* South Africa is finalising legislative changes that aim at narrowing the earnings gap between company executives and the lowest-paid workers, according to Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel. * Heineken, the world’s second-largest brewer, is in talks about a takeover of South African wine and spirits maker Distell Group Holdings Ltd. * Labour union Solidarity has announced it will serve court papers on the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, over the use of Cuban engineers to help fix the country’s water crisis. * Namibia has banned all imports of poultry and poultry products from South Africa after further outbreaks of avian influenza were detected in the neighbouring country, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. * South Africans should expect loadshedding all through winter, says Eskom.

In this episode of BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Steven Nathan, Mark Barnes the chairman of Kisby, Solidarity's Anton van der Bijl, Julian Kettle and the BizNews Team.

Veteran mining expert and fund manager Peter Major joined the BizNews Power Hour, to discuss whether we are indeed in a commodities supercycle. Major reckons that we are indeed, noting "I don't know what else you would call this. When we have prices that have exceeded any kind of price we've seen in a lot of these commodities and we've been up many more years - probably 15 years we've been up out of 21 years - I think we are in a supercycle."

Balwin Properties has a fairly simple business model - how many apartments they have sold and how many they are building. Chief executive Steve Brookes joined the BizNews Power Hour, to share their plans to build "green" and the benefits you may get from ABSA that come with this deal.

Redefine, the country's second largest real-estate investment trust by market capitalisation, announced its interim results to February 28 2021 and there was very little to get excited about. The chief executive Andrew König, joined the BizNews Power Hour to talk about these results and prospects. "The vaccine roll-out will get people back to work spaces" - Andrew König.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Peter Major veteran mining engineer, CEO of Redefine - Andrew Koning- Balwin Properties’s Steve Brookers; James Herbst - CEO of Huge Group and the BizNews team.

If you are planning on leaving South Africa or have already left, there are key financial factors to consider to minimise tax liabilities. William Louw, South African tax director at emigration specialist Sable International speaks Jackie Cameron, for BizNews, about how to navigate South Africa’s tricky tax system. * This podcast is proudly brought to you by Sable International.

* The two-decades old corruption case against former South African President Jacob Zuma in connection with a $2 billion arms deal has been delayed yet again. * The DA is calling on Eskom to provide an urgent state-of-the-system update and explain how its loadshedding schedule will be managed to ensure that it does not affect the vaccine rollout process. * Microsoft Corp. board members decided that Bill Gates needed to step down from its board in 2020 as they pursued an investigation into the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate. * Naspers in Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry. The inquiry was announced as a proactive measure to get a greater understanding of the online markets operating in South Africa, says MyBroadband.co.za

Fake news poses a threat to free societies, distorting perceptions of what is true and false and corroding social and political interactions. So say Terrence Corrigan and Nicholas Lorimer, who have produced a new report by the Institute of Race Relations, entitled Fake News: A New Challenge to Human Rights? Terrence Corrigan spoke to Jackie Cameron, of BizNews about some of the fake news narratives in South Africa - including farm murders and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s role in spinning the story internationally.

Spear REIT Limited invest in high-quality income-generating real estate across all sectors within the Western Cape, they released their financial results and the CEO joined the BizNews Power Hour. Quintin Rossi explained how they managed to stay afloat during the pandemic, with hotels being totally empty. He said in May 2020 they told the market they are fully eliminating their earnings from hotel earnings from their forecast.

Revenue in the period jumped to about $1.8 billion from $190.6 million in the same quarter a year earlier, Coinbase said in a press release, Luno's Marius Reitz joined the BizNews Power Hour to go through these numbers and the crazy volatile world of cryptocurrencies.

In hierdie potgooi het ek met Alwyn Van Der Merwe gesels oor hoe professionele beleggersmarksiklusse interpreteer, en dan portefeuljes met goeie vooruisigte saamstel gegewe hulleinterpretasies. Alwyn is hoofbeleggingsbeampte by Sanlam Private Welvaart.

Simonsig Wine Estate is synonymous with the history of the South African wine industry, the Stellenbosch wine region, and the Malan family name. In this episode of Carrie’s Corner, wine connoisseur Carrie Adams speaks to Johan Malan - the recipient of The 40th Diners Club Winemaker of the Year Award for 2020. His father, Frans Malan, produced the first bottle of the much-loved Kaapse Vonkel - one his many pioneering approaches to the South African wine industry. Johan tells the story of his father’s legacy.

Are cryptocurrencies the new gold? Should you build a digital currency portfoliio and, if so, which ones should you choose? Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine Group - a multinational equity research firm - spoke to Jackie Cameron, for BizNews, from his headquarters in Sydney, Australia about Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies like meme-inspired Dogecoin. He shares how mathematicians and computer scientists are likely to replace traditional equity analysts at investment firms as younger investors embrace the digital economy.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Carrie Adams; Luno's Marius Reitz; CEO of Spear REIT Quintin Rossi; Jeremy Borge; Elunda Basson and the BizNews team.

