Rational Perspective

In today's business headlines: South African mining stocks were driven to an almost 11 year high; However mining production decreases in April; South African platinum producers are preparing for significant wage demands as workers eye windfall earnings; The Governor of the Reserve Bank Lesetja Kganyago says there may be room for interest rate cuts in the longer term; Naspers earnings is expected to rise by a third; and oil price surges after tanker explosions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Africa's ace forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan has re-entered the fray after the country's Public Protector issued a report accusing president Cyril Ramaphosa of misleading parliament. O'Sullivan takes us through the steps he took when called in to investigate whether the president, and his first born Andile, are guilty of what they are being accused of. He spoke to me on Rational Radio. - Alec Hogg    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Market commentator David Shapiro has seen his share of scandals in a half century career where he daily takes the pulse of investment markets. He explores the mystery around Tongaat Hulett, the R25bn business whose shares have plunged to a level where it is suddenly worth just a tenth of that, pre-scandal value. We discussed the Tongaat saga on Rational Radio, drawing some conclusions that, for the moment at least, fly directly into the face of the popular narrative. - Alec Hogg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's business headlines: The Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has set a 21 June deadline to President Cyril Ramaphosa to answer to allegations that he violated the constitution; The Rand falls to the lowest level against the dollar since beginning of the year; Retail trade sales increased by 2.4% in April; The Presidential panel review on land reform was handed to President Ramaphosa today; South Africa’s FX rigging case against 20 banks has been dealt a setback; and Lego plans to go green stalls. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Biznews Flash Briefing: South Africa's manufacturing sector has perked up, with more cars, electronics, metal products and furniture produced than expected. Cape Town property prices have been falling. The latest data from FNB shows that house prices have been plunging in the most expensive suburbs and at best have moved side-ways in the more affordable neighbourhoods. In global developments, South Africa’s Naspers has struck its biggest fintech deal yet. Naspers Ltd.’s PayU has agreed to buy Turkish digital payments company Iyzico for $165m. Deloitte and KPMG have been in the spotlight in South Africa in connection with their complicity and/or negligence in corporate accounting scandals and state capture. While it’s business-as-usual for these Big Four accounting firms in South Africa, in India the government wants to ban these firms for similar wrong-doing. Former tourism minister Derek Hanekom is the eighth ANC member to resign as an MP. Hanekom, an ally of president Cyril Ramaphosa, was not app

Mathane Makgatho, the former Transnet Treasurer told the Zondo Commission that she eventually resigned in 2014 from the state-owned enterprise because she felt her life was at risk and with four young children, she could not play Superwoman. She told the commission that several other officials at the Transnet followed her because of the toxic environment created by her bosses Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh who saw the straight-talking Makgatho as an obstacle to their pact with the Guptas to loot Transnet. Despite trying time and time again to prevent Regiments, a Gupta-linked firm from becoming involved in securing a $2.5 billion loan from the China Development Bank for the purchase of new locomotives, which she believed Transnet was more than capable of doing itself; she could not convince Transnet’s managers. She was made to believe Taiwanese mafia were involved in the deal. The article was republished with permission from the Daily Maverick. - Linda van Tilburg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa

In today's Biznews Flash Briefing: Trading in Tongaat Hulett's securities on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange has been been suspended. Questions are again being asked about the integrity of accountants at Deloitte, which were auditors to Tongaat and Steinhoff - another South African multinational involved in financial irregularities. The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors is reviewing the work Deloitte did for Tongaat. Deloitte is also reviewing its work done for the company and, unsurprisingly, has said there is still no evidence of wrongdoing. In global news, President Donald Trump has his eye on cracking down on French wine imports to the US. Amid global volatility gold is seen as a safe haven asset. Bullion could touch $1,400 an ounce this year as investors hedge risk, according to Rhona O’Connell, head of market analysis for EMEA and Asia regions at INTL FCStone. On the Johannesburg stock exchange, the big movers up were Vivo, Dischem and Woollies - all gaining between abo

