Fractional property and long-term investments were on the agenda at this week’s BizNews Finance Friday webinar. Guests included Easy properties Rupert Finnemore, independent financial adviser Dawn Ridler and SAIFAA's Derek Smorenburg.

Koko cries foul at the Zondo Commission, SA epidemiologist wins international prize and Google gets sued by ten US states

In episode 12 of our Inside Covid-19 podcast, much needed hope for South Africa’s fight against the virus as research from a top US university suggests the BCG vaccination against TB, administered in the country for the past 80 years, provides protection against Covid-19. More on that coming up, including an interview with assistant professor Dr Gonzalo Otazu, head of the NYIT research team whose paper is global reshaping thinking and has sparked a fresh wave of clinical trials. Also in this episode, a US-based South African is spearheading a drive to get a skin prick Covid-19 testing kit into the market and we go to Groote Schuur for a peek into how SA medics are preparing for the expected wave of coronavirus patients.

SA has missed a Covax payment deadline, with plans to put young taxpayers last in the vaccine queue. The PIC wants to use pensions to rescue Eskom and Guardrisk loses its Covid-19 claims appeal.

* In a major step towards reducing the country’s high state sector wage bill, the South African government has won a court case over public-sector wage increases that it has refused to pay. * South Africa is among a number of emerging markets with an eyewatering debt mountain. Bloomberg reports that unprecedented stimulus in emerging markets drove debt levels to all-time highs in 2020. * Fitch Ratings has the highest balance of net negative outlooks for European emerging markets in more than a decade, while Oxford Economics says rising government debt will slow Latin America’s recovery. * China has led the global recovery from the coronavirus, becoming the only major nation to see growth this year, and is widely forecast to continue driving the rebound in 2021. * The euro is on track for its best annual performance since 2017; the rand has been trading around R15 to the greenback.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced tighter restrictions aimed at halting the rising rate of Covid-19 cases in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. This includes the possibility of stiff fines and even time in jail for employers who do not insist that employees wear masks at all times. In this episode of Inside Covid-19, we pick up on some of the details of changes as South Africans sign off work for their festive season breaks. We speak to Discovery Health’s Dr Ronald Whelan, Chief Commercial Officer of Discovery Health and head of Discovery’s Covid-19 response team for an assessment of how SA has been managing the pandemic. Dr Whelan also provides an update on the importance of masks - as well as the roll-out of the vaccine in SA, particularly in the light of news that the Covid-19 virus has been mutating. He provides a fascinating glimpse of what Discovery’s data is telling us about the spread and severity of Covid-19. Dr Whelan warns us to expect at least another six months, and probably more, of navigating this disease. Also coming up: our partners at Bloomberg explore vaccine roll-out in the hemisphere. - Jackie Cameron & Jarryd Neves

The BizNews Share portfolio, launched in December 2014, has delivered spectacular returns for South African investors. Every month, BizNews founder Alec Hogg updates the latest developments at the companies whose stocks are held in the portfolio. Although the strategy has been to buy and hold, the portfolio has seen some adjustments over the five and a half years since its creation. Today roughly two thirds of the assets are invested in US exponential growth stocks and the balance in carefully selected JSE-listings.

Joe Biden will be inaugurated as US president on 20 January. The ANC’s Integrity Commission says the party must implement an August resolution to oust Ace Magashule and Sarb's FDI update for Q3.

Employers have been asked to make a concerted effort to ensure compliance with rules aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 as SA gets close to hitting 1m Covid-19 positive cases. This was said by President Cyril Ramaphosa who has highlighted that the second wave will be worse than the first if strict regulations aren’t applied. In an effort to balance conserving jobs with lives, a nationwide lockdown has not been imposed, he said. Instead, holiday-makers in the Eastern Cape and Garden Route have had their plans curtailed, though beaches around the country will be no-go areas on public holidays. Stricter restrictions on the consumption of alcohol apply, too, though limited wine tasting and wine sales in the Western Cape will be allowed. Listen to the full announcement here on BizNews Radio - and read the details at BizNews.com.

Eskom is headed for more losses, eSwatini mourns Prime Minister Dlamini, Johnson& Johnson applies for SA vaccine approval and KwaZulu Natal gets Vodacom 5G network.

The focus of this episode is one of South Africa's most successful entrepreneurs, Port Elizabeth's Adrian Gardiner. The inspirational story of this low profile family man exposes the ingredients needed by all successful entrepreneurs: curiosity, tenacity, humility, grit and, most of all, the self-belief to dust yourself off and start again. Gardiner lost everything in 1979 when an economic recession pushed his highly geared businesses into bankruptcy. But within a decade he was back on top of the local pond - and through his Mantis Group, making inroads on the continental and global stage. A fascinating story of a man who, at 77, despite being heavily invested in the Covid-19 affected hospitality sector, retains all the optimism of his youth.

* ABB will repay R1,56 billion to Eskom. This is the latest international company to return money after being ensnared in corruption probes in the country. * As Eskom power cuts continue even though demand for electricity is down, the DA has slammed efforts to fix the troubled power utility - saying it can be done in five steps. * Phumelela is to delist from the Johannesburg stock exchange. * After a week in which the rand soared to a 10-month high, it pulled back a little on concerns that Covid-19 containment measures will become stricter.

Building wealth for the long-term. Independent financial advisor Dawn Ridler, of Kerenga Wealth Ecology in Johannesburg, and investment specialists Albert Coetzee and Marc Lindley of Ninety One Investment Platform answer your money questions.

