PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 6 FINANCE// GLOBAL CITIZEN// LIGHT// THE FAMOUS LIVING THE LIFE RUGBY: it’S KICK- BRANDS JOURNEY IN LISBON OFF TIME, FINALLY BizTHE RATIONAL PERSPECTIVENewsDigest WWW.BIZNEWS.COM FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER 2020 BIZNEWSCOM Cadres running scared BRIEFS Business Long-suffering South Africans, even those more cynically inclined, have reason to celebrate Arrest Confidence Index October, now that the National Prosecution Authority is finally cracking the whip. At last count, 17 suspects had been rounded up with more arrests on the cards under the rejuvenated leadership of the 85.7 NPA, and nourished by the flow of evidence at the Zondo Commission into State Capture. It’s early September 2020 days, but a tangible momentum shift is undeniable, that the corrupt elite’s days of reckoning are coming. The likes of serially-implicated ANC secretary general Ace Magashule and former minister Nomvula Mokonyane, among others, must know it’s not if, but when the Hawks put on the cuffs and R640m take them for a drive. – Derek Alberts Sanral shortfall to date By Claire Badenhorst Ace quivering The Free State asbestos project that lead to the arrest of seven Afrimat he State Capture suspects, including fast-living interim headline Commission has heard tenderpreneur Edwin Sodi, cast earnings per share from key witnesses about even more aspersions on deeply Thow several meetings were held implicated ANC secretary general with former president Jacob Ace Magashule. 0-5% Zuma, his close friend Dudu He is said to be feeling the pressure Myeni, and Eskom executives though, so much so that he sought in 2015. According to the clarity on rumours of his imminent testimonies, four executives had arrest. R4bn to be replaced with cohorts who are more ‘Gupta-friendly’. Read the full article here Checkers The shadowy figure of former increase in Zimbabwean lawyer Nick Linell Manoeuvres in the dark market share also shed a light on how he and The hearings also cast light on the Myeni – also the former chair of “Well, if jail-time is out of the question, how about some good murky doings of one Nick Linnell, South African Airways (SAA) – an associate of Dudu Myeni, who played crucial roles in this ever- ol’ public flogging? One lash per R Million?” – Chris Summers is alleged to have done her bidding R8m thickening plot. Myeni also had behind the scenes at SAA and a hand in wrecking South Africa’s Zondo demanded that the former However, Zuma’s intransigence Eskom. Value of economy, between enabling Gupta- president appear at the commission fired up South Africans who are Read the full article here related corruption in Eskom and in November. baying for the blood of the recalled luxury cars helping to bring SAA to its knees. The ultimatum did not go down president in a torrent of no-holds attached from Read also Running out of patience with well with Zuma who said he refuses barred tweets. accused Edwin Sodi Jacob Zuma’s delaying tactics, to testify and also called on Zondo State capture: The Dudu Deputy Chief Justice Raymond to step down. Read the full article here and Jacob Show 16 days Subscribe now Scotland Best in business news. BizNews.com to close pubs OrbVest takes the worry out of growing your wealth by providing safe and compliant access to previously unattainable global real estate investment opportunities. FIND OUT HOW Global Real Estate Investment - Orbvest Specialized Investment | Medical Commercial Property Investment Portfolio 2 | FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER 2020 WWW.BIZNEWS.COM FINANCE Tongaat’s turn-around takes shape BizNews founder Alec Hogg wonders if the spirit of For more insight: resilience that saved Tongaat Hulett from catastrophe, Episode Three of Inside Investing is now hinting at a sweet investment opportunity in features the investment case for the making. Barrick and Berkshire; Purple Group and Famous Brands; plus an update on the Kisby SME fund By Alec Hogg from Mark Barnes. Watch the webinar here Listen Read hey tend to steer away from it comes to fallen angels, few JSE- emotion at SABMiller, the listed companies come close. But world class corporation after Tongaat’s success last month in DOWNLOAD THE FREE Twhich shaped Gavin Hudson the dispute on the sale of its starch who is leading Tongaat-Hullett’s business, there’s now a glimmer of BIZNEWS.COM APP rescue. light. So it’s instructive to read the The net R5bn in cash from the latest annual report where sale of the business to Barloworld Hudson describes the impact will cut the group’s debt burden by BN of his predecessor’s financial around half to R6bn. Tongaat’s market capitalisation plumbed the basement the last two years mismanagement as “devastating” The annual report puts Tongaat’s Click on the links below to and pushing the group to “the