The gold price is on its longest winning streak in almost a year and a half, rising for the eighth consecutive trading session on Friday. The global backlash against Big Tech intensified over the weekend when G20 Finance Ministers said they have agreed to new rules to tax companies like Facebook and Google. On the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Japan, South Africa’s National Treasury director general Dondo Mogajane admitted that the country needs to inject even more than the already promised R69bn into Eskom. Rand hedge stocks Sasol, which rose 3.5% and Naspers, up 2.5%, were among the JSE’s best performers on Friday, benefitting from the recent weakening in the currency. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week was all about the economy. The shock GDP figures brought home the grim reality of what we’re up against in the fight to rebuild. But Alec Hogg believes that South Africans should not give up hope, no matter how difficult things may seem. The problems that the country faces can be overcome if her leaders and institutions are willing to take some risks and investigate more-radical options. This is a make or break year for South Africa, and in this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan break down what needs to be done to avert disaster. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seven years ago, former JSE president Russell Loubser quit his national service as a director of South African Airways, leading half the board in a very public walkout. He cited the incompetence of a Public Enterprises department then run by since disgraced Zuptoid Malusi Gigaba. On Rational Radio this week, Loubser resisted the "I told you so temptation" after the continuing chaos was marked by yet another CEO's resignation. He re-iterated what needs to be done to fix the national airline, and when pushed, said if these pre-requisites were imposed, would agree to a third stint of national service. - Alec Hogg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mining entrepreneur Bernard Swanepoel has transformed from CEO of one of the world's biggest gold miners into a champion for small business. In this interview on Rational Radio, the chairman of the Small Business Institute (former the AHI) talks straight about where the SA economic recovery will come from. He reckons the appointment of a Small Business minister in the cabinet was a bad decision because these companies need to be treated as an integral part of the whole economy. He points out that in SA only 28% of jobs are created by formal SMEs - under half the global average of 60%. No mystery, then, on how to make a proper dent in the country's high rate of unemployment.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this insightful Rational Radio interview, heavyweight economist Roelof Botha unpacks why South African interest rates are 200 basis point too high. The economist to the Optimum Group, whose son is the managing partner of Silicon Valley's top venture capital investor, explains why he believes something went seriously wrong at SA's Monetary Policy Committee after former SARB governor Gill Marcus handed over the reins. - Alec Hogg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has said it expects South Africa's interest rates to fall. It’s not just South Africa that is struggling to turbo-charge its economy. Amid concerns that a global recession looms, the European Central Bank has kept low-rates unchanged, reports Bloomberg. The FTSE/ JSE Gold Mining Index has been rising steadily in recent weeks as investors’ expectations for a quick deal between the US and China have evaporated. Spot gold was up to around $1,337 an ounce late on Thursday. Also set to benefit from a Trump-sparked trade war with China could be Chinese rare earths. A group of 17 elements that appear in low concentrations in the ground, rare earths are used in a wide-range of products stretching from lasers and military equipment to magnets found in consumer electronics, as Reuters reports. Asia is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced. Local agricultural analyst Wandile Sihlobo warns that South African consumers are likely to

On Rational Radio Live, market veteran David Shapiro reports back on his "homework" from last week - what stocks should investors be loading up on now in anticipation of benefitting from the gas bonanza that could flow from Total's billion barrel strike off the Southern Cape Coast. He also applies his mind to the slump in the Sappi share price and why the surging prices of SA gold shares (in one week GoldFields +45%; Anglogold 30%)  is not going to suck him in.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AlphaCode Incubator is hunting for disruptive financial services startups with the intention of giving them a couple million rand hand-up. An application process which began on May 15 closes in just over a week. AlphaCode's head of ecosystem development Andile Maseko was a guest on this week's Rational Radio Live where he explained to Alec Hogg how the process works, who qualifies and when the cash grants get provided. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are few people that enjoy their tweets as much as Tito Mboweni, well maybe President Donald Trump. But Trump’s social post can cause jitters in markets. This week’s Mboweni’s posts were meant to calm a storm. When the ANC Lekgotla concluded that the Reserve Bank should consider “quantitative easing”, giving another kick in the teeth to the rand which was already sliding because of the day’s dismal first quarter GDP figures, he was quick to take to Twitter to say that the Government sets the mandate for the South African Reserve Bank. “There is no quantitative easing thing here.” Speaking at the release of new commemorative coins Mboweni said he has been called by the international media and has been asked what people in South Africa have been smoking. He also released a much longer statement on Facebook slamming political interference of the Reserve Bank. - Linda van Tilburg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A three foot tall stainless steel bunny called "Rabbit", one of four cast in 1986 by Jeff Koons, last month became the highest price ever received by a living artist. The other three replicas are housed in art museums in Los Angeles, Chicago and Qatar. The piece, auctioned by Christies, was knocked down for $91m to art dealer Robert Mnuchin, father of the US's Treasury Secretary Steven. The piece was sold out of the estate of Conde Nast magazine publisher SA Newhouse and reinstates Koons as the world's best highest priced living artist. He held the distinction since 2013 when his Balloon Dog sold for $58m, but that was surpassed last year when a painting by David Hockney was sold for $90.3m. In this podcast Bloomberg's Katya Kazakina reports on the auction - which also saw a new record for an impressionist painter when a work by Claude Monet fetched $110m.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's headlines: South Africans are reeling from the news that the economy shrunk in the first quarter of this year. Analysts have blamed Eskom power cuts for hammering manufacturing, mining and agricultural output. Eskom has more than $30bn in debt and is believed to be the biggest threat to the economy, according to Goldman Sachs, but it isn’t the only state-owned enterprise dragging down the South African economy. At least seven state companies are, as public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan put it in February, “either on their knees or touching carpet”. Former Rand Daily Mail editor Raymond Louw has died, shortly after his wife Jean. Louw was 91. President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the first to offer his condolences. Barloworld’s Khula Sizwe public offer closed on Tuesday after being oversubscribed. The funding target of R16m for the black economic empowerment scheme was reached, with more than 50,000 applications received The big movers on the JSE on Tuesday were Goldfields, which jumped more tha

JOHANNESBURG — Vox Telecom has become a major telecommunications player in South Africa's market, offering highly competitive fixed line internet and voice services. Over the years, the company has dramatically expanded its offerings and footprint thanks to acquisitions that include its deal with fibre infrastructure provider FrogFoot. Throughout this journey, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Ventures has been a key shareholder in Vox and has helped to shape the telco's strategy. In this interview, the CEO of Vox, Jacques du Toit, together with Cassim Motala, explain the history of their journey together. - Gareth van Zyl    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's business headlines:   South Africa's economy shrinks by 3.2% in the first quarter; The rand falls by 2% but claws back some losses; Mantashe refuses to pick sides on green vs coal energy; Deloitte replaces auditors and a partner after Tongaat-Hulett scandal and; Britain is promised a phenomenal deal with the US but has to bend to Trump rules. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.