed minorities in Southern Africa. Hein Marx of the ULA talks to Alec Hogg about their model and proposal for secession and independence from the Republic of South Africa.

Steven Nathan joins Alec Hogg to discuss a number of topical issues at hand, with the 10X founder giving us his rational perspective. Nathan unpacks the regulatory crackdown happening in the East, with Tencent having fallen nearly as much as 40% in the last six months. Mango airlines and the Western Cape becoming its own separate nation were other topics that were discussed during the broadcast.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Steven Nathan giving his take on the Chinese influence in the markets; Founder of Valenture Rob Paddock on UCT's new high school; Guy Leitch on Mango's business rescue; leader of the United Liberty Alliance Hein Marx unpacks why they want independence from RSA and the BizNews Power Hour Team.

Aviation analyst and aviation focused magazine owner Guy Leitch what's happening with South African Airways (SAA) subsidiary Mango as the airline enters business rescue. The comes two years after SAA entered business rescue in 2019. The low cost carrier market is very competitive, with a number of domestic operators competing for relatively muted demand. 

News headlines: *South Africa’s government said it reached an interim pay deal with unions representing a majority of civil servants, averting the threat of an imminent strike. *South Africa’s state-owned ports operator declared force majeure at the country’s key container terminals following continued disruption caused by a cyber attack five days ago. *Budget airline Mango, which announced on Monday it would go into business rescue, has abruptly suspended its flights after it failed to make outstanding payments for navigation services to Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS).

Since the emergence of Covid-19 over 18 months ago, we have been bombarded with a constant influx of information. This information, the nature of which has ranged from medical to political, has had one very significant thing in common; it has instilled a very real fear in most of us. This fear could explain why the imposition of lockdowns - a concept which previously would have been met with fierce resistance - was welcomed, even praised. On July 17, an international Lockdowns Summit was held during which professionals across the world came together - virtually, of course - to present their findings on the efficacy of lockdowns to prevent and contain the spread of Covid-19 as well the ways in which lockdowns have impacted society. The comprehensive exploration of lockdowns and its unintended consequences was astonishing. Of particular interest was the presentation by Professor Frank Furedi, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent and author of over 20 books - the most recent of which is titled How Fear Works - Culture of Fear in the Twenty-First Century. Furedi’s argument that one of the main drivers of the culture of fear is the unravelling of moral authority is beautifully addressed in his presentation and provides an entirely fresh perspective on the impact of lockdowns. Furedi unpacks the trade off between freedom and security that has become so perfunctory and challenges the new normal with profound insights.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host David Shapiro; TreasuryONE's Andre Cilliers on the rand; strong mining commodity prices with Mergence's Peter Major; chief executive of the business chamber in Pietermaritzburg Melanie Veness updates us on life after the shame week and the BizNews Power Hour Team.

In hierdie potgooi het ek met bekende portefeulje bestuurder Piet Viljoen van Counterpoint Batebestuur gesêls oor Glencore, Uraan, ESG belegging, en meer.

It was during the height of the chaos in KwaZulu-Natal that BizNews last spoke with Melanie Veness, head of the Pietermaritzburg Business Chamber. Frightening for those affected, it now seems as if the worst might be behind for the city and other areas. But what about the cost? Veness told BizNews founder Alec Hogg that so far, the estimated cost to KZN alone is about R20 billion. "Some [business owners] have said they will start up again. Others have said, as soon as they get their payout, they're taking their money and leaving."

News headlines: *South Africa should aim to re-prioritise its budget to offset the cost of relief measures for businesses and individuals affected by deadly riots and accelerate reforms to foster inclusive economic growth. *An investigation into the social media campaign to incite violence and fuel the attempted insurrection this month has uncovered 12 Twitter accounts that were central to driving the unrest. *South Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare will release the first batch of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines on Monday. 

Mergence Corporate Solutions mining director Peter Major is the go-to man when it comes to the resource stocks. The mining industry has been South Africa's saving grace with commodity prices staying unbelievably strong over the past 24 months or so. The commodity counters are printing money and instead of chasing acquisitive growth, we are seeing large distributions to shareholders in the form of dividends.

Covid-19 brought about radically new ways of doing things, particularly in the education sector. The lockdown regulations imposed in South Africa led to several schools having to resort to the implementation of online learning strategies to adhere to national regulations, which accelerated the digitalisation of education in the country. With thousands of students having adapted to (remote) online learning, new opportunities in the educational sphere were recognised. One of the most noteworthy new opportunities is the UCT Online High School which will be offered in partnership with Valenture Institute. Robert Paddock, the founder and CEO at Valenture Institute, spoke to BizNews founder Alec Hogg about this exciting new chapter - which is a first on the African continent - and the ways in which it addresses fundamental errors in the traditional brick and mortar school education.

Currency strategist Andre Cilliers of TreasuryONE joins Alec Hogg in this week's Currency Focus to discuss what South Africa may have to do to attract investors who disinvest following the KZN unrest. Cilliers says that there may be a delayed reaction as business owners determine the real cost of the riots.