Rational Perspective

Coal miners accused of polluting water in Mpumalanga; Business confidence ticks up slightly; Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo says the government will not consider quantitative easing; Naspers appoints Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa as CEO of its South Africa business; Tesla returns to growth mode; and Nestlé ditches plastic for paper. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Rational Radio this week, Biznews.com's Alec Hogg caught up with SA's favourite market commentator who is visiting family in New York City. David talks about the mood in the US, witnessing his first Nasdaq listing and what he has learnt about the stocks South Africans should be buying - mini-spoiler: he loves Naspers but isn't that excited about Uber. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this producer's cut of the Rational Radio show for Wednesday July 3, Biznews's Alec Hogg gets in depth with this week's guests: Unpacking corruption at Eskom with Paul O'Sullivan; Entrepreneurship with King Price founder and CEO Gideon Galloway; the mood in the US, a Nasdaq listing and investment picks with David Shapiro; and the spate of defamation actions - and a plea to introduce SLAP legislation - with SA's leading media lawyer Dario Milo.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The World Bank says SA will save Eskom. Details of a R230bn rescue package are due to be unveiled soon, says Bloomberg. Zimbabwe has paid back some of the money it owes for electricity provided by Eskom. South African retail giant Steinhoff wants its former CEO Markus Jooste to repay millions he received in salary and bonus payments. Medical snake oil is an age-old problem, but the internet has dramatically extended the reach of bad actors peddling fixes for complex conditions that don’t always have cures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook is tweaking its algorithms and cutting down on advertising that directs traffic to bogus cancer treatment claims. AMCU has asked for a pay increase of as much as 48% as higher palladium and rhodium prices boost company earnings, but some producers say that would lead to job losses and mine closures. The rand was trading at R14.08 to the dollar, R17.75 to the British pound and R15.92 to the Euro late on Tuesday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio

The battle between Old Mutual’s sacked CEO Peter Moyo and the life assurer’s chairman, Trevor Manuel, has intensified, with Moyo claiming that he was fired in a tit-for-tat type move after raising a red flag about Manuel’s conflicts of interest. South Africa's rand started the week stronger after the United States and China agreed to restart their troubled trade talks, lifting the mood across emerging markets. The improvement in the relationship between China and the US also helped lift Wall Street's main indexes, with the S&P 500 hitting an all-time high. The South African economy has been shrinking, but rand hedge stocks have been powering up returns from JSE shares, says Bloomberg. President Cyril Ramaphosa is considering whether to back a proposal to improve troubled Eskom’s debt terms by closing polluting coal plants early to make way for renewable energy, reports Bloomberg. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The year long on-off-on trade war between the US and China is apparently off again after the countries’ leaders lunched for an hour and a half on Saturday.  On Friday, international mining company Anglo American plc disclosed in its 2018 tax and economic contribution report, that South Africa remains the group’s most important area of operations.  Still with mining, South African diamond producer Trans Hex, posted a strong turnaround in the year to end March, delivering profit of R144m compared with a loss of R229m in the previous 12 months.  Another major step was taken on Friday in the unwinding of the collapsed Abil group, with the sale of its insurance arm Standard General.  South African shares ended slightly firmer on Friday with the JSE’s all share index rising a quarter of a percent, taking its gain in the first half of 2019 to a healthy 11.5%.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discovery has long been one of South Africa’s most innovative companies, and it looks like Discovery Bank is no different from, say, Discovery Health. Biznews recently caught up with Discovery founder Adrian Gore to talk about the company’s plans for the banking sector. In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan look at what makes Discovery Bank unique and how the company may just have a global impact. They also look at the week’s other big news, Tshepo Mahloele’s acquisition of Tiso Blackstar. The media industry has been through a huge period of disruption, and Alec and Felicity ask whether Mahloele’s Lebashe Investment Group can turn things around for Tiso. They also take a look at the latest developments on Naspers’ international listing.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Super entrepreneur Adrian Gore has plenty on his plate, such is the lot of someone building a disruptive global business. But over the past few months much of his focus has been on the financial services group's new South African bank - a project into which R6bn has already been invested with a further R1bn still required. After a pilot of 1,000 clients, the new bank is now ready to move to the next level. Using the strategy of specific incentives to change behaviour and help its customers help themselves. He was a guest on this week's Rational Radio. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stefanie Fick, the chief legal officer at OUTA, has been keeping a close eye on the allegedly illegal sale of South Africa's strategic oil reserves - the cost of which is now over R4.5bn. On Rational Radio this week she unpacked the story, including the last minute caving by sale beneficiary Glencore, which was threatening to use the law to stop incriminating documents being presented to the court. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Rational Radio this week Sable's SA head of forex James Edward James unpacks the process for those living abroad who inherit from SA trusts and deceased estates. Edward has 35 years of banking experience, 15 of these intimately involved in international trade finance, including eight years as head of Capital Equipment Imports and Trade Finance at Nedbank Corporate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's business headlines:  Tiso Blackstar has sold its media, broadcast and content businesses to the Lebashe Investment Group Glencore shares fell sharply as at least 19 miners are killed in the DRC  The South African economy is stuck in a long downward cycle but investment is starting to flow in July could bring a price drop for motorists Swiss stocks will be barred from trading in the European Union from next week which could have a ripple effect on the London Stock Exchange See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