* South Africa wants a free 20% stake in oil and gas exploration and production ventures under a new upstream petroleum bill, which allows the minister to reserve petroleum blocks for Black investors, a copy of the bill seen by Reuters showed on Friday. * White people were given preferential treatment for evacuation in a March air rescue when Mozambique's Palma town was raided by Islamic State-linked fighters, rights group Amnesty International alleged. * The ANC tax scandal is a far bigger deal than has been reported so far, says Democratic Alliance leader John Steehuisen. * Rio Tinto Group’s South African operation is facing the loss of a large bloc of Black investors, a move that would leave it below the legal minimum for Black ownership, two people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg. * Sasol Ltd. agreed to sell a 30% stake in a natural gas pipeline running from Mozambique to South Africa for as much as 5.1 billion rand ($361 million) in order to pay down debt, says Bloomberg.

Chris Wheeler, the Chief Executive of PostNet, joined the BizNews Power Hour to discuss the South African Post Office and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s move to get a monopoly on the delivery of all parcels of under one kilogram.

In 2016, Steinhoff bought Tekkie Town from founder Braam Van Huyssteen for R3.2bn – paying with Steinhoff shares which imploded the following year. This week, Tekkie Town’s former owners launched an urgent application for the liquidation of the disgraced retailer. Bernard Mostert, the former Chief Executive of Tekkie Town, joined the BizNews Power Hour to chat to BizNews founder Alec Hogg about this recent development. Mostert, who maintains that both he and Van Huyssteen ‘judge the act, not the man’, stated that Tekkie Town ‘is marching towards its day in court’. 

South African business icon Brian Joffe was the flagship guest for last night’s BizNews Power Hour, with the Bidvest founder upbeat about the prospects of his latest venture – Long4Life. The investment holding company has some great assets with household names such as Sportsmans Warehouse, Fitch & Leedes and Sorbet. Given the perennial investment holding problem - a large discount to net asset value - Long4Life has outsourced Investec Corporate Finance to extract value via corporate action. This could see Long4Life unbundle one of its crown jewels or even delist from the local bourse. No matter what scenario plays out, shareholders can sleep easy knowing Mr Joffe will be making the final call.

In hierdie potgooi het ek met bekende mark kommentator Schalk Louw oor die Rand gesels. Hy argumenteer dat ons nie die positiewe effekte van die huidige kommoditeitssiklus op ons wisselkoers moet onderskat nie. Hy raai ons ook aan om nie emosionele besluite te maak rakende ons wisselkoers exposure as gevolg van die huidige politike retoriek in Suid Afrika nie. Schalk is eienaar en besturende direkteur van PSG Old Oak in die Kaap.

In this episode of the BizNews Power Hour, Alec Hogg is joined by co-host Jean-Pierre Verster as co-host, Brian Joffe on Long 4 Life results and prospects going forward, Tekkie Town co-founder Bernard Mostert on their dispute with Steinhoff, PostNet CEO Chris Wheeler on the battle with SAPO and the courier industry, and the BizNews team.

* South African-American biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has committed an initial R3 billion to help build out South Africa’s capabilities to produce COVID-19 vaccines. * South Africa’s Department of Health said that while Covid-19 infections climbed 46% in the last week the country has not yet reached a “resurgence threshold.” * The South African Medical Research Council has produced a report into excess deaths over the past year suggests more than 133,000 people in the country have died from Covid-19. * Absa expects a 10-fold profit jump for the six months to June 30, it said on Thursday, citing cost controls and reduced bad debts. * South Africa’s biggest food producer Tiger Brands said on Thursday it expects its half-year profits to rise by up to 55% versus a year earlier. * Facebook has been called to appear before South Africa’s Parliament this month to explain what it is doing about “harmful misinformation” spreading on its platform, marking the first time the social media giant has appeared before lawmakers in Africa, reports Forbes.

The Ascendis Health Activists grouping represents investors that use social media to establish a unified voice. Their representative - Harry Smit - joined the BizNews Power Hour and said "We do feel the deal on the table is a much better transaction than business rescue and we'll be supporting the proposal"

The Pearl Valley Hotel by Mantis is situated on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Pearl Valley Golf Course at the international award-winning Val de Vie Estate just outside of Paarl in the Cape Winelands. Arguably the best address voted number one Residential Estate in South Africa and recently voted Best Leisure Development in the world, it offers investors an opportunity to cut their tax bills, with special hotel rewards. In this interview, Deon Lewis of Futureneers speaks to Jackie Cameron of BizNews about this 12J investment offering.

Piet Viljoen, fund manager of the Counterpoint value fund, joined the BizNews Power Hour as co-host. Viljoen, who has both Ascend-is and Transaction Capital in his portfolio, weighed in on the recent developments with both companies. Known to many as one of the last purists out there in respect of value investing, Viljoen applied his keen understanding to a host of topics, including Naspers and Prosus as well as which clues an investor should look out for to see whether or not management is overreaching.