Independent advisors Dawn Ridler of Kerenga Wealth Ecology and Candice Paine of PR Financial Services joined us at this week's BizNews Finance Friday. We took a look back at the big money questions this year and how to plan for 2021.

With our sunny climate, South Africa is not really associated with winter sports like skiing, luge, bobsleigh or ice skating.  The last time a South African qualified for the Winter Olympics was as far back as 1988.  It was the same year that Jamaica - also an unlikely country for winter sports - sent a bobsleigh team for the first time to winter Olympics.  But now there's a 15-year old South African hoping to represent her country at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in ice skating. Gian Quen-Isaacs qualified for her first SA Nationals as a junior 7 years ago and became the national junior champion in 2019.  The Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns kept her off the ice for a couple of months, but she is back in training.  The teenager told BizNews of her gruelling training regime that starts before sunrise every morning and what prompted her interest in ice skating.

A week ago, Bloomberg reported that SA was only likely to get Covid-19 vaccines rolled out in earnest by mid-2021 and even then only for a select few. That created an outcry from the medical fraternity. In this episode of Inside Covid-19, we speak to Professor Francois Venter, a professor of medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, who has been pushing the government to share detailed plans for who will get vaccines. A former advisor on the government advisory panel, Professor Venter warns that the vaccine may not be administered en masse next year at all. We hear from one of the founders of the Great Barrington Declaration how we should manage Covid-19 until vaccines arrive. Dr Jay Battacharya spoke to BizNews in November, who is opposed to strict lockdown but is in favour of focused protection.He says lockdown is the single-biggest mistake in health policy in his life time but we should take protective measures - and this can include wearing masks, particularly if we are in vulnerable groups. And, we hear from Discovery Health Executive Associate Maria Makhabane-Leke about an innovation in the provision of private medical care. You will now be able to pay-as-you-go for GPs, with the offering set to be rolled out to dentists and specialists soon.

Transnet says McKinsey owes double what it wants to pay. The Auditor General reports more Covid-19 corruption. High court sets aside Mkhwebane's rogue unit ruling and UK rolls out Covid-19 vaccines.

Listen in on the conversation with legendary trend futurist Faith Popcorn - described as the Nostradamus of marketing - and Henley Business School Africa director and Dean, Jonathan Foster-Pedley, who discuss whether the pandemic has made the world more accepting of the need for kindness. The author of The Popcorn Report says it is critically important for brands to demonstrate that they care. Foster-Pedley cautions against toxic kindness and explores how to get kindness right in the business world. Popcorn and Foster-Pedley provide fresh thinking on corporate compassion.

Transnet says it won't settle for McKinsey's offer to pay back R650m as it says it is owed twice as much. Discovery announces a new CEO for its bank.

Discovery Bank's new CEO, Hylton Kallner, speaks to BizNews founder Alec Hogg about changes at the helm - and what they mean for stakeholders. South Africa's biggest health insurer Discovery said on Thursday Barry Hore would step down as chief executive officer of Discovery Bank and would be replaced by the head of its local business, Hylton Kallner, from January 1, 2021. "Over the past five years, Hore has led the building of the digital bank from the ground up, culminating in a public launch in 2019 and a migration of all Discovery card accounts from FirstRand to Discovery Bank," it said in a statement.

Will SA forgive McKinsey for its role at the centre of state capture? This week, McKinsey’s R650m offer to pay back Transnet, SAA has been rejected by Transnet - which says it owes far more. In 2018, its mea culpa bombed as it claimed “no corruption”, but critics rejected its apology as too little, too late. Listen to this powerful report by BizNews founder Alec Hogg, on events in 2018 when he enjoyed a front row seat at the first public engagement by Kevin Sneader, at the time the new global managing partner. McKinsey & Company is among the businesses in the vortex of South Africa’s State Capture scandal. Sneader, who was been in the post for exactly a week, accepted an invitation from GIBS, a leading South Africa’s business school. A scathing riposte to his 20-minute speech was delivered by the other panelist, Bonang Mohale, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa. Mohale, who is as eloquent as he is outspoken, was formerly chairman of Shell South Africa. The temperature rose even further when the floor was opened to questions where former Competitions Tribunal’s chairman David Lewis and Forensic Investigator Paul O’Sullivan kept up the pressure.

SA's Auditor general uncovers more Covid-19 fund fraud in the latest report, the stars align for SA equities in 2021 and StatsSA rethinks GDP metrics.

Magnus Heystek is an outspoken independent financial advisor. The author and entrepreneur who founded Brenthurst Wealth Management has a strong following for his incisive views. Piet Viljoen was considered something of an investment rock star, with many investors watching his every move to pick up tips on how to generate superior performance. But a prolonged period of underperformance dulled Viljoen's sheen. But it seems like he has got his mojo back, as Heystek tells BizNews founder Alec Hogg.

As load shedding continues to affect many South Africans, more individuals are seeking clean energy alternatives. Bright Light Solar is a venture capital company that is tapping into this demand and, at the same time, providing an investment opportunity through the 12J project. In this interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, BizNews business partner Bright Light Solar’s CEO Kevin Shames shares the details of an offering that will close as soon as the R50 million capital raise is reached.

The Rand is a star performer. Maria Ramos replaces Sipho Pityana at AngloGold. Sygnia releases FY results. Q3 GDP numbers are sobering.