27 June 2019 by Linda van Tilburg In motorsport circles in South Africa, Stuart White has been called the Bloemfontein Bullet, White Lightning, even Baby Vettel or Stuwie. White is a 17 year old teenager from Bloemfontein who has been taken on by Sauber Motorsport earlier this year where so many great drivers like Kimi Raikkonen and Charles Leclerc started their Formula One careers.  Like many other Formula One legends, Lewis Hamilton comes to mind, Stuart started his career in go-karts. He is currently competing in the French Formula 4 Championships under the Sauber banner where we caught up with him. – Linda van Tilburg Stuart’s dad, David White used to race in South Africa and as a small boy he had the same passion. Stuart was only five or six when he started go-kart racing in 2006.  He went on to win several championships including at the age of 14, the title of Junior ROK Championship.  In 2016 he stepped up to the main circuit and started competing in single seaters.  Just three years later the offer

In this week's episode of Rational Radio, Martin Freeman, a successful South African entrepreneur and now New York-based CEO of Orbvest, unpacks the strategy behind the $200m fund that's yielding 8% a year.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of Rational Radio, South African property guru Wendy Machanik unpacks the state of the residential market - buyers have the whip hand and banks are getting more aggressive in their lending. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's business headlines:  Steinhoff wants R850 million back from the company’s former CEO Markus Jooste.  Irregular expenditure at municipalities has reached R25 billion in the 2017/18 financial year with only 7% returning clean audits.   Eskom unveils restructuring plans to London investors while Treasury indicates saving the power utility is more important than ratings A bit of the shines comes off for miners as their winning streak ends and Bitcoin continues its upwards climb See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Johannesburg-based money expert Dawn Ridler swapped a scientific career studying the environment for strategising around personal finances. In this interview, Dawn shares what a wealth ecologist is and how you can harness some ecology ideas to grow your savings and investments in a struggling economy. - Jackie Cameron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the JSE, mining stocks were the big movers upwards, with Angloplat, Implats and Sibanye all gaining about 5%. Gold prices surged to a five-year high on Tuesday, extending gains for a sixth straight session, on the back of expectations of monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve and a subdued dollar. South Africa’s state-owned arms manufacturer Denel will not be able to pay its staff full salaries this month.  Mass protests loom in Harare, where the government has banned the use of foreign currencies. Zimbabweans have been trading in currencies on a black market to survive in the dysfunctional economy. Ireland has warned that it will run a budget deficit of up to 1.5% if the UK exits the European Union (EU) with a "no-deal Brexit Late on Tuesday, the Rand was trading at R14.33 to the dollar, R18.19 to the British pound and R16.30 to the Euro. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is now well-known how Jacob Zuma and his associates destroyed capacity at many state institutions during his nine year tenure as President of South Africa. We get daily reminders as Eskom struggles to keep the lights on and keeps professing a very large begging bowl. Much more sinister, though was the way Zuma ploughed through crime fighting units, replacing competent operators with compliant agents. What has not been clear up to now is that the deterioration of these crime fighting institutions to ensure that Zuma and his minions did not face corruption charges, resulted in “a fairly large number of deaths.” This murderous claim is contained in the joint submission to the Zondo Commission by Corruption Watch and the Institute of Strategic Studies. They say organised crime flourished under Zuma’s presidency as criminal justice agencies were diverted from their primary role and manipulated for political and personal gain. The crippling of these institutions resulted in a surge in car hijackings, cash-in-tra

A KPMG auditor has been barred from accounting work for his role in the state capture scandal.  South Africa is growing in popularity as a tourism destination, with a marked rise in the number of international visitors. Gold rallied to a near six-year high on Monday as the US-Iran dispute intensified. Johannesburg-listed mining companies. Sibanye, Harmony and Anglo Gold were the major movers upwards, JSE Ltd was the big loser. The Zimbabwe Dollar has returned, a decade after it became worthless. R14.26 would buy you one US dollar, R18.29 would buy you a pound, while the rand was trading at about R16.37 to the euro. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The incredible story of Naspers is testimony to fact that success follows laser-like focus based on the right long-term vision. In this insightful interview with Naspers CFO Basil Sgourdos, the group has followed a similar playbook for decades: travel widely, expose yourself to global trends, take disciplined bets in promising areas, and as trends are confirmed, increase the scale of the bets. You could also describe the Naspers playbook as one of actively seeking out Fat Pitches globally and when they've been confirmed, taking a full swing. In this results-day interview, Sgourdos left me feeling the bets Naspers has been taking in online classifieds, food delivery and now blockchain, are likely to deliver excellent returns for shareholders. As for the early investment in Libra, Facebook's new cybercurrency, another Tencent anyone? - Alec Hogg   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.