Rational Perspective

In today’s global headlines…. US stock markets bounced back strongly last night, the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way with a 3% gain, led by a 6% surge for Amazon. Unilever chief executive Paul Pohlman, one of the champions of business’s move towards a more socially conscious model, is to step down at the end of next month. London’s influential Financial Times newspaper has changed its mind on Brexit. And in South African related news, Big Four auditing group KPMG has signalled its intention of not abandoning the embattled Joburg-based business. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s global headlines…. US President Donald Trump is back into his feisty mode, raising concern that Friday’s Buenos Aires meeting with his Chinese counterpart could further escalate global tensions. Fallout continues from the Russian money laundering scandal at Danske Bank’s Estonia office, with attention now focusing on the UK’s Scottish Limited Partnerships, long identified as a favourite vehicle for organised crime. The battle for the world’s most valuable company has heated up with Microsoft closing the gap on Apple to a few billion dollars.  And in South African related news, Discovery co-founder and CEO Adrian Gore is in London this morning to officially release results of a massive 400 000 person behavioural economics study.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s global headlines…. The reality of the US-instigated trade war has started coming home to those who have been cheering it loudest. Britain’s public is changing its collective mind about Theresa May’s Brexit plan, with the latest opinion polls showing 60% now support it. Malaysia has adopted its own “pay back the money” chant, with prime minister in waiting Anwar Ibrahim this morning calling on Goldman Sachs to repay over $600m/ In South African-related news, London-listed vanadium miner Bushveld Minerals has launched an innovative scheme for battery makers that has caught the attention of the Financial Times. The state-backed China National Uranium Company has made its third acquisition of an African uranium mine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s headlines…. It took just 38 minutes for the dissolution of Britain’s 45 year marriage to Europe No rest for Mrs May right now, but she has a new story to share with her global peers when they meet at the G20 gathering in Buenos Aires on Friday and Saturday. The Crypro Crash continued over the weekend with Bitcoin’s price dropping below $4 000. Tencent’s on-off New York listing of its streaming music service is on again and is planned for next month. And pressure on the Big Four audit forms grows with second tier BDO is building scale to show it can compete for the big accounts.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three stories dominate the global headlines this morning: From London, Brexit enters another critical phase with agreement having been reached between the UK and the European Union on a 26 page letter of intent and a 585 page Withdrawal Treaty. From Japan, the scandal over one time business icon Carlos Ghosn continues. And in Washington, the US is stepping up the war against China, this time by urging allies to stop using Huawei. In South African related news, focus is on the EFF and Rowan Gormley's Majestic Wines.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — Motus Holdings, the automotive unit that unbundled from Imperial Holdings, listed on the JSE on Thursday. In this interview, Motus Holdings CEO Osman Arbee and his CFO Ockert Janse van Rensburg explain the story behind the new listing. - Gareth van Zyl See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — GG Alcock is no stranger to BizNews as he's been interviewed previously by Alec Hogg as well as having had one of his articles published on BizNews. It was therefore great to catch up with GG and find out about his latest book, 'Kasinomic Revolution - The Rise of African Informal Economies'. In this podcast, GG explains how the book consists of a series of fascinating case studies that illustrate how the informal economy in South Africa should be taken far more seriously. GG also goes on to explain how government officials in South Africa - both at local and national level - just don't fully grasp the massive importance and potential of this sector. Take a listen. - Gareth van Zyl   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan look back on a chaotic week in Brexit. Theresa May secured a draft agreement, but defections from her own party have put its future in doubt. With some calling for a hard Brexit, it's anyone's guess what the future holds. Meanwhile, markets and businesses try to muddle through the uncertainty, at great cost. They also discuss Bitcoin, which had almost as difficult a week as May. Down over 60% on the year (and more than that from its December 2017 high), Bitcoin has broken free from a months-long period of relative stability and started to fall again. Alec Hogg has some interesting theories about why that is. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — Fewer issues than land expropriation without compensation elicit such highly, emotionally charged feelings among South Africans. So, when a Parliament committee on Thursday controversially announced that it would start the process of changing the Constitution to affect so-called land 'ELWC', the likes of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) were already waiting in the wings to fight back. The battle has started with the IRR launching a legal process to take the committee on judicial review. And as Anthea Jeffery - who is the Head of Policy Research at the IRR - explains in this podcast, her organisation is of the view that there is a good chance of successfully reviewing the committee's decision because the committee has ignored 99% of all written submissions on the matter. - Gareth van Zyl See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — Stories from the Partners for Possibility (PfP) programme continue to amaze me. Listening to this interview with Mediclinic ICT Ops Manager, Deon Myburgh, you'll realise how solutions to South Africa's education crisis lie with better, more cohesive partnerships with different stakeholders in society. We can improve education in this country, we just need the will do so. And we don't need to wait for politicians to come to the party. Take a listen to Deon's story with Cloetesville High School in the Western Cape. - Gareth van Zyl   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — Some major and rather unreported events have happened in South Africa's still relatively new democracy in recent days. Just this week, COPE leader and Member of Parliament, Mosiuoa Lekota, presented a private member's bill in the House to get the ball rolling on changing the country's Electoral Act to allow for independent candidates to run for election. According to a former Member of the Provincial Legislature in the Western Cape - Dr Michael Louis - these changes to the Act are essentially guaranteed following a key judgment by the country's Constitutional Court judges. Dr Louis has been at the forefront of fighting for such changes as he's previously also launched legal bids to change the law. Ultimately, changes to the Act could alter politics dramatically in South Africa. Take a listen. - Gareth van Zyl See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan discuss new Tesla chair Robyn Denholm and the tough task she faces. With a strong finance background, she is well-positioned to help Tesla address their reporting issues - can she also rein in outspoken CEO Elon Musk? They also look at Pravin Gordhan's leaked state capture testimony - Gordhan explicitly names Jacob Zuma as complicit, in a striking shift in the narrative. What does this testimony mean for power in South Africa. They wrap up with a look at the future of the SA mining sector. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life is full of paradoxes. Among them, that the greatest of those who walk among us are rarely the ones most widely celebrated. At least two would make my top ten of thousands of newsworthy people I’ve met and interviewed in almost 40 years of journalism. A modest German nun, Sister Elisabeth Schiller, is one of them. Another is Tich Smith, a former sportsman who hit the gutter before a spectacular rebound in a different guise. They achieved great things by serving their fellow human beings and in particular South Africa’s less fortunate – Tich as the founder of the LIV Village in KZN; Sister Elisabeth through her St Joseph’s Care project at Sizanani. Their selfless efforts have literally changed the fortunes of thousands of people. The woman on whom we focus in this episode of Rational Perspective falls into the same rarified category…. Meet Ursel Barnes, the co founder with Ufa Robertson of the inspirational HIV-related project called Yabonga, which in the past 20 years has quietly transformed thousands