brink property holdings alone as being download your own free o f c a t a s t r o p h e”. worth R11bn. Deduct the debt and Could Tongaat really be shaping in the Rational Radio Webinar as he BizNews.com App The graph showing Tongaat we’re left with property assets worth up as the ultimate turnaround is quizzed by professional money Hulett’s market cap in the past 5x the market cap – without the opportunity? managers David Shapiro and Chris decade tells the real story. When core sugar business. Listen to what Hudson has to say Logan. End lockdown, say scientists Eskom’s nuclear scam The delivery of the first of six new steam generators by French By Jarryd Neves These include ‘lower childhood vaccination rates, ever-worsening manufacturer Areva last week to extend the life of Eskom’s Koeberg cardiovascular disease outcomes, nuclear power station is another scam at Eskom, perpetrated during phalanx of scientists has fewer cancer screenings and the infamous leadership of Brian Molefe, Matshela Koko and the urged the government deteriorating mental health leading dodgy Eskom board at the time. to lift the lockdown in to greater excess mortality in years So says energy expert and Eskom critic Chris Yelland at a time Aview of the unintended medical when the beleaguered power utility is hogging the spotlight at the to come’. consequences. Some of the brightest minds Zondo Commission as several whistle blowers shone a light on the Among the scientists count Cape in South African business have behind-the-scenes machinations to manipulate tenders and award Town-based scientist Dr Michael Tweeted their support for the contracts to ANC cadres. Against this background, Yelland maintains Levitt who received the Nobel for Declaration, including Sygnia that the steam generators for Koeberg represent the most expensive chemistry in 2013 for developing founder Magda Wierzycka and Nick transport of scrap metal in the history of humankind. methods to calculate the courses Dr Michael Levitt Hudson, of Covid-19 thinktank of chemical reactions. PANDA. Read the full article here The initiative is gaining the support of the scientific community Known as the Great Barrington Add your voice to the debate whose members have added their Declaration, the petition points Connect via the BizNews signatures to a petition asking out that regulations are ‘producing Premium WhatsApp Group governments to rethink Covid-19 devastating effects on short and lockdowns. long-term public health’. Read the full article here The BizNews Shop Everything from investing like Warren Buffett to the Audiobiography Read Reality a figment of Zuma’s imagination of Cyril Ramaphosa Former President Jacob Zuma is a proponent of a “post-truth” culture that negates fact-finding, expertise and research. Within such a culture, speakers become increasingly comfortable with claiming that reality is whatever they say it is, without any evidence that can be evaluated against objective criteria through reasoned argument. This approach, says Cathleen Powell, an Associate Professor in Public Law at the University of Cape Town, is what former South African president Jacob Zuma adopted when he Visit the shop demanded that Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo recuse himself from the state capture inquiry. 3 | FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER 2020 WWW.BIZNEWS.COM FINANCE Hedderwick speaks IN SHORT Business confidence slips on uncertainty The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business out on Famous Brands Confidence Index (BCI) dipped marginally to 85.7 index points in September after improving to 85.8 in August. The Covid-19 In the eighth episode of The Alec Hogg Show, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown impacted worse on the business BizNews founder talks to Kevin Hedderwick about climate than the global recession of 2007/8 with the BCI well below the Famous Brands journey. the average level of 113 in 2009, Sacci says. By Alec Hogg Listen Read Residential vacancies in double-digit territory or a decade and a half, laid at the door of Darren. I can South Africa’s flat vacancy rates soared to 11% in Q3 2020 from 7% Famous Brands was one honestly say that the business in the prior quarter as all major cities now boast vacancy rates in of the JSE’s top performing couldn’t have wished for a greater the double digits, according to the latest Rode Report on the South Fshares. But after a disastrous successor to myself. He knows African Property Market. “Rentals are heading south due to the acquisition in the UK in 2016, the business intimately. He’s a oversupply of flats, linked to huge increases in new rental stock in the share price has been spiraling wonderful man. Just give him time. 2018 and 2019 and weakening demand,” the reports says. downwards. It’s down now by two It goes back to the basic stuff.