We’re talking about South Africa’s army of dirty lawyers in this BizNews podcast. Hundreds of SA lawyers are rich on the proceeds of crime - even ones who look respectable. But Paul O’Sullivan, Forensics for Justice founder, has a plan to bring many of them down. O’Sullivan has fought tirelessly to bring the corrupt and captured to book. He played a key role in putting former chief of police, and former Interpol boss, Jackie Selebi behind bars. He has shared his knowledge with the Zondo Commission, which is investigating state capture. He filed his affidavit with the Zondo Commission in August and it has now been made public. He is also working on a new book and, he tells BizNews, a strategy to hold many dirty lawyers who work for the state as well as on defence team to account for their role in supporting corruption. He wants a judicial review and Parliamentary questions to find out how much taxpayers are spending to defend corrupt public servants. More on the affadavit, on the BizNews website.

Sonto Sithole tells how she has put her monthly R350 grant into starting a bakery business. A resident of Dawn Park in Boksburg, Gauteng, Sithole is now creating jobs through her business selling scones. This interview is sponsored by FirstRand. For more, visit the Good Hope section at BizNews.com

Catch up on some of the highlights of the week on stock markets. In this episode of Taking Stock, BizNews journalist Justin Rowe-Roberts provides a snapshot of the overall performance of the JSE - which has outperformed last year in the first week of 2021. He shares the details of how Naspers has fared with Chinese tech stocks under pressure in the US and back home. Troubled property company Rebosis and stock market darling Sasol are also in the spotlight.

This week the SA Reserve Bank released a circular in which it eased exchange controls connected to 'loop' structures. Dissecting the details for the BizNews community is Robyn Berger, a partner at Bowmans. A loop structure arises where a South African exchange control resident (individual or company) has an interest in a foreign structure and that foreign structure directly or indirectly owns assets in the Common Monetary Area consisting of South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. Until recently, these structures were permitted only in very limited circumstances.

The South African variant of Covid-19 has changed the outlook for the way the coronavirus pandemic is likely to unfold - in SA as well as elsewhere. Scientists in South Africa say there is a "reasonable concern" that the new variant of Covid-19 sweeping across the country might prove to be more resistant to current vaccines being rolled out in the UK and elsewhere, and warn that it makes the need for a global roll-out of vaccines "even more critical”. In this episode of Inside Covid-19, we have a special interview with one of South Africa’s leading scientists in the fight against Sars-CoV-2. Professor Shabir Madhi, a globally renowned professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand has been leading trials for the vaccine in South Africa. He shares the details of the work going on behind the scenes to understand the mutations and what this means for vaccine development, the impact of the disease on people and how governments can respond to the changing threat from the disease. Also in this episode, we hear from our partners at Bloomberg on what we know about the source of the pandemic and why bats are an important host of some of humanity's most feared viruses. Plus, a snapshot of Covid-19 world headlines. - Jackie Cameron

South Africa's government says 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines have been procured for health workers. Medical aid schemes will cross-subsidise 14 million vaccinations. Zimbabwe's hospitals are buckling from a Covid-19 resurgence. MTN and AB InBev are both headed for legal battles.

The price of Bitcoin has been swinging wildly amid growing expectation that crypto currencies are set to become more mainstream. In South Africa, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority has invited comments, by the end of January, to its draft declaration aimed at introducing some regulation around trading in currencies like Bitcoin. Trading in digital currencies has been gaining in popularity in Africa. In this package, we hear from crypto currency market participants and analysts about what might be next for Bitcoin - from the regulators as well as in terms of its price trajectory.

South Africa's Coronavirus council is reportedly discussing a level 4 lockdown. Government's deal with an Indian company for Covid-19 shots has been thwarted. SA's Purchasing Manager's Index is at a three month low.

The persecution of people living with albinism condition in South Africa has prompted British film-maker Luke Bradford to put a spotlight on the horrific crimes that are still taking place - in a short film called ‘White Gold’. This film, featuring prominent South African actress and albinism activist Refilwe Modiselle, is getting noticed. It premiered in 2020 at The Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, where it won the Best Narrative Short prize, and has won numerous prestigious awards including Best Narrative Short at The African Film Festival and Best Acting at the Global Impact Film Festival. The success of the short film so far means it could be considered for an Oscar. Linda van Tilburg spoke to Luke Bradford about his experience in Africa that prompted him to develop the film and shoot it in South Africa with local actors and she also spoke to Refilwe Modiselle, Africa’s first model with albinism.

Many of South Africa's wealthiest individuals have qualifications in law, says Andrew Amoils, an analyst who has been studying trends among the country's high net worth individuals for the best part of a decade. The New World Wealth founder says there are only five US dollar billionaires but the ranks of the mass affluent have swelled in SA. He also discusses emigration patterns.

South Africa's presidency says discounted Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are still too costly. Plans are being made for private firms to pay to vaccinate the uninsured and Mondi will acquire Olmuksan Paper International in Turkey. Tiger Brands announces special dividend approval.

Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors are finally set to receive business interruption pay-outs after a long, ugly battle with the big insurers. There are more large bills in sight for Santam, Guardrisk, Hollard and other insurers as owners of businesses in other sectors join the fight. Ryan Woolley of Specialist public loss adjuster, Insurance Claims Africa, has been at the front of the battle against short-term insurers on behalf of 'bullied' smaller companies. He speaks to Jackie Cameron of BizNews about what's next in the war between short-term insurers and their clients who thought they were protected by insurance policies.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says Africa has few Covid-19 vaccine options, the DA wants to compel government to disclose details of inoculation plans. Santam begins processing previously rejected Contingency Business Interruption claims but Ma-Afrika fight continues.

In October, the rules changed for Exchange Traded Funds by widening access to foreign investments - but the authorities back-tracked in November reportedly under pressure from big companies in the financial services industry that have a vested interest in maintaining exchange controls. The development was seen as a blow to savers in pension funds, which are restricted in their ability to invest offshore. The investment community was asked to submit comments to the proposed changes. In this BizNews interview, Jackie Cameron speaks to a leading figure in the financial services world, Nerina Visser, who has submitted a detailed report on how South Africa can tweak the regulations. Her submission has proved popular among many of her peers. Visser sets out how the exchange control circular fits into the bigger picture of South Africa’s investment legislation.

Members of SA's medical fraternity are calling for the axing of officials in Covid-19 vaccine delays as government defends its procurement processes.

Two of the country's experts on the far reaching Protection of Personal Information Act unpack it for us - this has huge implications in a country where companies often play fast and loose with the private information of citizens. Our guests were: Okyerebea Ampofo-Anti: POPI expert and specialist in data protection, media and emerging technologies law, she is the owner of Ampofo-Anti Consulting. a sessional media law lecturer at Wits, she was a partner at Webber Wentzel for 12 years, served as a law clerk to former Chief Justice Pius Langa at the SA Constitutional Court; and clerked for Judge Erkki Kourala at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Emma Sadleir: South Africa's leading expert on social media law and owner of The Digital Law Company. Also formerly with Webber Wentzel, she has an LLM from the London School of Economics and is the author of two books published by Penguin Random House.

Helping you identify ways to build your wealth at Finance Friday noon. Craig Gradidge, founder of award-winning financial advice company Gradidge-Mahura in Johannesburg, and global financial markets specialist Fred Razak, of CM Trading.

Investing offshore is in vogue - but there are many ways to develop a diversified portfolio. Independent financial advisor Dawn Ridler of Kerenga and Mike Brown, financial services entrepreneur behind etfSA.co.za - which provides lower cost index trackers - are our special guests.

The Cape Independence Advocacy Group is a political pressure group that is hoping to help separate the Western Cape from the rest of South Africa. BizNews founder Alec Hogg chats to co-founder Phil Craig about the viability of this breakaway.

The UK is the first country to approve the AstraZeneca- Oxford covid-19 vaccine. Icasa announces South Africa's broadband spectrum bidders. SA Bitcoin trading platform Mirror Trading International put into liquidation.

BizNews founder Alec Hogg engages with Paul O'Sullivan, nemesis of the corrupt. In this half hour, O'Sullivan opens up about his Irish childhood that sounds a lot like that in Frank McCourt's classic Angela's Ashes to the reason why he has channelled the fruits of a successful business career into bringing the powerful to society's heel.

South Africa is in an adjusted level 3 lockdown to curb Covid-19 as hospitals buckle. Meanwhile the alcohol industry calls upon government to review the ban of alcohol sales and consumption.

There were some memorable meetings during our UK sojourn from 2016 to May last year. One of them was this on-the-record interview with independent cigarette manufacturer Yusuf Kajee, owner of Pietermaritzburg-based Amalgamated Tobacco. Kajee, accompanied by business partner Paul De Robillard, expressed himself so freely that, at the time, publishing all his opinions would most likely have landed us in an expensive law suit. So after a fruitless attempt to engage with parties he attacked, I put the 45 minute interview to one side, promising myself to return to it at a more appropriate time. In recent weeks, much of what Kajee alleged is now in the public domain. And with a couple of hard hitting books putting tobacco back in the limelight and government's controversial banning of cigarettes, there is plenty of interest in the industry and the controversial personalities who play in it. So here's the edited version of what was originally a 45 minute gospel according to devout Moslem Yusuf Kajee - business partner of Jacob Zuma's son Edward; the man who lost a kidney to poisoning; arch enemy of Paul O'Sullivan; and someone SARS calls "Mr Half Pregnant". Fascinating.

Our guest in this episode is outspoken economist Chris Hart, a former science teacher who did a B Comm because he thought it would help when he was became a headmaster role. Instead, it was the ticket to a bank’s dealing room where he helped traders make a packet when contrarian forecasts that often beat the economic consensus. But the real story about the free spirited, independently minded Chris Hart is in how he was targeted by political interests ahead of South Africa’s fractious 2016 Municipal elections. The gentle giant refused to be bowed by a social media mugging fuelled by London's unlamented PR shop Bell Pottinger. But his employer blinked. And just three months after being headhunted because of an independent mindset, his corporate career was sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. It’s a fascinating story of a life punctuated with series of testing personal challenges, including the murder of his identical twin brother. Yet he remains in service of his less fortunate fellows. And an inspiration to the rest of us.

Global markets boosted by Trump signing aid package. SA mulls alcohol ban. Beitbridge backlog cleared and Naspers sinks back to May lows.