For three years during the watershed period of apartheid, Dr Denis Worrall was the hardline Nationalist leader PW Botha's top diplomat serving as South Africa's ambassador in London. Now 83, Worrall has produced an autobiography called The Independent Factor. The book takes a while to get going, but once into its stride exposes many apartheid era secrets, including the role played by businessmen Harry Oppenheimer and Anton Rupert through to PW's accurate call that London finance kingpin Sir Evelyn Rothschild was the ony person who could get SA out of a self-inflicted financial quagmire. In this podcast, drawn from Worrall's talk at the book's launch inside his old stomping ground of South Africa House on Trafalgar Square, Worrall shares the back story of the final attempt by Margaret Thatcher to force through a settlement via the Commonwealth's Eminent Person's Group - only for its work to be destroyed at the 11th hour by the SA Defence Force bombing ANC sites in neighbouring countries. Unique insights of the

JOHANNESBURG — South African-born mining veteran Brian Menell is shifting his focus to what looks set to become the next gold rush. Demand for minerals that make up batteries, for the likes of electric cars and other smart devices, is expected to soar over the next few years. Many minerals such as cobalt, lithium and tungsten are contained in modern batteries that have driven the globe's tech revolution. Miners have sat up and taken notice as the likes of Glencore has made big plays in the space. However, as Brian Menell in this interview explains, China has come to completely dominate the mining and supply of these key materials. But Brian — who is part of the Menell family that is well-known for having founded successful SA mining and industrial conglomerate the Anglovaal Group — sees new opportunities in tapping mining operations outside of China in order to provide an alternative source of these key minerals for the world's ever-growing battery market. Menell, from his office in London, tells us more in t

Irina Filatova is a Russian professor who moved to South Africa in 1992 when she joined the University of Durban-Westville, now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In this fascinating interview with Alec Hogg, the two explore the communist movement in South Africa and how it ties in with the Soviet Union. Filatova says the ideological influence of the Communist Party on the ANC leadership cannot be disputed and is evident if one goes through the ANC documents. Filatova is an accomplished author with seven books and many other publications to her name. Her last book The Hidden Thread: Russia and South Africa in the Soviet Era  explored relationships between South Africa and Soviet Russia and won the Recht Malan Prize for Best Non-Fiction book of 2014 at the Media 24 Literary Awards.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan discuss why South Africa needs a healthy dose of truth. They look at KPMG's latest series of setbacks in SA and abroad, and ask why some South African companies are still pretending that KPMG isn't the problem. They also ask if Ramaphosa's truth-telling is the dose of reality that the country needs. To wrap up, they take a look at the implications of the global stock market downturn and the return of volatility. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — Cape Town-based Jessica Bester and Nastasha Coetsee quit their previous daytime jobs to launch a dance school in Gugulethu. The school targets giving a sense of hope to underprivileged children in the township while teaching them valuable life skills. In this interview, Bester and Coetsee tell us why they decided to launch the initiative. Take a listen. - Gareth van Zyl See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the four year old Biznews Global Share portfolio peaking at an annualised return of 41% in September, hindsight suggests a correction was overdue. But when it arrived, the change in Mr Market's manic phase to one of deep depression came ever so quickly. Four of the portfolio's nine names took big hits in the month, led by the share price of its largest holding, Amazon.com, dropping some 22%. Biznews founder and the portfolio's manager Alec Hogg takes a close look at this stock in the wake of its quarterly results. He urges them to apply perspective, reminding us that nothing goes up in a straight line and that corrections are natural for every market. But the key question now is whether anything fundamentally has changed at the companies in which the portfolio's investors are co-owners. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JOHANNESBURG — More South Africans than ever before are trying to get Australian visas, according to Sable International's Sam Hopwood. A poor South African economy, as well as political uncertainty, are sparking a mass exodus among many skilled Saffers looking to ply their trade elsewhere. Australia is an attractive option owing to its similar climate and lifestyle. But if you're seriously considering the big move, there are a few things to know before you go. In this interview, Hopwood explains the ins and outs of obtaining two particular Australian visas. - Gareth van Zyl See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.